Homan to Minneapolis; peace-maker or provocateur of the Insurrection Act?
TAT readers,
As I sat down to write this yesterday afternoon on a related but different topic, my phone notified me that according to the AP/ Associated Press, that the White House was sending none other than White House Border Czar, Tom Homan to Minneapolis, to deal with our ongoing constitutional crisis over ICE operations. This was quickly followed by another news notification suggesting that Greg Bovino and some of his ICE thugs would be departing Minneapolis operations tomorrow. Finally, in related reporting yesterday afternoon, what has been hailed as a positive phone call between Trump and Governor Walz of Minnesota, adds a bit of intrigue to what all of this means. Today, I’ll explore this a bit.
Now, as I put the finishing touches on this essay, the breaking news is that Greg Bovino is now out as Customs and Border Patrol, “Commander-at-large,” and will return to his former position with CBP in El Centro, California. Whoever comes next will be at a minimum, just as, if not more aggressive than Bovino, in the extreme violations of our constitutionally guaranteed rights.
These three headlines yesterday afternoon, indicate a noticeable shift regarding ICE operations in Minnesota and tangentially, possibly on a national scale as well. The only question is, will the shift be an improvement from the violence from current ICE operations, or worse? Bovino is currently too much of a “lightning rod” for bad press, and now he’s being sent off to terrorize other human beings in his former district.
The first thing to consider is whether Homan was sent to Minnesota in a peace-making and face-saving role for Trump, or to simply continue abusive and now deadly operations, with a local leader other than the deeply and deservedly despised, Greg Bovino, former “Commander at large,” for the Customs and Border Patrol. As you can see in the Chicago Sun-Times article linked below the screen-shot, Homan never intended to “fix” anything. If his past record is any indication, his so-called “fix,” is to impose more cruelty, illegal operations and terror onto the American people. I can assure you, Minneapolis won’t like him any better than Chicago did… if he continues operations as they are now. This is a big “if.”
Despite Homan’s penchant for being hard-nosed and unpleasant, he’s in a difficult position in Minnesota. With Trump hauling Bovino out today along with a yet undetermined number of officers, seems to indicate the beginning of a slow, low-drama withdrawal from Minneapolis, likely designed to save face. Still, only time will tell. Resistance by Minnesotans has been exemplary in terms of standing up for their rights, values and community. Extensive support from other cities, states, organizations etc., is adding extra weight to the load, the administration is already carrying regarding popularity. The White House may well be indicating that they aren’t yet quite ready, to pursue their bid for the “Insurrection Act.”
The White House is softening their tone about Minnesota, after days of the Oval Office and administration officials, spewing the most hateful and dishonest rhetoric about protesters, Minnesota, and even the dead victims. Trump actually called Mr. Pretti, an “assassin.”
Polling after the killing of Renee Good, showed dismal support for ICE activities up to and including her death. The poll referred to in the graphic below, was released just prior to Mr. Pretti’s murder, so one could reasonably expect that the administration’s poll numbers are now even worse. The standout point in the polling for me, is that 8 out of every 10 Republicans, were okay with operations as they are. I wish that I could say that this surprised me… but that would be patently false.
Even if the administration begins to tone down their efforts in Minneapolis, there will be the next so-called “blue-city,” to be abused. These blue-city, violent political stunts by ICE are called “probing attacks,” in military parlance.
"A military probing attack is defined as an operation whose aim is to test the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy defence line. It is often used interchangeably with the term “reconnaissance-in-force”, but it differs from the latter as it focuses on the development of a complete intelligence picture (CBN, 2023). " - The Role of Western Training and Equipment in Ukraine’s Counter-Offensive Strategy - Finabel, European Land Force Commanders Organisation - Ginevra Bertamini - 28 June, 2023
The administration’s ultimate goal is in many scenarios going forward is to succeed in the midterms, because despite having achieved a great deal of their Project 2025 agenda, they still require Republican control of congress, to complete it. At the moment, things aren’t looking too good for the GOP’s chances in the House of Representatives and to some extent, the Senate, for the midterms. The only other viable option for the administration to remain in control, then becomes the Insurrection Act. As things stand right now, the administration does not yet have enough political control of the US military required to successfully order them into the streets en-masse, without the legal authorities vested in the Insurrection Act. Trump and the GOP have both had a long-time fascination with the Insurrection Act.
The administration’s overall plan is as simple as it is visibly chaotic, but under the surface lurks their Project 2025 strategy to remake the US government into a full-blown autocracy. They intend to fully implement Project 2025 into the US Government as quickly as possible and if not finished by the midterms, to ensure that either the midterms are not held, not held under normal circumstances or if necessary, cancelled. At the moment the political tea leaves don’t read that they will accomplish their Project 2025 constitutional adjustments quickly enough to not worry about the midterms. This in my opinion makes the administration, slightly more dangerous than they are now. As they say, “a cornered animal is a dangerous animal.” Trump and the GOP will in fact be “cornered” should they lose the House, Senate or both. Far greater accountability will come with the GOP losing either and especially if they lose both.
Should they lose congress, they must be prepared to execute evermore aggressive tactics, if they are to achieve the full Project 2025 agenda in this presidential term . This makes them very dangerous indeed. Neither the administration nor the Republicans in congress will survive the accountability of a congress, that they do not control. The GOP congressmen and their voters did this to themselves. Justice will not be pretty for many of these congressmen or administration officials. They must win in November or suffer terribly from the fallout.
As I continue to say, the key to slowing down this out-of-control trainwreck of an administration, is to make every sitting Republican elected official believe, that every single one of them… is vulnerable in November.
As we have all seen in these violent assaults on citizens and non-citizens alike, protesting all across America, each successive city targeted, experiences a bit more violence than the last. Hence, the “probing” attacks. The administration is probing the will of the people, the law, courts, constitution and far more. The probes are designed to expose the weak spots in our resistance to the administration’s aggression. Within we the people, there are few weak spots in our resolve, outside of attrition in the ranks from exhaustion. In other words, simply wearing us down. Real patriots are resilient against tyranny. The last time that fascists rattled the cage of the United States, we didn’t “wear down” but became stronger. Germany, Italy and Japan, found out the hard way during WW II, that you should not rattle the cage of Americans with fascism. This administration will learn the same.
I fully understand that this is a fairly complex threat picture and sometimes feels like a Gordian Knot to solve. It’s not though. Just remember, everything that this administration is doing, is for more money and power. To acquire it, they will do anything, including to continue breaking the law, wielding increased violence and violating the constitution. That’s who they are and they have a plan.
We have far more voters and we stand for American values, the real ones, not that made-up God, Guns and Trump nonsense. That’s who we are but at the moment, we don’t really have a plan. Until we do, we can still win with heart and massive numbers but this is risky. One of these days soon, we’re going to need some leadership and direction, from those in places where political decisions are made, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as principled American patriots.. I hope they get to this soon as that every day under this regime, resistance becomes equally as urgent as it moral.
I will close with these thoughts
I sat in my junior high school history class on the Monday that the May 4th, 1970 Kent State shooting occurred, and which was only a an hour or so drive from my small town Ohio school. I remember the shock, my teacher’s inability to explain to himself or us, what had occurred and even worse… why? After all, that was the type of combat that we watched on the evening news from Vietnam, not here in my home state and against students. The national shock was enough to end President Nixon’s use of the National Guard on college campuses during protests.
The very thought of US soldiers on our streets, violently enforcing the law or alleged law, turns the stomach of most Americans my age, regardless of party. The concept of “show me your papers,” is culturally insulting to Americans, dredging up memories of Nazi and Soviet authoritarian regimes. I imagine that this applies to the overwhelming majority of other Americans too. ICE’s murder of two US citizens last week and four others in earlier operations, must be where we put our foot down nationally and say “nunca mas.” It’s not enough to have constitutional rights… it’s using them and protecting them that matters.
Hang in there my friends, we’re making some progress.
Onward,
Paul