Donald Trump has given Minnesota leaders an ultimatum: stop the protests against his immigration enforcement or face active-duty military troops in the streets. The threat, issued Thursday morning on social media, represents a dramatic escalation in a conflict that began when an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old motorist, near a raid in Minneapolis last week.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job,” Trump wrote, “I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.”
The post set off alarm bells among legal experts and observers who understand what invoking the Insurrection Act would mean. The law is a statutory exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, which exists specifically to prevent presidents from deploying the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement. Trump has flirted with using these powers before, but this direct threat against a state over civilian unrest marks new territory.
Minneapolis, Minnesota is under Trump regime occupation; at least 3,000 regime forces are terrorizing the city, raiding homes door to door without warrants, and grabbing people and children off the street based on their skin colour. No sign of the Minnesota National Guard. pic.twitter.com/FPMa0DSPjM
— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) January 12, 2026
Since Good’s death, federal agents have flooded Minneapolis. Nearly 2,000 of them now operate in the city, videos showing them using flash bangs, violently detaining migrants, demonstrators, and bystanders. Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey called Good’s death a murder and demanded ICE leave. Their refusal to shut down the protests has apparently triggered Trump’s threat.
Social media exploded with reactions. Michigan policy professor Don Moynihan posted on Bluesky that this is exactly where Stephen Miller, Trump’s hard-line immigration advisor, has been pushing the president. “The only reason it has not happened yet is that the violence is obviously coming from state actors,” Moynihan wrote. “There is no insurrection to control. But we are one incident away from Trump sending in the military.”
The legal and logical contradictions were not lost on observers. Gizmodo’s Matt Novak noted the absurdity: Trump has already deployed thousands of masked federal agents. “I guess if he used the military those troops would be wearing fewer masks?” he wrote.
Others saw a greater danger. Journalist Radley Balko simply stated: “This is what they’ve wanted all along. This is the goal.” The reference was to longtime conservative proposals for expanded presidential power during domestic unrest, many of which appeared in Project 2025, the blueprint Trump’s team developed before taking office.
Minneapolis, se convierte en la pesadilla de Donald Trump. Miles de personas salen a las calles nuevamente.
Por eso Donald Trump, habla y habla de Venezuela, México, Cuba y Groenlandia.
La crisis nacional no puede detenerla. La inestabilidad social va en aumento.
RT👇 pic.twitter.com/6wIIfuhygP
— David Vargas Araujo (@DavidVargasA18) January 13, 2026
Minneapolis teacher Annie Perkins offered a sobering perspective from someone living through the moment. “The insurrection act feels like a rubicon,” she wrote. “I am telling you, with love in my heart: Minneapolis IS being peaceful and it doesn’t matter. He’ll call it when he wants to. We can’t stop it. We CAN and ARE organizing the hell out of our communities. We protect us.”
The irony was not lost on commentators. Bluesky user catbert529 pointed out the contradiction: “Trump is threatening the Insurrection Act to send troops to Minneapolis to put down the protesters while at the same time encouraging Iranians to keep protesting in the face of execution. This hurts my head.”
So Trump is threatening the Insurrection act to send troops to Minneapolis to put down the protesters while at the same time encouraging Iranians to keep protesting in the face of execution. This hurts my head
— catbert529.bsky.social (@catbert529.bsky.social) January 15, 2026 at 5:40 AM
Some observers speculated about Trump’s true motivations. The Rude Pundit predicted Trump would move to arrest Walz and Frey, suggesting Trump’s ego couldn’t tolerate how Walz had publicly mocked him during the campaign. Whether that proves true or not, one thing is clear: the president is willing to invoke extraordinary powers to suppress dissent over his immigration policies, and the path from threat to action may be shorter than anyone would like to believe.
