For more than a week now, since the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, federal agents from I.C.E. and border patrol have been invoking fear and unrest in the citizens of the twin cities. Minneapolis and St. Paul have been, for lack of a better term, invaded by thousands of federal agents under the pretense of an immigration crackdown.

Many speculate that this goes well beyond immigration as citizens and migrants alike have been targets of the well-documented brutality. Tear gas and other chemical agents pours into the crowds of protesters who have a constitutional right to assemble. These deliberate escalation techniques become even more obvious in front of the backdrop of Trump's rhetoric. Trump has threatened to invoke the 19th-century insurrection act as a means to quell these protests, and has reportedly floated the idea of cancelling the midterm elections. This would be politically beneficial for him and his administration, as recent polling has not put Trump, or his policies, in a favourable light among a majority of Americans.

It would seem that these protests and the unwillingness of Minnesotans to simply "bow-down" to the increased pressure, could make for the pretext Trump needs to consolidate even more power. Invoking the insurrection act would allow Trump to federalize the national guard and deploy active-duty military into American cities in order to quell dissent. As for cancelling the elections, a moment with Zelenskyy in the oval office comes to mind. Trump had inquired about elections in the Ukraine to which Zelenskyy told Trump that there would be none until the war was over. Trump seemed to like the sound of that idea, and in a joking tone, said as much. It seems that pretext for suspending democratic norms appeals to him, and I would not be surprised to see a stronger push to implement it.

As for now, we can only hope that tensions die down in the twin cities. As of now, that does not seem to be the way things are going. We will continue to report as the situation changes.