Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman
“As my fellow Substacker Damon Linker has long argued, if you believe that President Trump wants to install himself as a proper dictator, this would be a good way to achieve that goal. Start by initiating a widespread roundup of unauthorized migrants, and execute that roundup both brutally and sloppily to make it maximally provocative. Both activist groups and ordinary people — citizens and non-citizens — would inevitably protest, and some of the protests would inevitably turn violent (as well as prompting opportunistic violence and looting by random criminals). This would turn public opinion against the protesters, and give Trump the opening to invoke the Insurrection Act and effectively impose martial law in American cities. … The reason this could have a chance of working — assuming the most extreme and sinister motives on the part of the administration — is that it presents the center-left with a catch-22.” (06/10/25)