What looks like chaos on Americas streets is not a breakdown of authority, but the deliberate use of terror to manufacture fear, obedience and political survival, writesGeorge Grundy.

Anne Franks words were written at the height ofHitlers purge of European Jews, but nearly every word could equally be applied to recent events in Minneapolis, where maskedImmigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) thugs have attacked and abducted law-abiding citizens in the streets. Two Americans have been shot dead in broad daylight.

For all its horror, this is likely to be just the beginning. I.C.E. is rapidly expanding its workforce, offering signing-upbonusesof up to US$50,000 (AU$71,5000) and hasreportedlycut training for new recruits to just 47 days (to honourDonald Trump, the 47th President).

I.C.E. now commands a larger budget than all other federal law enforcement agencies (including the FBI, DEA, ATF and U.S. Marshals Service) combined. A vast paramilitary army is being assembled in the United States.

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The killings ofRene GoodandAlex Prettihave, understandably, made the biggest headlines, but there is much horror just beneath the surface. I.C.E. detainees havereportedsavage beatings and sexual abuse. Detention facility conditions are often appalling, without clean drinking water, soap or toilet paper. I.C.E. is holding people atsecret sites, lacking normal oversight and legal counsel. At least one person has been reportedkilledstrangled to death by guards at an I.C.E. detention centre.

I.C.E. has signed extensivecontractswith private prison operators to expand or reopen detention facilities. Soon, concentration camps will dot the American landscape.

It all seems redolent of the early days of German Nazism, whenJoseph GoebbelsparamilitarySturmabteilung(better known as the brown shirts) employed violence on the streets to deliberately engender riots and social instability, which in turn could be used as an excuse for yet more draconian crackdowns by Hitler. It is, perhaps, through this lens that we should view current events in Minnesota. Perhaps this isnt a rogue agency that needs to be reined in. Maybe its all part of theplan.

The idea that this is conspiratorial thinking is belied by Attorney GeneralPam Bondis recentletterto Minnesota GovernorTim Walz, in which Bondi said that only the handing over of state voter rolls could prevent another national tragedy. The letter could easily be construed as extortion hand over the voter rolls or I.C.E. will keep killing your people but why would data on local voters be in any way connected to immigration enforcement?

In my view, it is because everything in Trump World relates to Novembers mid-term elections. Trump is historicallyunpopular. Hesunderwateron nearly every major issue. The economy is flatlining, at best. In times like these, the House of Congress nearly always changes hands and should the Democrats take control in November, Trumps presidency, as we know it, is over.

As the midterms approach, Trumps politics of force are reshaping both foreign policy and domestic policing.

Democrats would take over all the House committees, cutting off budgets for Trumps worst excesses, impeaching the President a third time, investigating his rogue agencies, his crimes and corruption, and, on one level or another, further exposing Trumps relationship withJeffrey Epstein, the north star of Trumps lifelong malfeasance.

As such, Trump is likely to do anything to avoid free and fair elections taking place in November. He has repeatedlythreatenedto invoke theInsurrection Act, putting the army onto American streets. This month alone, he has twice joked that the mid-term elections should becancelled, at one point saying,We shouldnt even have an election (based on how successful he thought his administration has been so far).

For a man who lies as easily as he breathes, Trump is also a master of saying the quiet partout loud. He cant afford to lose the house this November, so voter rolls must be extorted for peace on the streets of Minneapolis.

This will be the first of many such outrages. It is still early 2026 and we are just a year into Trumps second term. Should I.C.E. continue to kill and maim American citizens in broad daylight, a febrile summer of social unrest might be used by the President to invoke emergency measures. And that might just be the plan. The mayhem is the point.

George Grundyis an English-Australian author, media professional and businessman. You can follow him@georgewgrundy.

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