As federal force meets organised resistance, Minneapolis becomes a defining moment in Trumps presidency, writes DrNorm Sanders.

IN EARLY DECEMBER 1941,Hitlers army came within 20 kilometres of the Moscow city limits after rolling across much of Europe. German troops inOperation Barbarossacould see the spires of the Kremlin.

But the German army was unprepared for the extreme Russian winter and faced stiffening Soviet resistance. The Germans were forced to begin a bloody retreat, which marked the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime.

In early December 2025, U.S. PresidentDonald Trumps army rolled into snowy Minneapolis. Like Hitler, Trump thought his forces would soon take over the city. He didnt count on the Minnesotan citizenry fighting back.

There were massive protests in the streets. Neighbourhoods organised into units to warn of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) patrols in their areas. Citizens roamed the streets with whistles to raise the alarm when I.C.E. appeared anywhere in the city.

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.

Rene Goodwas one of the concerned Minneapolis citizens. She was a mother of three who loved to sing and write poetry. Good had just dropped off her child at school and was stopped by I.C.E. officers. She tried to drive off but was murdered, shot in the face, by I.C.E. officer Johnathon Ross.

Trumps minions jumped into the media. Homeland Security SecretaryKristi Noemsaid that Good was at fault for her own death,claimingshe was engaged in domestic terrorism.

Widespread protests took place immediately. Several days later, Minneapolis Police ChiefBrian OHarareported that at 9:03 A.M. local time Saturday, police received a call about a shooting involving federal enforcement officers.

PBS Newsreported:

Another agent soon began firing to join the original shooter. They pumped a total of ten bullets into the back of Pretti, who was lying motionless face down in the street.

Susan and Michael Pretti, Alex's parents, first learned of their son's death from an Associated Press reporter. The couple, who live in Colorado,released a statementsaying their son was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends. The 37-year-old Minneapolis resident had worked as an ICU nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital in the city.

Donald Trump is framed as a modern Pyrgopolynices, a braggart whose performative narcissism has moved from farce to real power, with consequences still unfolding.

Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact, the statement read.

Pretti was born in Illinois and grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was a Boy Scout, played high school football and baseball, and sang in a boys' choir. He was also an outdoorsman who took his dog, Joule, who recently died, everywhere he went,his mother told AP.

Trump World, predictably, tried to spin the sordid affair to their advantage. But Pretti was a problem for them. How could they paint a high school athlete, a choir boy and a dog lover as a terrorist? Undaunted, they rose to the challenge.

In the Department of Homeland Securitys first account of the incident, Assistant Secretary for Public AffairsTricia McLaughlinsaid federal officers attempted to disarm the man. An agent, fearing for his life and the lives of the other officers,fired defensive shots.

The man had two magazines and no ID, McLaughlinsaid, suggesting this looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.

Not to be outdone by a subordinate, DHS boss Noemcalled Prettia domestic terrorist, adding:

Trump himself was more restrained. Hestatedthat it was a very unfortunate incidentand terrible, while simultaneously criticising Pretti for being armed. This turned out to be a very unfortunate statement for Trump. It prompted the ultra-right-wing National Rifle Association (NRA) topublicly criticisethe President for the first time in history.

The NRA had spent millions in campaign donations, including to Trump, to preserve the unfettered right to carry firearms in America. Here was the President of the United States implying that Pretti was a terrorist because he carried a pistol. The MAGA base was splintering.

Meanwhile, a severe storm was battering the Eastern U.S. Snow was piling up and blocking roads. Millions of snowed-in Americans were watching TV for a diversion. What they saw was video after video of federal agents murdering Alex Pretti. There was no way for the Trump regime to spin its way out of this.

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

Tricia McLaughlin announced that the two federal agents who fired their guns during the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti had been placed on administrative leave, but not put under arrest for homicide.

The officers actions received widespread criticism from the law enforcement community. The people were more than critical; they were angry. Libertarians and staunch conservatives, Trumps base, were speaking out. Sporting stars and cat lovers posted their disgust online.

Trump world was colliding with American core beliefs. For one thing, in a country where there are more guns than people, there are laws and then there are rules. It is illegal to shoot a person anywhere on the body. However, in the public mind, shooting someone in the back is looked upon as cowardly. Shooting someone like Rene Good in the face is not only considered cowardly, but also extremely brutal.

The response to the shootings was immediate and nationwide. One of the most significant of the reactions was in California. The state of California and its largest county, Los Angeles, banned law enforcement officers from covering their faces, putting local and state police at odds with masked immigration agents.

Thestate lawgives law enforcement officers a choice: If they cover their faces, they lose the ability to assertqualified immunity, the doctrine thatprotects officers from individual liabilityfor their actions. That means they can be sued for assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest or malicious prosecution. The law adds a clause that says the minimum penalty for committing those offences while wearing a mask is $10,000.

Protests are continuing and growing bigger all the time. The thirdNo Kingsnationwide protest is scheduled for 28 March.Ezra Levin, co-founder ofIndivisible, one of the groups coordinating No Kings, said that he expected it to be the biggest protest in American history. He noted that the first line of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution is We the People.

The people of Minneapolis are not only protesting in the streets, but they are taking action by going on strike. Citywide strikes are not an everyday occurrence in the United States; to find a precedent for the Minneapolis strike, you have to go back almost a century, to the 1940s. But it happened on 23 January. School teachers and airport workers walked out. Government offices and call centres were effectively shut down. Businesses and public institutions closed across the city as their employees rallied in the streets.

Donald Trumps second presidency has stripped away the pretence, revealing how fragile democracy becomes when power is exercised without restraint.

The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti so moved musicianBruce Springsteenthat he composedStreets of Minneapoliswithin days of the killings. Springsteen is frequently described as one of the greatest American singers, songwriters and rock performers of all time.

Some of the lines in the song are:

Also:

Streets of Minneapolis had 5 million hits on YouTube in the first 48 hours of its release.

Trump is wounded. His ego has taken a beating and his grip on Republican politicians is weakening. He has lost control of the narrative, but he still has cards to play big ones. In his never-ending effort to keep the lid on hisEpstein involvement, he is now massing what he calls his Armada in the Mediterranean to attack Iran.

In spite of his frantic and increasingly unhinged actions, Trump will never escape what he fears most: a place in history where he is rated as the worst president the U.S. has ever had.

Hitler had Moscow. Trump had Minneapolis.

DrNorm Sandersis a former commercial pilot, flightinstructor, university professor, Tasmanian State MP and Federal Senator.

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