You Need to Watch Governor Walz’s Remarks

Things are escalating quickly. Here’s what you need to know.

Last night, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz addressed his constituents about the current state of affairs. It’s important that you watch it. Read the transcript too.

Walz doesn’t mince words about what’s happening in Minnesota, calling it an “organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.” He says that “news reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.” Walz doesn’t refer to events as an act of war or civil war, but does refer to them as “a direct threat against the people of this state, who dared to vote against him three times, and who continue to stand up for freedom with courage and empathy and profound grace.”

The speech feels like remarks a wartime president or prime minister would give on national television, rather than those of a state governor. At the end, Walz even says, “And God bless Minnesota.” I know some folks are angry at Walz for not going far enough, or not ordering Minnesota’s National Guard to fight ICE, but I disagree. The speech is clearly an escalation. It acknowledges the Trump Regime’s actions and their implications in stark terms. It encourages Minnesotans to resist an occupation, stand in solidarity with one another against the occupiers, and document every atrocity with their phones.

Trump responded to Walz’s speech by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, declaring Martial Law. Trump has obviously made this threat before, but given where things are at here at home, with Venezuela, and some European countries sending troops to Greenland, it’s a threat we have to take seriously. The Insurrection Act allows Trump to use the U.S. military against its own citizens. If you need a refresher or an explainer, I highly recommend this from Protect Democracy.

Earlier this week, my friend and colleague David Neiwert, who has been covering the extreme right as a journalist since the 1980’s and knows more about the MAGA movement than just about anyone, wrote this warning:

“This is what the opening stages of a civil war look like. And Americans are deluding themselves if they don’t want to believe that this is what is befalling them.”

I don’t want to come off as alarmist, but I tend to agree. The MAGA Right has long dreamed of a second American Civil War, and one of the things they hate most about the American Left is that we were never going to fire the first shot. One of the reasons it can be difficult for researchers and journalists to determine if online activity leading up to things like Charlottesville or the January 6 insurrection was actually planning violence or merely fantasizing about it is because so much of the rhetoric in right-wing online communities reads like fan fiction. They daydream and post about violence constantly, egging one another on. With Trump and MAGA politicians constantly fanning the flames to further incite them.

My sense is that things will continue to escalate, and we’re all going to have to make some choices sooner rather than later. Solidarity with Minnesota is a good place to start. Here’s a locally sourced list of organizations and fundraisers if you want to make a donation. It’s always good to check in with friends and family, anyone you know who lives in Minnesota, see if they’re OK, and let them know that you’ve got their back. Unions and community groups in Minnesota are calling for a General Strike on January 23, and I expect solidarity actions in other states as well. Finally, as Minnesotans document both atrocities and acts of resistance, we can share and amplify those voices with our own networks. (Yes, verify them first.)

Governors and elected officials in the states are now on the frontlines. Pritzker gets it, Walz gets it, hopefully, their colleagues running Blue and Purple states do too. We should let these officials know how we feel and what we expect of them when the Trump Regime comes to our states and communities. We can continue to organize locally, creating communities for mutual aid and resistance with our neighbors.

In his speech, Walz calls Minnesota an “island of decency in a country being driven towards cruelty.” That really resonates with me. Especially since Minnesota isn’t alone. America, even at its worst, has thousands of islands of decency hidden in plain sight. Some islands are states, like Minnesota, while others are as small as a single family home. But no matter where we are, we’re not alone. We can all be islands of decency for ourselves and our communities.

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