A Shell Game with Lethal Consequences: The Case of Minneapolis
The latest kleptocratic actions by the Trump administration from the week of January 19, 2026
I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine. The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice.
- Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota, in a social media post (cited by ABC News, January 8, 2026)
This week, we’re tackling recent events in Minneapolis to illustrate the complexity of the Trump kleptocracy machine. What may seem to be unrelated issues—from the latest immigration enforcement surge to accusations of fraud in the Somali-American community—are actually deeply interconnected and self-reinforcing.
Conservative conspiracy theories focus on fraud to negatively portray immigrant communities as a cover for racism and xenophobia. The administration then amplifies and uses these theories as justification for greater immigration enforcement. When residents protest egregious use of force by ICE and other federal agents, they are met with ever-deadlier force. The increase in protests after the killing fuels an even harsher crackdown and threats of military deployment, with the goal of suppressing dissent and making it harder to push back against the administration’s authoritarian actions.
Let’s look at the timeline of events.
The Timeline of Events
The administration amplifies a conspiracy theory about the Somali community in Minneapolis
On December 26, 2025, MAGA influencer and conspiracy theorist Nick Shirley claimed without proof that day care centers operated in Minneapolis were defrauding taxpayers, with a specific focus on organizations run by Somali-Americans in the city.
Shirley’s videos seem to have conflated a pandemic fraud case from 2022 that stole hundreds of millions of dollars, which involved members of the Somali-American community, with these new, unverified allegations of fraud. He joins a longstanding effort to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment by dehumanizing and attacking the Somali-American community. President Trump, Vice President Vance, and other members of the administration directly commented on the video, praising Shirley’s work.
Trump deploys ICE agents to Minneapolis
On January 2, 2026, a White House statement linked Shirley’s videos to a “no-holds-barred effort to hunt down and prosecute the criminals who have exploited Democrats’ non-existent oversight to bilk hardworking taxpayers out of billions of dollars.” Three days later, the Trump administration announced that 2,000 ICE agents would be deployed to Minneapolis. To further illustrate the connection between Shirley and the Trump administration: Shirley previously posted inflammatory videos regarding supposed fraud by immigrants in New York and presence of “antifa” in Portland, both of which animated the ICE mobilizations in those two cities last year.
Local officials and the Somali immigrant community of Minneapolis immediately decried the discriminatory targeting of Somali immigrants in Minnesota and insisted on the capacity of local law enforcement and justice agencies to manage local affairs.
An ICE agent shoots Renee Nicole Good
Just two days later, an ICE officer shot an unarmed mother of three, Renee Nicole Good, at point-blank range. The officer filmed the shooting on his cell phone. In the video, Good’s vehicle is seen turning away from the officer seconds before the officer opens fire.
Local officials and the public immediately reacted to the extrajudicial killing, demanding ICE leave Minneapolis and carrying out oversight of ICE activities in the city. Protests against ICE operations and the administration have persisted, and more shootings by federal agents have taken place since then: on January 8, a Border Patrol agent shot two people during a traffic stop in Portland, and an ICE agent shot a man in Minneapolis on January 18. These cases fit into a broader pattern of deadly use of force by federal agents, as explored by The Marshall Project.
The Trump administration threatens to deploy troops to Minneapolis and suspends funding for Democratic states
The Trump administration immediately condemned Good as a “domestic terrorist” in an attempt to shift the narrative around the killing. Multiple videos that have gone viral also demonstrate that the victim had turned her car wheels to leave, calling into question the administration’s insistence that the officer acted in self defense. Since the shooting, ICE has sent more officers to Minneapolis and President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell public unrest.
On January 9, 2026, Trump also suspended $10 billion in federal childcare funds for five states under the pretext of investigating fraud. All five states have Democrat governors.
This is Not About Fraud
The Trump administration’s actions in Minnesota are part of a larger pattern of selective, aggressive punishment of blue states for alleged transgressions, including fraud. In contrast to the events described above, the administration reversed a $100 million fine levied against Mississippi, a state with a Republican governor, for failing to stop the embezzlement of federal funds for needy families, some of which were allegedly paid to former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.
Trump’s continued practice of pardoning egregious fraudsters further undercuts any claim that this administration is anything but a champion for corrupt hucksters cozy with the administration. It is important to note that the pardons mean that taxpayers and the fraud victims won’t see a dime in fines or restitution.
Some examples include:
Philip Esforme: In 2020, President Trump commuted the sentence of Esforme, who had been convicted of several billion dollars’ worth of Medicare fraud, one of the largest thefts in in history. In October 2024, Esforme was re-arrested in Florida on charges of domestic violence.
Paul Walczak: Walczak was convicted of withholding $7.5 million in taxes from healthcare workers. He was pardoned in April 2025 after his mother attended a Trump fundraiser that cost a million dollars per person.
Michele Fiore: Fiore is a Nevada Republican politician who raised $70,000 for a slain police officer. She was convicted of spending the donation money on cosmetic surgery, rent, and her daughter’s wedding. She was also pardoned in April 2025.
George Santos: In October 2025, Trump commuted the sentence of the former Republican Congressman, who was convicted of wire fraud and identity theft.
Changpeng Zhao: Also in October, Trump pardoned crypto-billionaire Zhao, who had plead guilty to allowing money laundering by cyber-criminals, terrorists, and child abusers on his Binance platform. Right before his pardon, Zhao had made moves to support World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture started by the president’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric Trump.
Lawrence Duran: In June 2025, Trump commuted the sentence of the former healthcare executive who had pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare, healthcare fraud, and money laundering valued at tens of millions of dollars.
David Gentile: In December 2025, Trump commuted the sentence of Gentile, a private equity manager convicted of scamming investors for more than a billion dollars in a fraudulent Ponzi scheme.
Adriana Camberos: In 2021, Trump pardoned Camberos after she was convicted of selling counterfeit merchandise. In January 2026, Trump pardoned Camberos a second time for a conviction of merchandise and wire fraud.
Whether it’s going after transgender individuals, demonizing migrant communities, or belittling women, authoritarians stoke social divisions to create an internal enemy and distract citizens from their kleptocratic ways. For example, Trump himself has a long history of race-baiting: from his call for the execution of the accused young men known as the Central Park Five in 1989, to his recent rants about “shithole” (read: non-white) countries and efforts to spread debunked claims that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Ohio.
Minneapolis has a large Somali community, many of whom fled civil war in their home country. In December, the president told a cabinet meeting that Somali-born US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is “garbage” and that Somalia “stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.” Trump has since ended temporary protected status for Somalis in the United States.
Dehumanizing political opponents and identifiable ethnic, religious, or sexual minorities is an old trick used by kleptocrats the world over. It’s a useful way to redirect blame while they pilfer taxpayer dollars for personal and political benefit.
The Danger Ahead
Yet Trump’s pardon of the 1,500 insurgents that attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, dozens of whom have gone on to commit more crimes, is perhaps his most egregious abuse of pardon authority to date. The attack resulted in the death of five law enforcement officers charged with protecting our national legislature as it certified the election that Donald Trump lost. This illustrates a key point: the Trump administration doesn’t care about the rule of law or those who have sworn to protect it, no matter which party is in office. When considered alongside the deployment of federal agents against the will of city and state officials, Trump’s actions speak to his desire to create a secret federal police force that is answerable to no one but him.
This is in line with another maneuver right out of the authoritarian playbook: building an armed paramilitary force responsive only to the leader to threaten and repress any democratic opposition. If ICE is able to shoot an unarmed US citizen in the face in broad daylight with “absolute immunity,” then one can argue we have crossed a line beyond any reasonable democratic guarantees. If Trump prevails in invoking the Insurrection Act, he would gain sweeping powers to militarize Minneapolis and set a precedent for future military mobilizations against Americans who disagree with his policies. Already, Trump is reported to have placed 1,500 troops on standby in Alaska for deployment to the city.
Our democracy is increasingly endangered by unaccountable, centralized authority in the person of the president, the weaponization of the Justice Department and other federal agencies to intimidate and punish his perceived opponents, and the promotion of social conflict to justify militarized repression of civil society. Constitutional checks on the executive branch’s power are increasingly absent. The stage is set for the president and his allies to take what it wants from this society and use the power of the state to extort the rest of the world. We’re already seeing this play out with Trump’s takeover of the Venezuelan oil industry and his threats over Greenland.
On the anniversary of his first year in office, it feels overwhelming at times to capture the scale of the damage done, let alone imagine what’s to come. But as we look ahead to the rest of 2026 and beyond, we can promise one thing: we’ll document all the kleptocratic trends to help you stay informed as we head into the second year of this administration.
Weekly Wins
Federal Judge Restricts Federal Use of Force against Peaceful Protests
In Minnesota, a federal judge ruled against heavy-handed federal enforcement amidst the tensions of the past few weeks. US District Judge Kate Menendez issued a preliminary injunction sharply restricting how ICE and other federal agents can operate around protests in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities, barring them from retaliating against or detaining people engaged in peaceful, non-obstructive protest or simply observing immigration actions. The order also prohibits the use of pepper spray, tear gas, and other crowd-control munitions against demonstrators or bystanders unless there’s reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
Free Speech Win for Pro-Palestine Student Protestors
In what can only be seen as a big check in the win column for constitutional rights, a Reagan-appointed federal judge called out Secretary Rubio and Secretary Noem (and by extension, the administration itself) for an “unconstitutional conspiracy” to chill free speech by targeting pro-Palestinian student protesters and scholars. The judge asserted that senior officials used immigration power not for public safety but to intimidate dissenting voices. His blistering First Amendment defense represents a legal rebuke to efforts that crossed the line from policy disagreements into clear violations of fundamental freedoms.
More Links, More Kleptocracy
Build a Protection Racket
Bribes and Influence Peddling
Leading Prediction Firms Share a Commonality: Donald Trump Jr. - New York Times
Trump Purchased Netflix, Warner Bonds in Days After Deal Announcement - Wall Street Journal
Trump Organization deepens Gulf push with $10bn in Saudi projects - Financial Times
$1 billion gets a permanent seat on Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza, as India and others invited - CNN
Chevron board member made sizable donation to Trump-affiliated PAC - MS Now
Cronyism and favoritism
As Trump Talked About Taking Greenland, Former Employees Gained a Foothold in the Arctic Island - OCCRP
The Oligarchs Pushing for Conquest in Greenland - New Republic
How a billionaire with interests in Greenland encouraged Trump to acquire the territory - The Guardian
Companies see boost from Trump admin after adding Don Jr. to their board - CREW
“We’re Too Close to the Debris” - ProPublica
Trump names Kushner, Rubio, Blair to Gaza board; Israel objects to lineup - Washington Post
Get Rid of Independent Checks on Power
Centralizing executive authority
Under Patel, F.B.I. Scours Its Records to Discredit Trump Opponents - New York Times
ICE places ankle monitor on MD woman who provided U.S. birth certificate - Washington Post
Beyond the federal government
Trump Administration Begins Criminal Inquiry Into Minnesota Leaders - New York Times
Trump is threatening to cut funding from sanctuary cities. Here’s what to know - NPR
Colorado’s wolves in the political crosshairs as Trump targets the state - Washington Post
Control the Media and Suppress Free Speech
Limitations, control, and retaliatory litigation
He stoked ‘deep state’ conspiracy theories. Now they’re coming back to haunt him - Washington Post
White House told CBS to run Trump interview unedited or get sued - Washington Post
Trump vows executive order to protect Army-Navy game from competing football broadcasts - CNN
Drive Division
Driving social division
After Renee Good Killing, Derisive Term for White Women Spreads on the Far Right - New York Times
House Republicans are investigating Jan. 6. NPR fact-checked the first hearing - NPR
Manipulate Elections
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