American Revolution semiquincentennial and the rule of law

This year is the official 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial, i.e., half of 500) of the beginning of the American Revolution, which is understood to have formally begun with the signing of the Declaration of Independence by leading colonial figures in 1776.

We can expect plenty of attempts by Trump and his cult to make public commemorations of the event tributes to Donald Trump, the greatest national leader in all of world history. I will not be surprised if he literally describes himself that way. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it!”

To warm up for it, it’s worth remembering that facts matter. So when Trump gives us new versions of his 2019 classic celebration of the Revolution, that’s worth keep in mind, i.e.:

Trump praised the Americans’ military efforts in the war against Great Britain. “Our army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, it had nothing but victory,” he said. (1)

It was 1903 when the Wright brothers successfully tested the first engine-powered aircraft.

Also, for what it’s worth, the phrase “the rockets’ red glare” phrase that everyone knows from the national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner was referring to the experience of the War of 1812 against Great Britain.

I dread my inevitable first encounter this year with the old segregationist trope that the Founders were setting up a republic, which they saw as something totally different from democracy which they allegedly saw as evil and awful. This is an old segregationist trope used to argue against human and civil rights and equal citizenship for African-Americans. As a historical claim, it can technically be describes as horse-poop.

But for people who want to think about more than ditsy fairy tales from an orange wanna-be dictator, there are some substantive matters worth reflecting on that go back to the founding ideals of the Republic.

Trump’s current deployment of the ICE Gestapo to terrorize various cities, currently notably including Minneapolis, has raised a new round of consideration of the meaning of rule of law and the functioning of federalism in the US Constitutional structure.

This is a good, brief Breaking Points report on what happens when the federal government sends out a bunch of masked thugs to terrorize cities. Ryan Grim says in it, “Watching ICE going around brutalizing people on an hourly basis, has done more, I think, to lift the public opinion of local police forces than anything in decades.” (2)

At some point, if this keeps up, local cops will have to start enforcing the laws against kidnapping, battery, illegal entry and even murder against ICE agents acting outside the law. Since most of the ICE goons seem to have very limited training, they will likely find it tough going when well-trained actual police come to arrest them.

In American history, it has often been the case that the federal government had to intervene when states and localities fail to enforce the law, both the Executive branch through the Justice Department and through the courts.

At the moment, we have the situation of professional urban police forces watching masked goons with no badges, with no clear identification as any kind of law enforcement, heavily armed, often driving around in vehicles with illegally concealed license tags, who are beating, gassing, kidnapping, and even killing people with impunity.

Law enforcement agencies are required to obey the law themselves and to enforce the law – including against government agencies breaking it. For all the practical complications involved, municipal police forces need to actively enforce the law against ICE Gestapo criminals.

There’s some real irony in the idea of the Minneapolis police needing to step up to enforce the law against violent and murderous federal agency lawbreakers. George Floyd was murdered in 2020 by a Minneapolis police office, choked to death by one officer while three others helped hold Floyd down during the murder. Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter, and the three accomplices were convicted of violating the victim’s civil rights.

It would be a good way for the Minneapolis PD to further restore their reputation by taking the lead in restraining the ICE criminals. It would also be defending the rule of law. The general strike in the city this past week posting ICE was a great development!

Keith Ellison

Minnesota’s state attorney general since 2019, Keith Ellison has been working on rule-of-law for the police, including acting as the lead prosector against George Floyd. His page at the website of the National Association of Attorneys General states:

Attorney General Ellison was the lead prosecutor of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He led the team that successfully convicted four former police officers of second-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter, demonstrating that no one is above the law, and no one is beneath it. He is a national thought leader in the effort to advance constitutional policing that builds community trust and helps bring about true public safety for all people and communities. [my emphasis] (3)

Notes:

(1) Haynes, Suyin (2019): President Trump Said Revolutionary War Troops ‘Took Over the Airports’ in His Fourth of July Speech. Time 07/05/2019. <https://time.com/5620936/donald-trump-revolutionary-war-airports/> (Accessed: 2026-24-01).

(2) MN Cops REVOLT As ICE Harasses Officers. Breaking Points YouTube channel 01/21/2026. <https://youtu.be/b8iXtb28wCI?si=S0QraegB6LphHQR_> (Accessed: 2026-23-01).

(3) Keith Ellison-Minnesota Attorney General. National Association of Attorneys General n/d. <https://www.naag.org/attorney-general/keith-ellison/> (Accessed: 2026-24-01).