As winter approached in 1941, German forces attacked Moscow. It was a massive maneuver — part of literally the largest military operation in history — and one that Hitler believed was vital for the success of his fascist empire. In fact, however, proved to be not just one of the most misguided military initiatives of history, but also the very failure that brought about his ultimate ruin.
In the dead of winter in 2026, ICE forces invaded Minneapolis. It was a massive maneuver, and one that Trump believes is vital for the success of his fascist empire. Per capita, the ICE operation in the Twin Cities is the equivalent of 25 Operation Midway Blitzes happening simultaneously, with 0.8 agents per 1000 residents.* In fact, however, this too seems to be a miscalculation of a magnitude the administration is equally slow in realizing. And perhaps — may it be so, Lord Jesus — it too will be the very failure that brings about their ultimate ruin.
As I write, clergy friends and colleagues who serve the Twin Cities population and who have flown there in solidarity and service to Christ and neighbor are posting about gearing up for the march that will soon take place. As they layer up to face windchills in the –20s all day, they share stories about defending day cares and markets with whistles and cell phones — grandmothers and priests and rabbis literally routing these Temu commandos like modern-day Gideons in the battle against the Midianites (Judges 7).
Back in the day of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and on account of his influence, the SCLC adopted as its motto “Saving the Soul of America.” At times in his own writings — such as in the posthumously published essay “A Testament of Hope” — he slightly revised his language to claim the task of “redeeming the soul of America.”
Near the end of that essay, King writes:
“For some, the lies had lost their grip and an internal disquiet grew. Poverty and discrimination were undeniably real; they scarred the nation; they dirtied our honor and diminished our pride. An insistent question defied evasion: Was security for some being purchased at the price of degradation for others?… Thus was born — particularly in the young generation — a spirit of dissent that ranged from a superficial disavowal of the old values to total commitment to wholesale, drastic, and immediate social reform. Yet all of it was dissent. Their voice is still a minority; but united with millions of black voices, it has become the sound of distant thunder increasing in volume with the gathering of storm clouds. This dissent is America’s hope.”
He concludes the essay like this:
“A voice out of Bethlehem two-thousand years ago said that all men are equal. It said right would triumph. Jesus of Nazareth wrote no books; he owned no property to endow him with influence. He had no friends in the courts of the powerful. But he changed the course of mankind with only the poor and the despised. Naïve and unsophisticated enough we may be, the poor and despised of the twentieth century will revolutionize this era… We will fight for human justice, brotherhood, secure peace, and abundance for all. When we have won these — in a spirit of unshakable nonviolence, then, in luminous splendor, the Christian era will truly begin.”
We shall overcome some day.
mls
*For the math minded: the Twin Cities metro has had deployed ~3000 agents to a population of 3.7 million (= 0.8 agents/1000 residents). In Operation Midway Blitz, the Chicago metro saw ~300 agents deployed to a population of 9.4 million (=0.003 agents/1000 residents).