# ICE shootings: What's the end game and how does MAGA plan to get there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 15, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719 "2026-01-15T20:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/41 "2026-01-16T20:26:52Z")
So you are responding to something that wasn’t said. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/42 "2026-01-16T20:28:53Z")
If you wanna tell **Fear\_Itself** that they didn’t say what they said, take it up with them. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/43 "2026-01-16T21:54:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > “Whereas the Constitution of the United States describes a union of co-sovereign states, the president and legislature of which are chosen by the electors thereof, > > And whereas the president has abrogated the right of this state to participate in the electoral process, > > It is so ordered; this state deems the union described in the Constitution to have been dissolved, and its duties and responsibilities toward the government thereof null and void, and that government’s sovereignty over the territory and citizens of this state likewise.” You forgot the part where the dramatic speech is interrupted by a gunshot to the face. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/44 "2026-01-16T22:02:29Z")
But that would be against the law, so that _can’t_ happen. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/45 "2026-01-16T22:03:51Z")
That’s kind of the point. Any attempt by Trump to revoke democracy on the grounds of “insurrection” isn’t going to be met by a collective shrug, it’s going to result in widespread unrest and civil war. The odds in such a situation don’t favor the mentally ill unpopular dying tyrant causing economic and civil devastation in service to his ego. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/46 "2026-01-16T22:07:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > That’s kind of the point. Any attempt by Trump to revoke democracy on the grounds of “insurrection” isn’t going to be met by a collective shrug, it’s going to result in widespread unrest and civil war. No, it’ll end in a few people making dramatic sounding speeches like that, silenced by gunshots and beatings. Then everyone will collectively submit. Just as they have been. Americans do not fight back. And there won’t be a civil war, not when only one side has a military. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/47 "2026-01-16T22:12:53Z")
See the thread I started about those that claim that they will violently oppose a tyrannical government…then do absolutely nothing. If they ever do rise up it sure as hell won’t be to _oppose_ ICE and/or Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/48 "2026-01-16T22:23:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Americans do not fight back. Have you not been watching the news the last week? The people of Minneapolis are certainly fighting back. Your unwavering faith in Trump’s omnipotence and the total apathy of the American people is not borne out by current events. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And there won’t be a civil war, not when only one side has a military. I’m not proposing two armies battling head-to-head like it’s 1863. The fighting will be street-to-street and house-to-house. That “one side” is going to see mass defections because, as it turns out, most people don’t join the military to murder their fellow Americans. The end isn’t going to come from a rebel army storming DC, it’ll come when someone in the Secret Service acts on their conscience. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/49 "2026-01-16T22:24:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Where is that quote from? I believe it is not a direct quote, but imitates the style of the various declarations made by Southern states seceding from the Union that led to the US Civil War. > **[The Union Is Dissolved!, 1860 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History](https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/union-dissolved-1860)** > > The Union Is Dissolved!, 1860 | | The election of Abraham Lincoln as the sixteenth president of the United States in November 1860 led to the eventual secession of eleven slave-holding states and the formation of the Confederacy. Convinced that the... ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/50 "2026-01-17T01:23:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The people of Minneapolis are certainly fighting back. How many ICE agents have been killed? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/51 "2026-01-17T02:46:48Z")
This is one of those conflicts where the side that kills people is the losing one. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/52 "2026-01-17T03:08:54Z")
So ICE is…losing? Certainly not their jobs, their freedom or their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/53 "2026-01-17T03:18:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So ICE is…losing? Yes. As an institution they are losing what reputation they might have had. Public sentiment is strongly against them. That’s what protest is about, after all. Changing public sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/54 "2026-01-17T03:23:57Z")
The really don’t care much about their reputation as villainous racist thugs. I have to say that, so far, “winning” sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/55 "2026-01-17T03:54:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Yes. As an institution they are losing what reputation they might have had. Public sentiment is strongly against them. That’s what protest is about, after all. Changing public sentiment. This is about brute force and terror, not public opinion. People are scared of them, and they can assault people without fear of resistance or consequences to themselves. Exactly what they want. The Right _loves_ it when they are hated, it’s part of their power trip. Hatred, fear and murder; they are getting it all. “Let them hate, so long as they fear.” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/56 "2026-01-17T04:13:30Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > The belief some people have that all the white nationalist Christians will fade away when Trump is gone, are deluding themselves. They are working hard to rig the system and are not getting any pushback from the people who should be stopping this from happening. They’re not going away. As ridiculous as it might seem to us, a significant portion of Trump supporters, like my mother and my half-Korean friend, don’t think of themselves as white Christian nationalist. MAGA as a whole is held together largely by spite rather than any cohesive philosophy. It’s made up of a lot of angry, frustrated people including some fringe groups who probably don’t always get along with one another. How many voters jumped on the Trump train because they were medical skeptics who loved RFK? I’m sure when Trump kicks the bucket someone will try to take the mantle of the Red Hat. But I don’t know if there’s anyone else with his slimy charisma and rapport across a broad spectrum of gullible deplorables. His followers will fragment, though they’ll continue to be a problem, and they MAGA types won’t have the same influence they have now. Trump really isn’t the cause of all our current political problems. A healthy political atmosphere would not have allowed an opportunistic disease like Trump to gain power. We’re going to be dealing with the ramifications of Trump for decades. We’re going to be dealing with Trump supporters for a very, very long time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/57 "2026-01-17T04:23:42Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Trump really isn’t the cause of all our current political problems. A healthy political atmosphere would not have allowed an opportunistic disease like Trump to gain power. This. He’s a symptom of longstanding American political issues and a catalyst for things getting much worse. But not the cause, and him dropping dead won’t remove the issues that empowered him, nor undone the damage he’s done. And yes; the white nationalists themselves have been a major factor in the nation since before its founding. They long predate him. and will long survive him. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/58 "2026-01-17T04:46:23Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And there won’t be a civil war, not when only one side has a military I foresee a coming battle between State police and the National Guard on one side, and ICE on the other. It’s going to get bloody. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/59 "2026-01-17T05:08:48Z")
Don’t count on that. [A peaceful anti-ICE march turned ugly when the Tennessee Highway Patrol drove into the crowd, hitting at least three people - MLK50: Justice Through Journalism](https://mlk50.com/2026/01/13/anti-ice-march-tennessee-highway-patrol-drove-into-the-crowd-hitting-at-least-three-people/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPXw5xleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeOdyvpyTovsC0v8RdNMLzPdlOAxJFi5RSTjCWNApQZIv9GRWH-7ejvxUIMMw_aem_3qduUnywDp1RXEl_c1hOqQ) ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2026, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719/60 "2026-01-17T10:15:28Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > And every iteration gets worse. When was the last time anyone worried about the Tea Party Republicans? Tea Party, Neo-nazis and QAnon have more or less merged into MAGA. The different components have different “ideologies” (if that’s not an oxymoron) but are united by primitive angers and hatreds. Some are turning away from Trump because they counted on him to expose some Demoncrats who were helping Epstein traffic young girls. Expect MAGA to re-unify when Trump’s team trumps up more lies about Clintons or Hunter being the traffickers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-shootings-whats-the-end-game-and-how-does-maga-plan-to-get-there/1026719.md?page=4)