…but will it? Maybe. But it’s up to us, the American people.
The situation in Minnesota has escalated to a new and very dangerous place in the last couple of days. A place whose path it’s on is a terrible and horrible path. I’ll touch on that in a minute.
There are two diametrically opposing sides battling in Minnesota at the moment. Both sides have foot soldiers, those doing the work on the streets. Those folks have supervisors directing that work. Both sides also have leadership providing direction and resources. Then both sides also have a fourth level. I’ll touch on that in a minute.
Both sides are doing what they feel is right, whether what they do is right or not. One side is trying to enforce the law, and detain and deport those who are in our country illegally, many of which are criminals committing terrible crimes against Americans. The other side is committed to protecting humans, including children and families, along with their human and civil rights. Both sides can make a solid case that what they are doing is right. But both sides are in direct opposition to one another. Dangerously so.
The recent escalated violence that I spoke of at the beginning is the attack on I.C.E. agents in a restaurant and in their hotel. Based on the abundance of video that I saw, had the agents gone out into the street, or had the attackers made it inside…the agents could have been badly beaten, possibly sent to the hospital. Or, maybe worse, killed by the angry mob; the violence was that apparent. That is not acceptable to reasonable, rational Americans.
The other side could be seen as justifying as an “eye for an eye”, but that is simply not right. Plain and simple, not right. Granted there has been unacceptable violence and killings on the part of I.C.E., I get that, I saw it. But those instances are matters for the judicial system to handle…whether criminal or civil, let that process play out.
I am aware that there has been an olive branch extended by Trump thru a representative. He proposed a deal and led the way by removing CBP Gregory Bovino, a terrible leader, who was head of the failed Minnesota operation. Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to sort it out. And Homan has already met with Minnesota Governor, Minneapolis mayor and local police chief. Hopefully that meeting is proving to be helpful in providing a resolution. Additionally, the chief federal judge in Minnesota has called for a meeting with the acting I.C.E. director to appear and explain apparent violations of both policy and law on the part of I.C.E. Again, a great step forward to resolving this tense situation, thank you President Trump.
Now…for those street soldiers on both sides…THE VIOLENCE MUST STOP!!
The protesters have a Constitutional right to peacefully protest…fine, do so. Beat your drums, blow your whistles, wave your signs and upside down flags…and take all the video you want, I think you should. That is your right, exercise it. But don’t physically interfere with I.C.E. agents doing their job. Just don’t. And for God’s sake don’t follow agents to their hotels and appear ready to do them grave bodily harm. Just don’t!
I.C.E. agents do your job. Do as Trump said before he was elected…find, detain, and deport illegal aliens that are murderers, rapists, child molesters, drug dealers, and thieves. But for goodness sake, leave non-criminal fathers and their 5-year old children alone. You have better things to do…go get the actual criminals. Stop with the “dog-pile” violence, step out of the way of a moving car, and more than anything…stop killing people!
As for the supervisors and leadership of both sides…get a grip on reality and see where this path lies. Stop pushing your people into civil war. Stop justifying the violence. Stop calling I.C.E. agents gestapo and Nazis, or worse. Stop calling protesters domestic terrorists and law enforcement assassins. Recognize that I.C.E. agents have a lawful duty to perform that helps protects American citizens. Recognize that people have a Constitutional right to peacefully protest. Both sides need to recognize that mistakes will be made on both sides, be reasonable about reacting to those mistake. People are human, they make mistakes, be understanding of that.
At the beginning I mentioned different levels; the foot soldiers, the supervisors, the leadership, and a fourth level. Let me explain…
The path all of this is on ends up in a very dark and evil place. A place that all reasonable people do not want anything to do with. A place that destroys America and is a truly ugly and evil place…civil war. No one should want that, no one. It will
kill and destroy everything good about America, it will destroy America forever if we end up there. No one should want that, but some do…for their own selfish and despicable purposes, evil purposes. These are not reasonable and decent people. Don’t let them win and manipulate us there.
The fourth level, those that both want and are orchestrating the violence at the fourth level, are what I call the “puppet masters”. They pull the strings, they are the power behind the curtain. They are the ones that are playing the tune that the all levels on both sides are dancing to. These people want nothing good or decent for America…they want it’s destruction. They are few in number but have virtually unlimited resources. They use those resources to have others do their dirty work. Don’t let them win. They want to see America, as we know it, destroyed. Plain and simple…America destroyed…along with most Americans.
America is the last place on earth to exist where there is still some semblance of rights, freedoms, and liberties…a good and decent place with good and decent people. When America falls, there is no place like it left on earth. The light will go out.
Both sides of the illegal immigrant situation in Minnesota are following their beliefs, both feel a legal and moral obligation to do so. Both are right. But, if both sides allow themselves to be manipulated and use violence as tool to achieve their goals, then both sides will lose…along with the rest of America. We all will lose.
The violence must stop. The hatred must stop. The excessive force must stop. The harassment must stop. Human dignity and reasonableness must prevail. Justice and our laws must win. We can’t allow the dark forces, the fourth level, to win…we are better than that. We, together, as Americans must win. We, together, as decent human beings must win. And we can.
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Eric Schwalm
“As a former Special Forces Warrant Officer with multiple rotations running counterinsurgency ops—both hunting insurgents and trying to separate them from sympathetic populations—I’ve seen organized resistance up close. From Anbar to Helmand, the pattern is familiar: spotters, cutouts, dead drops (or modern equivalents), disciplined comms, role specialization, and a willingness to absorb casualties while bleeding the stronger force slowly.
What’s unfolding in Minneapolis right now isn’t “protest.” It’s low-level insurgency infrastructure, built by people who’ve clearly studied the playbook.
Signal groups at 1,000-member cap per zone. Dedicated roles: mobile chasers, plate checkers logging vehicle data into shared databases, 24/7 dispatch nodes vectoring assets, SALUTE-style reporting (Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment) on suspected federal vehicles. Daily chat rotations and timed deletions to frustrate forensic recovery. Vetting processes for new joiners. Mutual aid from sympathetic locals (teachers providing cover, possible PD tip-offs on license plate lookups). Home-base coordination points. Rapid escalation from observation to physical obstruction—or worse.
This isn’t spontaneous outrage. This is C2 (command and control) with redundancy, OPSEC hygiene, and task organization that would make a SF team sergeant nod in recognition. Replace “ICE agents” with “occupying coalition forces” and the structure maps almost 1:1 to early-stage urban cells we hunted in the mid-2000s.
The most sobering part? It’s domestic. Funded, trained (somewhere), and directed by people who live in the same country they’re trying to paralyze law enforcement in. When your own citizens build and operate this level of parallel intelligence and rapid-response network against federal officers—complete with doxxing, vehicle pursuits, and harassment that’s already turned lethal—you’re no longer dealing with civil disobedience. You’re facing a distributed resistance that’s learned the lessons of successful insurgencies: stay below the kinetic threshold most of the time, force over-reaction when possible, maintain popular support through narrative, and never present a single center of gravity.
I spent years training partner forces to dismantle exactly this kind of apparatus. Now pieces of it are standing up in American cities, enabled by elements of local government and civil society. That should keep every thinking American awake at night.
Not because I want escalation. But because history shows these things don’t de-escalate on their own once the infrastructure exists and the cadre believe they’re winning the information war.
We either recognize what we’re actually looking at—or we pretend it’s still just “activism” until the structures harden and spread.
Your call, America. But from where I sit, this isn’t January 2026 politics anymore. It’s phase one of something we’ve spent decades trying to keep off our own soil.
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Interesting…couple thoughts regarding this man’s opinion piece:
#1 – I looked into Eric Schwalm (claiming Retired Green Beret (CW4)) and I found this: “A post attributed to “Eric Schwalm” on the social platform captured in the reporting explicitly identifies the poster as “a former Special Forces Warrant Officer with multiple rotations running counterinsurgency ops” and applies that experience to analyze unrest in Minneapolis, describing patterns the author says mirror Anbar and Helmand operations. That text is a primary source for the claim but, within the set of documents provided for this analysis, stands alone — there is no accompanying military service record, biography, or official confirmation attached to the account in these materials.”
I could find nothing that confirmed that Schwalm was who he says he is. The only Eric Schwalm came back as an employee at a consulting firm at Bain & Company. With no military service record. Eric Schwalm may be who he says he is but no one online could confirm he is who he says he is.
I did find a person using his name on “X”. Nothing on his account confirmed who he says he is, but he claims SOF and military background. I read a bunch of his posts…whoa. This guy is seriously jacked on violence. He is gun-ho about everything military…except when he is criticizing all the military bigwigs who don’t like Trump…then it is a conspiracy. But again, I can find nothing online that confirms who he claims to be.
#2 – This article only represents what his opinion is…nothing more. I’ve read multiple articles and watched multiple videos lately of veterans who have condemned DHS & ICE and the broader Trump administration on their tactics. So who do you want to listen to and who do you want to believe? It is all opinion…on both sides of the issue.
#3 – There have been multiple former ICE agents and former DHS employees who have criticized what is going on currently in MN. An FBI agent resigned in protest over the FBI investigation handling of the shooting of Renee Good. So do we believe them since they have far more experience and credibility regarding MN than a vet who is not involved in MN?
#4 – I don’t know about anyone else but I don’t need to have someone I don’t know tell me what I should think about ICE & MN. Especially people who are not using the actual definition of “insurgency” and other terms or even actual facts. I believe what I believe based on my own research and my own viewing and my own analysis of video. I for sure put zero credibility in people’s version of events when they are on either the radical left or radical right. Yeah, basically meaning I can think for myself.
#5 – Confirmation bias is a damning thing. But in all things political now it seems to rule the day…unfortunately. That is why I am not part of the right nor part of the left…I will look at individual issues and make my opinion based on what I figure out…not on political ideology or bias. And I try very hard to temper all of my opinions with Christ’s teachings.
#6 – Back during my Vietnam War era days when I was in the military handling classified intelligence I remember the group called “Vietnam Veterans Against the War”. Republicans hated them, “patriots” despised them, most of the public thought they were cowards and pinkos. Yeah, problem…they were right…so were all the other protestors who were against the war. A lot of the those protestors were killed for standing up for what they believed…including May 1970 when there were 13 casualties, all kids, shot by National Guard troops at Kent State. It took a couple of decades but it turned out all those protestors were right…the Vietnam War was wrong…and almost 60,000 military lives were wasted. So just because a group protests doesn’t mean they are wrong just because they are protesting, even destructively so.
#7 – Of course there are organizers behind the MN demonstrations, protests, and the attacks on law enforcement that I’ve pointed out was so wrong. Does it make all those organizers wrong or terrorists? No, of course not…to think they are is absurd. Do some of them have evil intents, of course. Are some of them revolutionaries? Maybe. So remember this if you want to brand all these folks terrorist or insurgents…no federal law enforcement person has been seriously injured and none killed. But ICE and DHS can’t say the same about the other side.
#8 – Is this just “activism”? No, of course not. Many of these folks are just that, a few aren’t. It is the few that have evil intent that we should be concerned about…and their handlers. Should we be killing people that are absolutely no imminent threat (which is the legal standard)? No reasonable person, no sane person, no Christian wants to see people killed in America like this…none! Multiple video versions of both killings show, clearly show, that neither posed a threat, let alone an imminent threat. Who in their right mind wants to see people killed during a demonstration or protest????
#9 – Thank you Eric Schwalm for sharing your opinion. It was enlightening. Based on who you say you are I struggle to give much credence on your views or credibility on your interpretation of events and people. Based on both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars…they were a complete waste of time, military personnel, and money. We destroyed two countries for nothing…and we lost both wars. Based on your online posts representing your views…you are very radically right-wing and in love with all things military and violence. IMO…you do not represent the political ground that would be conducive to my view of our Founding Fathers. You views appear to more appropriately match those of the British Empire who wanted to crush the colonists and violently subjugate them to the will of the King.
#10 – Emotions are running very high…absurdly so…on both sides. Both sides want to blame the other…one side is fine with killing, the other wants to kill. Both sides are wrong. The violence is wrong! The US is being manipulated into civil war by all those behind the curtain…on both sides. That is what they want…to have us tear each other apart. And so many people are playing right into their hands. Bias and blindness will lead us into that civil war.
Turn our hearts to Christ….and then pray.
AH
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So here’s my question – the people engaging in these protests are not in fact protesting, they are in open insurrection to the government and laws of this country. Should we care if they are treated without mercy? Paging General Sherman to the white courtesy phone.
Look I have never been a fan of the feds and their tactics, dating to Little Rock in the 50’s in my lifetime and the aforementioned “activity” of Mr. Lincoln in my family’s past. I think your point is that there has to be a middle ground that can be reached, but when have the lawless left ever been satiated? And which laws do they get to ignore to make them happy?
I don’t think the country that would allow a solution exists anymore – you win or you don’t.
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“open insurrection to the government”…I think not. Law breaking on both sides…yes, absolutely…mostly the protestors. Blowing a whistle and holding up an anti-ICE sign is not “insurrection”.
They are humans and should be treated as such. The people that are citizens should be treated in accordance with the Constitution as well as with human dignity….and not shot to death.
General Sherman was at best a war criminal…actually, nothing more than a brutal, murderous animal. <please read We are a Warlike People !>
I didn’t call for a middle ground…I called for everyone to stop the violence before it leads to civil war. And that would play directly into the hands of TPTB.
The protestors need to abide by the law…Constitutional law. And even then, if they break the law they still need due process…not ICE agents that act as judge, jury, and executioner. That is not due process, nor even in the realm of decency.
I agree…the country no longer has a true solution…we have lost our way. And the violence that we see, on both sides, is a result of that lost way.
I would like everyone to read the words to America the Beautiful…there is a clue in there on how we should behave. And it has to do with “mercy”. <please read America the Beautiful !>
AH
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Organized and fully funded “protest” groups are the very definition of an insurgency and thus, in open rebellion. You don’t strike me as naive, but I do beleive you have an historic view of the state of our country and not one reflective of the color revolution shock troops our mistaken President Obama introduced and the brain addled Biden supplemented with 15-20 million slave troops.
They want a Chavez, they should get a Pinochet. Good luck inthe coming times.
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Your definition of “insurgency” is highly inaccurate according the actual legal term(s)…not even close. By your definition…the Jan6th mob were terrorists in open rebellion and thus should have been hanged for treason. And yet, Trump pardoned them. So, according to your use of the term insurgency…what now? And those protesting in MN are not attacking the capital at least. Have you thought that through?
I don’t consider myself naive, but maybe so. I am more ideological by my way of thinking. I believe in Christ for morals and the Founding Fathers for my political principles.
Their views on central government were very clear…more so regarding state’s rights. And they were for sure not authoritarian. And Washington himself warned us against political parties. Yet, here we are.
A balanced view of life in the US is difficult at best, impossible most of the time. Reality has a habit of clashing with perception.
All the best…we will all need buckets of luck and amazing faith in the days ahead.
And just for the record…did you find fault with me calling for a stop to the violence?
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