By DAVID IGNELL
My last two columns drew a comparison between the mainstream media and the description of drug dealers in The Pusher, the 1969 classic rock hit by Steppenwolf.
Part of my attraction to Steppenwolf’s song is that it offers viable solutions to ridding our streets of the “Pusher’s” deathly poison. In the final verse, the lyrics read,
Well, now if I were the president of this land
You know, I’d declare total war on the pusher man
I’d cut him if he stands, and I’d shoot him if he’d run
Yes, I’d kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun.
Something significant happened at the beginning of February. The Pusher quit saturating news channels with the inflammatory rhetoric about the Minneapolis “protests” that helped send Renee Good and Alex Pretti to an early grave. The Pusher stopped trying to make martyrs out of them.
Their deception didn’t stop because of border czar Tom Homan’s announcement that ICE was removing 700 agents from Minnesota. His announcement didn’t come until February 4.
No, in a masterful strategy, President Donald Trump declared total war on the Pusher and avoided invoking the Insurrection Act. He didn’t need to send in the 1,500 Alaska based soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division who had been placed on heightened standby status.
Sending two infantry battalions into the streets of Minneapolis to maintain law and order could have easily fanned the flames of division in our country. That response could have led to a new Kent State type incident, and it would have put Alaskan families at risk.
A comment posted to my first article by “Morrigan” was particularly insightful. Morrigan drew a distinction between low level insurgency infrastructure and networked resistance, asking,
“But could that be just what organizers intend … to provoke drastic responses, inflame the situation so it spreads everywhere and deflects attention from really problematic issues beginning with epic local government corruption where riots were first staged?”
Excellent point, Morrigan. Thank you for your contributions to The Alaska Story.
Undoubtedly, President Trump and his advisors were grappling with this dilemma. The Pusher and Minnesota public officials were brainwashing the public. Unhinged people like Alex Pretti were swallowing the lies and running around with a gun, putting federal ICE agents in danger. Something had to be done though to enable ICE officers to safely carry out their duties.
Into the foray entered Don Lemon, the disgraced, former CNN host. Lemon’s role in the outrageous and blasphemous January 18 attack on a Minneapolis church service gave the Trump Administration a late Christmas gift. Lemon singlehandedly opened a crack in the First Amendment fortress from which the Pusher has promoted its Marxist ideals for decades.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said that Lemon “went into the facility, and then he began ‘committing journalism’ as if that’s sort of a shield from being a part, an embedded part of a criminal conspiracy. It isn’t.”
On Jan. 29, Lemon was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring against constitutional rights under 18 USC Section 241. The indictment listed 29 separate “overt acts” against Lemon and eight other conspirators.
My research indicates this is the first time a member of the press has been indicted on a federal conspiracy charge for obstructing a constitutionally protected right. The grand jury’s decision must have been a huge wakeup call for the Pusher.
If ‘committing journalism’ isn’t a shield from participating in a criminal conspiracy, then the Pusher’s conference rooms over the weekend must have been nervously buzzing with the question – could they be indicted on federal conspiracy charges for interfering with ICE law enforcement operations in Minneapolis?
Not only do I think the answer to that question is yes, but it seems the Pusher Man reached the same conclusion and decided to quit fanning the riotous flames in Minneapolis.
Consider the “proof in the pudding.”
The Lemon indictment was first reported by The Washington Post on Friday, Jan. 30. Almost immediately, the Post began to rein in their anti-ICE headlines about Minneapolis operations.
By Monday, Feb. 2 they had completely disappeared. Since then and as of Feb. 10, not a single headline critical of Minneapolis ICE or promoting the martyrdom of Good and Pretti has appeared in their newsletters. The Post’s silence speaks volumes.
Through Jan. 29, the Post’s newsletters were running several of these kinds of headlines on a daily basis. After Lemon’s indictment, the Post went from 100 mph to 0 and barely left skid marks. It’s like they hit a brick wall.
Is the Post nervous about their role in the Minneapolis riots? Does direct evidence exist proving they crossed the Rubicon of passive reporting and ventured into active participation of a criminal conspiracy against ICE agents? As my previous articles have shown, there’s significant circumstantial evidence supporting that theory.
Will evidence surface showing the Post was participating with Minnesota politicians like Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who encouraged protestors to join arms and put their bodies on the line?
Was the conspiracy simply a scheme to diffuse attention from the billions of federal government fraud identified in Minnesota? Or was the intended goal loftier?
Did the participants hope to force President Trump into invoking the Insurrection Act and igniting riots around the country? Imagine the national ramifications that could have resulted.
Images of military troops on Minneapolis streets would have helped the Democrats in the upcoming midterms and the 2028 election. Containment of foreseeable riots in other sanctuary cities could have hindered investigations into the estimated $500 billion in annual fraud against the federal government.
Or was the end game international in scope? Did Communist China think that national riots would weaken President Trump’s power and clear the way for America’s internal implosion?
President Trump, who has repeatedly called Communist China one of our nation’s top threats, has framed the issue perfectly: “Either the Communists win and destroy America, or we destroy the Communists.”
Was the CCP the puppeteer?
The Post, it’s owner Jeff Bezos, Tim Walz, and Antifa all have connections to Communist China. Do all these dots connect in Minneapolis?
David Ignell was born and raised in Juneau where he currently resides. He formerly practiced law in California state and federal courts and was a volunteer analyst for the California Innocence Project. He is currently a forensic journalist and recently wrote a book on the Alaska Grand Jury.
David Ignell: Mainstream media caught in the act making Alex Pretti a martyr
6 thoughts on “David Ignell: Who was behind the riots in Minneapolis?”
Very compelling and makes sense. I am going back to re-read the first article.
“………Sending two infantry battalions into the streets of Minneapolis to maintain law and order could have easily fanned the flames of division in our country. That response could have led to a new Kent State type incident……….”
All true. But nothing has changed. The city and county remain political sanctuaries for illegal alien criminals who will not be surrendered to federal authorities after further criminal violations. As long as urban America continues to elect radical communists as their local leaders, their opportunities to degrade society and set up political/ideological flash points remain. They are straight-up, open, and unrepentant revolutionaries. Minneapolis isn’t healed. It remains filled with a cancer that has been now fed with a feeling of political victory. Jacob Frey won his third term as mayor just three months ago in a ranked choice election. Did you notice who the other three candidates were? All four candidates were DFL. This is a no-hope situation. None whatsoever. Minneapolis represents 1860 Atlanta. Atlanta’s future wasn’t James Calhoun. It was W.T. Sherman. And their choice was all theirs right up to September of 1864. The Trump administration turned off the heat in Minneapolis because his priorities are overseas. The cancer grows……………….
Respectfully disagree.
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The sheriff’s offices in eight Minnesota counties (Cass, Crow Wing, Freeborn, Itasca, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Mille Lacs and Sherburne) agreed to assist ICE’s effort to ramp up deportations.
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Freeborn, Kandiyohi and Sherburne counties have longstanding agreements with ICE to detain illegals in county jails.
(https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/11/07/eight-minnesota-counties-have-signed-agreements-with-ic
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Hope? If you’re one of 3,000 missing children ICE rescued in Minneapolis, now you got hope. If you’re a taxpayer infuriated about subsidizing Somali day care centers, now you got hope.
(https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-operation-metro-surge-located-3000-missing-migrant-children-minneapolis-emmer-says)
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1860 Atlanta? You might have a point. Don’t know many slaves were stuck in 1860 Atlanta. Don’t know how many women and children are stuck in 2026 Minneapolis-Mogadishu, enslaved by forced marriage, honor killing, child marriage, and female genital mutilation. Do know there’s 3,000 fewer.
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What if W.T. hadn’t shown up and changed things, would Atlanta be the powerhouse it is today?
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Pusher says the heat’s off because priorities are overseas, so we the people must accept this without question?
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Pusher accidentally forgot to say the heat level’s being negotiated to win hearts and minds …after the initial shock and awe showed somebody the Trump administration is serious?
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So the cancer grows. What should we do, give up hope, submit to everyone who hates America so they don’t get mad and take our stuff and mutilate our kids …or keep carving the cancer out so it doesn’t grow back so fast, ditch the damned Pusher, and ask the Almighty for guidance?
“………So the cancer grows. What should we do……….”
Hennepin County still refuses to cooperate with detainers, and it holds nearly a quarter of the state population. They have no intention of reform. While Trump might have wisely deferred troops conducting crowd control for ICE arrest operations, it’s just a delay in the inevitable. One good result in an ICE partial withdrawal is Minneapolis police being on the hook to clean up the continuing crowd misbehavior and drawing their ire.
I do not condemn Trump for capitulation. His focus on foreign affairs is well due. A world war (already started, in my opinion) is probably not a good time to set off a civil war simultaneously. Indeed, maybe yet another hot world war might be all it takes for Americans to settle down and behave more appropriately. A large conscription and free ticket to a war zone goes a long way towards full employment.
Atlanta rebuilt quickly after the civil war because of its railroad geography, but it was essentially burnt twice in two months, first by Hood burning resources as his troops were driven from the city (the fire got out of control), then by Sherman is as he left for Savannah (to destroy all resources for the Confederacy, both in Atlanta and in a 60 mile wide swath to Savannah). But this fact was driven home for the Confederates with no doubt whatsoever:
the games were over, and there was no going back for the survivors. This is a lesson due again for the far left.
https://cwnc.omeka.chass.ncsu.edu/items/show/23
The federal RICO statutes come to mind here. There may be others that apply. While the specific acts must be identified and matched against the statutes, I suspect many organizations face significant legal exposure. IMO, the hammer should fall on them. “Resistance” as it is practiced in Minnesota can exceed protections provided by the First Amendment. And the fraud and corruption there is massive.
Tangentially, it would be great fun to watch meetings of Minnesota businesses and investors as they assess the impact of the widespread chaos on outside investment and, particularly, the visitor industry. Vacationing the Minneapolis h*ll h*le is about the last choice for me. And remember: Much of the local population is proud of all of this. It will be hard to re-direct the community.
Occam’s Razor would tell us the simplest explanation is generally the correct explanation. The Governor of Minnesota and the Mayor of Minneapolis refused to follow federal law, they incited riots, they got people killed. The Trump Administration offered an out for the Governor of Minnesota and the Mayor of Minneapolis, all they needed to do was follow federal law and turn over criminal illegal aliens instead of hiding them in their communities…they are doing that now. The pushers in the media would rather not highlight their guys caved and admitted they were wrong and incited riots, and got people killed. By stopping the reporting they do not allow a win for the Trump Administration, that to them is a win. And there’s no doubt anti-American forces are at work in Minnesota and Minneapolis.