Becoming Ungovernable
Internal War(s) and Understanding the NSPM-7
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. —Benjamin Franklin
Context
A day after Renée Nicole Good was executed on January 7, 2026, in what was a misgoynistic and queerphobic hate crime by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem appeared at One World Trade Center in New York on January 8, 2026, and stood in front of a podium with a slogan that read: “ONE OF OURS, ALL OF YOURS.” This is brazen, fascistic rhetoric just a day after the government murdered an American citizen, and—I can’t believe this needs to be said—no one, documented or undocumented, should be murdered by these agents. The government then went on the defensive to cover it up; Noem sent a clear message that, if you kill one of them, they will kill all of yours, which I take it to mean your family members. Revenge and fascist spectacle are their modus operandi, and they’re proudly advertising it. These fantatics live and breathe violence, and, if you spend any time listening to the right-wing ecosphere, we are their enemies, so brace yourselves for what’s in store.
One such fanatic, Jonathan Ross, was emboldened as well, and more so, probably, when, on September 25, 2025, President Donald Trump signaled to him and other ICE agents that it was open season on Americans by signing an Executive Order (EO) called NSPM-7. That EO deemed any American a “domestic terrorist” if they expressed:
anti-Americanism
anti-capitalistism
anti-Christianism
support the overthrow of the United States Government
extremism on migration
extremism on race
extremism on gender
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on religion, and
hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on morality.
This EO, as I said in my earlier piece linked above, means that “Trump and his apparatchiks are clearly preparing for an internal war against a phantom they’ve created, targeting the general population, which they’ve deemed most, if not all, ‘Antifa,’ otherwise understood to be anyone who happens to disagree with their policies on any level. If you publicly disavow or mock them, it appears that there will be hell to pay. What that means remains to be seen.” Well, now, we know what they mean. Internal wars have begun, and they will spread to a city near you.
Let’s, however, return a moment to Good’s murder. It’s important to note that Good was not the first victim to be executed or shot. On September 12, 2025, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, 38, was murdered in Chicago, Illinois, after taking his two young sons to school. Marimar Martinez, 30, was shot five times in Chicago, Illinois, on October 4, 2025—she survived. Keith Porter, 43, was murdered by an off-duty ICE agent on December 31, 2025, in Northbridge, California. Two other victims, Luis David Nino-Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, were shot in Portland, Oregon, on January 8, 2026, by U.S. Border Patrol.
What makes Good’s shooting noteworthy is that she was a white woman. That said, MAGA has now gone into overdrive, declaring her a “race traitor.” She’s also, naturally, being attacked for being a lesbian. For those of us who are not in the MAGA cult, and who have listened to others, the murder indicates a new line has been crossed, something that Black activists have warned us about for quite some time: No one now is safe, and that includes MAGA devotees. And if it couldn’t get any worse, it already has.
As Jase Short writes in his essay, “It is Happening Here,” introducing us to the nightmarish situation unfolding in Minneapolis:
Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.
Reading this, one assumes we are talking about Minneapolis right now, where the largest federal action targeting immigration in US history is taking place. The words above, however, should have quotation marks and ought to be attributed to their author—Anne Frank, January 13th, 1943.
Right now, as I write this piece and Short indicates using Frank’s words from 1943, ICE is going door-to-door, entering houses, which is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment, and attempting to abduct people. They are also tearing people out of cars, smashing automobiles’ windows, rendering some unconscious, and then shoving them into their vans and driving away. As I wrote a moment ago, these masked, armed men, in their unmarked cars with tinted windows, will soon be coming to where you live. Dictator Donald Trump has unleashed them on the nation to kick off internal wars, and as W. A. Lawrence explains in her essay, “Federal Agents are Breaking American Communities by Design,” they are doing it intentionally. Lawrence explains, “Immigration enforcement is the cover used to justify a taxpayer-funded campaign of terror that empties schools, annihilates small businesses, traumatizes families, and deliberately breaks American communities while calling the wreckage governance. This is war on American communities.”
Those who are aware of what’s happening have shown up in their communities, even in ones not under attack, to express their outrage over the murder of Good and the attack on immigrant communities. These are Americans who know what’s at stake, acutely in tune with the fact that democracy is in peril. Particularly heartening and noteworthy are the brave people of Minneapolis who refused to be cowed by their occupiers, even after Good was killed in cold blood; they poured into the streets to denounce her murder. They also support one another through mutual aid and neighborhood watches—they look out for and care for one another in the face of extreme adversity.
This intentional and deliberate terrorizing is intensifying, and we all need to be prepared.
What’s Next?
There is a lot for all of us to process right now. Fascism is here, and it is on the march. Some of us are being directly terrorized already, and many communities have suffered for a long time with their loved ones being disappeared. Then there are those of us who are either witnessing kidnappings or murders of people in our own country on our phones or in person. For many, this new reality seems unreal. But it isn’t anymore. Still, it’s a lot to process. We’re experiencing tremendous collective trauma, all the while being expected to carry on with our usual routines like it’s business as usual, when it’s anything but that. Give yourself some grace, hold your loved ones close, and determine what’s best for you in these circumstances. What one person chooses won’t be what someone else decides to do. What’s most important is that we look out for one another and stand in unity. The more unified we are, the harder it will be for them to break us.
Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and other cities that have been invaded and attacked are most likely small previews of what’s to come. If you live in a major metropolitan city, it’s worth preparing now so that you aren’t caught by surprise. Contact community leaders who have already done the work. Get in touch with people who work on mutual aid. Locate those who help immigrant communities in our area. Stay connected to your neighbors, or begin to build those relationships now. Locate reliable news sources (stop watching mainstream media) and activists in cities such as Minneapolis to learn how they’re countering ICE, study their tactics, assess whether these are effective for where you live, and determine whether they have already been adopted in your communities. ( your weirdo friend and Christopher Armitage are invaluable resources here on Substack.)
Many people are asking if they should arm themselves. The answer is a tricky one. There are groups, like the Black Panthers, who believe in arming themselves and protecting their communities. Others are vehemently opposed to the idea. I will be honest, I struggle with it daily now. I have not yet decided. I tend to lean toward nonviolence, but it is difficult, which means I am not armed. I will, however, make this point and explain why I have waffled so much: The government outguns us dramatically, not to mention all the other murderous machinery they have backing them. That said, this is also a government that has failed miserably in almost every war campaign they’ve attempted since Vietnam, so take that for what it is. (And Russia, with its massive army, has fared very poorly in Ukraine, so insurgencies do work.) After all, as all these gun-toting, ammosexual MAGA folks like to remind us, there is the Second Amendment. But again, I am not dispensing advice on whether you should or should not take up arms. It’s a very personal decision.
Since we’re on the topic of a possible insurgency, full-blown attack by the U.S. government, and MAGA cultists, let’s assume Trumpland decided to go to war with us, and I mean full-out war. Do you really think, especially with what I just mentioned above, that it would work out well for them? Consider: We are a country of 350 million people. There are over 400 million guns in this country. Additionally, the country is highly varied topographically—there are deserts, swamps, forests, and mountains. Moreover, the country is vast. That’s not to mention all the major cities, airports, etc. In addition, if they attempted to use the military against us, several problems would arise. First, with 1.3 million active-duty members, it’s too small to occupy all major cities and cover other terrain. Even if they did manage to occupy, there would likely be desertions if it came down to orders to shoot and kill American citizens. Yes, some would comply, but many would refuse. ICE has approximately 60,000 agents, so good luck with those measly numbers. Finally, occupations, as history reveals, are wildly unpopular, even if the occupier is your own government. All in all, imagining this scenario, I simply don’t see how it ends well for the Trump administration, even with their fascist bootlickers in tow.
To be sure, they will continue to ramp up their occupations, and we will likely, unfortunately, see more bloodshed, so it’s better to be prepared than caught with our pants down. That’s why it’s more important than ever to get connected at the local level. While it’s fine and dandy to have connections on social media, these are not where our power lies. Our power is in face-to-face contact with our neighbors. It’s building, fostering, and maintaining those relationships. Besides, the techbros control all this tech junk, including this platform I’m writing on now, and they're pretty intent on gunking up the works as we’re already seeing, so what’s best for us in terms of preparation is knowing what’s happening on the ground in our own areas. By doing so, we can all become patriotically ungovernable because fascists run things right now.
This fascist regime will not stop until we stop it. But here’s what we have that they don’t have: each other. That’s huge. We have one another. Stay true to each other. Look out for each other. Love one another. And as the saying goes, hope for the best, but be ready for the worst.
Most importantly, stay safe. We’ll survive this tyranny. Let’s do it for Good.
💙💪🏻🔥💯🥰
Lock her up and throw away the key, along with her ridiculous cowgirl outfits!