Fifty-five years ago, Democrat activist and community organizer Saul Alinsky published Rules for Radicals. Its stated purpose was not reform, persuasion, or compromise, but disruption — manufacturing chaos, provoking conflict, and inciting revolution as a means of political change. 

Alinsky was explicit: power is seized, not earned, and the ends always justify the means. More than half a century later, the book has not faded into obscurity. It remains the Left’s operating manual — its tactical guide and its justification for tearing down institutions in the name of “progress.” 

Alinsky prescribed a deliberate three-step process for political change — one rooted not in persuasion, but in pressure. We are watching Alinsky’s guerrilla warfare techniques play out in real time in Minneapolis right now.

The first step is to create a crisis.

Alinsky argued that in a complex society, people do not act until they are forced to. The organizer’s job is to trigger a crisis by “rubbing raw the sores of discontent.” The crisis must be intensified to generate motivation.

Over the past year, Democrats nationwide have relentlessly vilified ICE agents for doing their lawful job — enforcing federal immigration law. Agents tasked with apprehending illegal aliens are portrayed not as law enforcement, but as villains, fascists, and moral monsters. This rhetoric has not merely poisoned public discourse; it has actively encouraged confrontation between federal agents and radical protesters.

Even as this Democrat-designed and Democrat-sustained conflict has resulted in real-world tragedy, Minnesota’s leadership continues to escalate rather than de-escalate. Tim Walz has repeatedly attempted to delegitimize ICE itself, asserting that its agents are “not law enforcement” — a claim that is both false and dangerously inflammatory.

Never mind that illegal presence in the United States is itself a violation of federal law, or that many individuals apprehended by ICE are repeat offenders charged with serious crimes including rape, assault, and homicide. By erasing these facts, Democratic leaders shift blame away from criminal behavior and onto those tasked with enforcing the law.

Crucially, this crisis is not universal. In states where local authorities cooperate with ICE, deportation numbers are significantly higher and enforcement proceeds with low to nonexistent public disorder.

In Minnesota, Democratic leadership has chosen confrontation over cooperation. By encouraging hostility toward ICE and refusing meaningful coordination with federal authorities, they have manufactured a volatile environment — one where enforcement becomes dangerous, chaos becomes predictable, and outrage becomes the objective.

This is not accidental. It is textbook Alinsky: provoke, polarize, and escalate until crisis itself becomes the lever of power.

The second step is to blame the target and personalize it.

Alinsky famously instructed organizers to “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Institutions are abstract. By isolating a single person or group and turning them into the embodiment of evil, the organizer simplifies the conflict and focuses public rage where it can do the most damage. 

In Minnesota, that target has been ICE — and by extension, the individual agents tasked with enforcing the law. Rather than supporting the rule of law, Democrat leaders have inverted reality — demonizing the American agents carrying out federal statutes. These men and women are portrayed as Nazis rather than public servants — an accusation so obscene it would once have ended a serious political career. 

At the same time, the individuals ICE is charged with apprehending are recast as victims, saints, or symbols of moral righteousness — no matter their criminal histories. Violent offenders are defended. Illegal status is ignored. Responsibility is shifted entirely away from lawbreakers and onto those enforcing the law. 

This is not accidental rhetoric. It is deliberate personalization. By turning ICE agents into the face of evil, Democratic leaders focus public anger on a human target rather than a policy debate. Moral clarity is replaced with emotional manipulation, and law enforcement becomes the enemy.

The third step is the ultimate objective — to force the “solution.” Once the crisis has paralyzed the target and public pressure has peaked, the organizer presents the solution. This solution, however, is framed not as one option among many, but as the only path forward: accept it or face escalating chaos.

This is the Left’s only solution: President Donald Trump must remove ICE from Minneapolis and effectively cease deportation operations nationwide.

Those enforcing the law are blamed, those breaking it are excused, and the public is told that the only way to stop the disorder is to surrender authority.

This is not accidental disorder. It is intentional political warfare, designed to use instability as leverage until the Democrats get what they want — illegal voters imported under the Biden regime to give them political power.

Drew Allen is an author, columnist and host of ‘the Drew Allen Show’ podcast. His latest book is For Christ and Country: the Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk.