Get ready for more chaos, globally and within the U.S., as Trump claims total unchecked power to start new wars abroad while threatening to invoke Insurrection Act at home

NOTE: A version of this article was first published January 8, 2025, at Leo Hohmann’s Substack.

There’s a powder keg building in Minnesota that bears watching.

I predicted several years ago that the easiest and most likely way for the globalists to orchestrate the final takedown of America would be to embroil the country simultaneously in a world war and a civil war.

With the events of the last week, that well-scripted scenario seems more likely than ever to be the one followed by the powers that be.

President Trump has lost court cases in recent weeks involving his plans to deploy federal troops in cities and states where the mayors and governors don’t want them.

The main reason he has lost those cases is because the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids the federal government from using the U.S. military to conduct domestic law enforcement. But there is a way to get around those restrictions, and that is to invoke the federal Insurrection Act of 1807.

Given all of the power plays I see coming out of Washington, I have to wonder if the timing of the dust up in Minnesota is purely coincidental. As ICE agents swept into Minneapolis to conduct a new set of raids, one federal agent deployed lethal force against a woman, Renee Good, who made a bad decision to insert herself into a volatile situation and confront heavily armed federal agents. Whether the officer who shot her was justified or not, the shooting was guaranteed to touch off protests in the same city, Minneapolis, where the George Floyd protests started in 2020.

If these protests continue to spread and intensify, it plays right into Trump’s hands. Look for him to invoke the Insurrection Act and then it’s game on for a new level of chaos, division and internal strife. Trump has already threatened on multiple occasions to invoke the Insurrection Act, so he’s looking for an excuse to do it. Will Minneapolis provide that excuse?

We could be days or weeks away from the president invoking the Act, followed by mass arrests and scenes of violence overtaking the cities. It would be like pouring salt into America’s biggest open wound.

If he does that, the globalist power elites seeking to deal a death blow to America as we know it, will be giddy. Their dream scenario is World War III, over-extending the U.S. military on multiple fronts against the Russians, Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans, while unleashing civil war, or at least extreme civil strife, here at home.

Donald Trump is taking care of the first order of business right now with his continuous probing and poking of the bear. Apparently, he wants to find out just how far he can push his agenda of American hegemony, his administration laughing at even the suggestion that they might be bound by the Constitution or rule of law.

Trump stated this week in an interview with the New York Times, that he “doesn’t need international law.”

Asked if there were any limits on his power, Trump said:

“Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law. I’m not looking to hurt people.”

But it’s not just international law being flouted. Trump also posted his intention to ignore the War Powers Act of 1973, dismissing it as “unconstitutional.”

Vice President J.D. Vance echoed Trump, unloading on the War Powers Act, which was passed by Congress in 1973 for a very good reason in the aftermath of the Vietnam debacle. The law requires the president to get the consent of Congress before sending U.S. troops into harm’s way on foreign soil.

Vance told reporters Thursday:

“Every president, Democrat or Republican, believes the War Powers Act is fundamentally a fake and unconstitutional law. It’s not going to change anything about how we conduct foreign policy over the next couple of weeks or the next couple of months.”

The War Powers Act was passed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, overriding the veto of President Richard Nixon. Whether Trump or any previous president likes it or not, that makes it the law of the land.

But rather than try to change the law they don’t like, they simply declare it fake and ignore it! Vance’s statement just proves that our republic has already fallen. When push comes to shove, there is only one branch of government that counts, and that’s the office of the imperial presidency. The courts can be ignored. The legislature can be ignored. A single executive holds all the cards, at least when it comes to foreign policy, which directly affects domestic policy and life in this country.

This administration has already crossed red lines by sending ever-more powerful and sophisticated weapons systems to Russia’s enemy, Ukraine; it reportedly allowed the participation by the CIA in a recent assassination attempt on Putin’s life with a targeted strike on his residence; and it is now seizing Russian-flagged oil tankers on the high seas. And, according to Vance, they’re just getting started. Mexico will soon be attacked, Trump said, adding that Greenland could be taken by force if it’s not sold outright for a price. And Marco Rubio says Cuba could be next.

Trump has also renewed his pledge of 500 percent tariffs on any country that purchases Russian oil. This is directed squarely at China, India and Brazil. Economic warfare always preceeds kinetic warfare and that would indicate it’s just a matter of time before this thing goes hot.

Also on Thursday, Trump called for a massive 50 percent increase in the U.S. defense budget, from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion. The extra $500 billion will be dumped into the already bloated and unaudited Department of Defense, which Trump appropriately renamed the Department of War.

Trump is demanding a war-time budget that places our country on a war footing economically, without a declaration of war. What could possibly go wrong?

Former presidential candidate Ron Paul responded to Trump’s massive war budget and ramped-up foreign adventurism in a recent podcast, stating:

“Unfortunately, we have an administration that’s getting more neoconservative every day when it comes to foreign policy. And we also have an economic policy which is not free markets, as we were told it would be like… Look at this deficit. It’s going up, up, up.”

Paul said America is run by crony capitalism, not actual free-market capitalism. The extra $500 billion is not money they are going to spend, it’s money they are going to borrow, and that cost will be pinned directly on the middle class and working class in the form of increased inflation. They will simply print out of thin air more money to cover the extra $500 billion.

It’s interesting that, in response to all of Trump’s global aggression, the Russians and Chinese have declined to mount any serious pushback, although that may be ending soon as the Russians showed last night what they’re capable of doing with their Oreshnik hypersonic missiles. I think they were sending a message not so much to Kiev but to Washington, London and Paris.

But in Trump we have a leader who will keep pushing the envelope as far as he can. This is how wars start. One power backs another power into a corner, underestimating its abilities to punch back. At some point, the cornered power realizes, hey, this aggressor is not going to back off. The only way out of the corner is to shoot your way out. Russia is nearing that point, so Trump needs to be careful. But will he?

It appears the actions by Trump are meant to provoke and I believe the provocations will ultimately succeed in baiting Putin and Xi into taking some kind of strong action. When that happens, the Americans and the British will point the finger and say, see, we told you they were dangerous enemies that need to be confronted. In actuality, it was the provocateurs who were the dangerous ones all along, recklessly backing their opponent into a corner.

But the globalists pulling the puppet strings in Washington won’t be satisfied with World War III. They also want civil war or something close to it to break out here on the home front.

That’s where the situation now brewing in Minnesota bears watching. It could be the spark that ignites a civil war, or at least a mass nationwide civil uprising that requires a drastic response to put down. Yes, I’m thinking martial law and all that would come with it.

All of it, from the aggressive pursuit of foreign wars to the expansion of federal power internally in U.S. cities, ends with Trump wielding unchecked power. This will result in less freedom and less respect for the Constitution, which is already at an all-time low.

Look for First Amendment rights to come under further attack in 2026. Instead of from the left, like we saw under Biden, the new attacks will come from the right. And the conservative media outlets that have cheered on Trump’s aggressive power plays will also cheer him on as he cracks down on dissent and totally obliterates the First Amendment. The dissidents will simply be dismissed as “Democrats” or “leftists,” with no concern that when a Democrat president replaces Trump, they will be the next ones to be censored and silenced. If you thought Biden was bad, look out when Gavin Newsom comes to town.

Once the First Amendment has been neutralized, look for the rest of the rights spelled out in our Bill of Rights to fall like dominoes. Starting with the Second Amendment.

Will we the people lie down for the continued usurpation of our rights? If what we see playing out in the UK is any indication, with around 10,000 arrests in the last year of people who simply put an opinion on social media that the government didn’t like, I’m not optimistic. Some of the Brits have been hit with prison sentences longer that those meted out for rapists and other violent criminals.

So far, I see no indication that Donald Trump will refrain from going down that same path. An autocrat will be autocratic. Until challenged by the majority will.

The best way to protect and defend our freedom of speech is to practice freedom of speech. Do not hold back, do not pull punches. Speak out now, because once it’s gone there’s no getting it back.

As an independent journalist specializing in globalism, religion, technocracy and world affairs, Leo Hohmann depends solely his readers for support. He gets no government handouts, corporate ads or sponsorships. If you appreciate these updates and wish to support the site, you may send a donation of any size c/o Leo Hohmann, PO Box 291, Newnan, GA 30264, or donate via credit card below.