Protests Needed to Demand ‘End Investigation of Congresswoman Now!’
The vindictive Department of Homeland Security raid on the home of Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar on October 12, 2026, was a dangerous escalation of Trump’s drive toward absolutism. It was an outrageous attack on basic democratic rights in the United States. A judge had signed a warrant for the search, but that did not make it legal or just.
The US president’s call days earlier for Minnesotans to “fight back” against the “Somalians” was an incitement to violence and exposed the xenophobic nature of the latest attack on Omar. The raid itself may not have directly invoked the memory of mobs in white hoods terrorizing Black families. But Trump’s supporters at an Ohio rally chanting “deport, deport” hours after the raid, in response to his racist comments about Omar and Michigan Democratic nominee for US senate Abdul el-Sayed, certainly did.
As the Wall Street Journal reported on October 14, “The Trump administration’s investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar (Democrat, Minnesota) is aimed at building a case to strip her of her US citizenship and ultimately deport her.”
Could there be a clearer example of the US president going after his opponents? This attack also gives another lie to Trump’s claim that the ICE assault on immigrants is aimed at violent criminals, a claim that was already in tatters and never had even the slightest pretense of truth.
EDITORIAL
This was not the first assault on Omar. As World-Outlook pointed out at the beginning of this year, Trump’s vilification of the entire Somali American community in Minnesota was behind the physical attack on Omar that occurred during a January 27 town hall meeting in Minneapolis.
The White House justifies its persecution of Omar and her family based on previously debunked claims that her father committed fraud when he applied for Omar’s citizenship after the family fled Somalia and sought asylum in the United States. Today, of the roughly 110,000 Somalis living in Minnesota, nearly 60 percent were born in this country and some 87% of the remainder are naturalized citizens like the congresswoman. This means that nearly 95% of Somalis in Minnesota are US citizens. This is who Trump is hounding.
Since taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump and his backers have taken a chain saw to the norms of bourgeois democracy, in particular those enshrined in the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the US constitution. The attacks are becoming more frequent and potent.
Violations of the right to due process and habeas corpus have upended the lives of tens of thousands of immigrants, as well as the lives of citizens and legal residents who have stood up to defend them.
The deployment of National Guard and masked thugs in US cities to terrorize working-class neighborhoods nationwide has become part of daily life for millions.
Unchecked abuse of power
Hailing the use of military force to police US cities, as Trump did when he told generals and admirals a year ago that it is important to quell “the enemy within,” was an ominous sign of the president’s unchecked abuse of power.
The use of federal conspiracy charges and allegations of being agents of a foreign power levied against those who oppose US foreign policy are now on the rise.
Attacks on voting rights, rationalized by an unrelenting campaign of lies about “voter fraud,” have spread well-founded fears that the White House and the GOP may try to overturn the midterms or other upcoming elections.
Trump has sued the New York Times and other news outlets multiple times and banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from White House briefings until a judge overturned the ban. He has labeled the reporting of leaks to the press from government sources about illegal actions or corruption as “treasonous” and has said he thinks the sources of those leaks “should be shot.” He has demanded the firing of commentators he doesn’t like.
Brendan Carr, who Trump appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), threatened to pull the licenses of broadcasters who overtly criticize Washington’s conduct of the war on Iran or other actions.
Trump makes it a habit to insult and abuse reporters who ask sticky questions, particularly if the journalists happen to be female.
“Wait! Shh! No, no, no!” Trump shouted at a female reporter during an Oval Office media briefing on October 20, when he announced a new $25 million “anti-fraud” initiative — setting up a network of informers characteristic of police states. He then took a male reporter’s question instead.
In the same press briefing, Trump later attacked Andrew Feinberg, White House correspondent for The Independent. “Hey! I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better be careful,” Trump snapped at Feinberg, pointing his finger at the reporter after he asked a follow-up question. “Quiet. Quiet! What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person?” Trump continued.
The October 20 outburst was the most recent attack on the media, an episode reminiscent of a Hollywood movie where the Don threatens to “rub” someone out.
Threats of violence against any perceived enemies
Omar has been among Congress’s most vocal critics of Trump’s domestic and foreign policies, a thorn in the administration’s side. This is why the Justice Department is targeting her, just weeks before her reelection bid. Trump’s goal is to silence her, to intimidate other politicians who may consider challenging him, to terrify every single immigrant regardless of their legal status, and to shore up his base.
This comes at a time when the MAGA movement that ushered Trump to a second term has fractured over Washington’s war on Iran and worsening economic conditions for working people, marked by soaring fuel prices, rising inflation and interest rates, and stagnant wages.
But Omar is not the only elected official who has been victimized. Trump has repeatedly egged on his supporters with violent rhetoric against perceived enemies. In November 2025, after senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, along with four congressional representatives, released a video reminding soldiers of their duty to refuse illegal orders, Trump labeled the lawmakers’ action as “treasonous.” Treason is a high crime, punishable by death.
Nor are the targets of the president’s vitriol just to his left. After her break with Trump a year ago, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene — a MAGA stalwart — and her family began receiving death threats. The threats escalated after the president called her a “traitor.” Greene sent copies of the threats to the president, hoping he would help stem the flow. Instead, she received a five-word reply: “Your fault, you deserve it.”
Democratic Party response a mere whimper
The response by the Democratic establishment and other liberal politicians to this war on democratic rights has been a mere whimper. The Democratic Party — Omar’s party — barely uttered a protest over the outrageous federal raid on one of its members or the Justice Department “investigation” aimed at denaturalizing Omar and deporting her.
Among Democratic lawmakers, many are simply afraid of Trump, having seen his capacity for fierce and unpredictable retribution. Instead of speaking out and using their positions to defend democratic rights, they — along with most labor leaders, civil liberties organizations, and some on the left — are pouring their hopes and money into the midterm elections.
On October 16, Axios broke the news that MAGA activists in a weekly chat were openly discussing the likelihood of the president invoking martial law following the election, seizing ballots and voting machines. Among the participants in this renewed threat against the electoral process were MAGA activist Tina Peters, convicted in 2024 of crimes tied to a breach of election equipment, and her attorney, Peter Ticktin, a childhood buddy of the president with direct access to the Oval Office.
Not to worry, responded Derek Tisler, counsel for the elections and government program of the Brennan Center — a liberal institute focusing on law and public policy. “Emergency powers are not just a blank check for the president to go do whatever they want,” Tisler opined. “The president still has to act within the Constitution and within statutes set by Congress.”
Smiling confidently and even chuckling during a September 23 interview with MS NOW, Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin assured viewers that there is no legal basis for declaring a national emergency around the upcoming elections and that no one, not even the president, can declare martial law because there is no such clause in the Constitution.
Never mind that no dictator has ever needed a constitutional clause to assume absolute power.
Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that US laws and the Constitution are not an obstacle to his pursuit of unrestrained power. An Associated Press report found that by May 2026 the White House had already violated 31 court orders in a variety of lawsuits — ranging from federal funding and mass layoffs to immigration and deportation — alongside at least 250 instances of noncompliance in immigration petitions. According to legal scholars and a number of former federal judges, this is an unprecedented level of defiance by any administration.
Several of these rulings resulted from attempts to influence or interfere with the electoral process. Gerrymandering voting districts, attempting to block or disrupt early or mail-in balloting, and prosecution of election officials stemming from Trump’s defeat in 2020 are all softening the ground for potential suspension or overturn of the coming midterm elections if, in one of his midnight rants, the president deems them “unfair.”
Danger of incipient fascism
While no one can predict the exact course the Trump administration will take if the Republicans lose their majorities in the House and Senate, it is foolhardy to expect the White House and its minions to respect election results or potential court decisions upholding them. And the passivity and meekness of the Democratic establishment offers no reason to expect that even an incoming Democratic congressional majority will offer the kind of resistance needed to turn the tide of authoritarianism.
As World-Outlook has pointed out, the assault on working people and our allies is the domestic corollary to the attacks by Washington against Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and others. Facing increased competition for markets, resources, and profits internationally — especially from China — the wealthy families that rule the United States are scrambling to reassert their hegemony in the Western hemisphere and shore up their outposts in the Middle East.
There are those within the Democratic Party who object to the tactics of the current administration. But even most liberals in the ruling class share with their rightist counterparts concern over how to stem the decline of US imperialism.
Working people and our allies must recognize the gravity of the danger of incipient fascism now staring us in the face. We cannot assume the institutions of bourgeois democracy that the wealthy have tolerated for generations will pull us back from the brink. We need to shake off the false sense that this is all merely the rantings of a deranged but powerful individual in the White House.
We must see that much of the edifice of capitalist democracy has already crumbled. We must recognize the reality that a substantial part of the capitalist class is contemplating rule by executive fiat.
Now is the time to act against every new assault. Anyone who cares for democracy needs to use the rights and political space we still have to express their outrage at the attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar. We must demand the investigation be dropped immediately and all property seized during the raid be returned.
If you appreciate this article, share it with friends and subscribe to World-Outlook (for free) by clicking on the link below.
Type your email in the box below and click on “SUBSCRIBE.” You will receive a notification in your in-box on which you will have to click to confirm your subscription.
Categories: Democratic Rights, Editorials, US Politics