Will the American Civil War Start in Minnesota?

Republican lawmakers are calling on President Donald Trump to invoke the federal Insurrection Act to arrest Minnesota Governor Tim Walz after he threatened to use the Minnesota National Guard to oppose immigration enforcement in his state.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Walz stated that he had orders to “prepare” the Minnesota National Guard. “We have soldiers training and ready to deploy if needed. As a reminder, a preemptive order is a warning to the people. And these National Guard troops are our National Guard troops.”

The governor’s threats follow the incident on Wednesday, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old leftist activist Renee Nicole Goode after she attempted to run him down with her SUV on a snowy street in suburban Minneapolis. “We don’t need any further assistance from the federal government,” Walz told reporters. “Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. I’ve issued a preemptive order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard.”

Minnesota has a law allowing the governor to use the National Guard to “protect or assist the state, enforce the law, [or] protect persons” in the state. But Walz plans to use the National Guard to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining illegal immigrants in Minnesota. That amounts to a rebellion.

Members of the House of Representatives, such as Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), claimed in a Fox News report that Walz was essentially threatening the government with civil war.

“The last time they did that was at Fort Sumter, and that started the Civil War,” Van Orden recalled, referring to the 1861 incident that sparked the deadliest conflict in U.S. history, which claimed an estimated 700,000 lives. “When a state militia acts against the federal government, that’s effectively a civil war. So this guy needs to shut up because he’s calling for a civil war. Walz is a complete idiot.”

Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) echoed Miller and Van Orden’s comments, saying Walz was threatening to “bring out military force to confront federal military forces.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) gave Walz a civics lesson, citing the Constitution.

“Someone remind him [Walz]: Donald Trump is Commander-in-Chief. And federal power supersedes state power. This isn’t an opinion, it’s the Constitution,” she wrote on social media. “What Walz is threatening has a name: insurrection. Mr. President, the law is on your side. Use it!”

“Invoke the Insurrection Act,” Rep. Mary Miller (R-Illinois) echoed. “Arrest Tim Walz!”

The Insurrection Act gives the president the power to arrest suspects who obstruct federal law enforcement. But it’s clear that the arrest of a Democratic governor who almost became the vice president of the United States will provoke a harsh response from the Democratic Party—both in Congress and in all the blue states. Trump cannot ignore this danger, but the feeling of elation from his success after the successful operation in Venezuela and the seizure of the tanker Mariner, against the backdrop of a Supreme Court clearly wary of conflict with the president (which today again postponed its consideration of the legality of Trump’s tariffs), could push him to decisive action. And then, a civil war in the United States could suddenly become a reality, not just a theoretical political science construct and a Hollywood movie plot.