In a powerful demonstration of civic defiance, the recent revolt in Minneapolis has delivered a stark message: even within the political landscape of Donald Trump's America, ordinary people retain significant power. This grassroots uprising, born from months of sustained community resistance, ultimately forced the president to retreat, showcasing how leadership from below can succeed where conventional politics routinely fails.
The Prevailing Focus on Institutional Power
For the majority of politicians and media commentators, the instinctive response to almost any issue is to gaze upwards. The focus invariably settles on those occupying the highest echelons of institutions, the individuals who wield formal authority and establish the directives others are expected to follow. This perspective treats the apex of the power structure as the exclusive point of interest, with the most consequential narratives typically emanating from these commanding heights.
Crane your neck sufficiently, and the annual gathering in Davos transforms from a conference in a Swiss alpine town into an assembly of global leaders. Similarly, Keir Starmer's diplomatic visit to Beijing is framed as a summit between great powers. Even the selection of a local MP can be portrayed as a matter ultimately concerning the national party leadership. A recent analysis by the Guardian's research librarians quantified the prevalence of this top-down viewpoint, finding the terms "leader" or "leadership" appeared approximately 2,000 times in the British press over a single week. Notably, a full third of those references pertained to one individual: Donald Trump.
A Historical Imbalance in Perspective
This fixation mirrors a long-standing historical bias. As the historian E.H. Carr observed in his seminal work, What is History?, we possess extensive knowledge of fifth-century Greece from an Athenian citizen's viewpoint, yet understand very little of how it appeared to a Spartan, a Corinthian, a Theban, or indeed a Persian, slave, or other non-citizen resident. Sixty-five years later, our daily news diet remains overwhelmingly "Athenian," with precious few vox pops from the metaphorical "Spartans" of our time.
The Minneapolis Uprising: Power from Below
However, weeks like the present one serve as a crucial reminder that power is not the sole preserve of the officially powerful. Consider the profound disarray inflicted upon Trump, the head of the world's sole superpower, by the concerted actions of Minneapolis, a city with a population scarcely larger than Croydon's.
After months of determined resistance by Minnesotans, the president's immigration chief in the city, Gregory Bovino, was compelled to stand down. Trump's head of homeland security, Kristi Noem, now faces the stark prospects of dismissal or impeachment. Key members of the administration's team are publicly turning on each other. Moreover, the Republicans' signature domestic policy initiative—the deployment of thousands of heavily armed, masked mercenaries to intimidate multicultural Democratic cities—is now opposed by a clear majority of the American public.
The Failure of Conventional Leadership
This outcome would never have materialised if left solely to conventional leaders. Just last week in Washington, a critical bloc of Democratic representatives broke with their own party to align with Trump, voting to pump additional funds into the immigration crackdown. Simultaneously in Davos, thousands of the world's highest-paid executives, including billionaires like Stephen Schwarzman—who earns more in an hour than the average American does in a year—queued dutifully to listen to the president's rambling address. Confronted with the administration's characteristic blend of inducements and threats, America's major media conglomerates, elite universities, and top-tier law firms have largely acquiesced.
Trump undoubtedly anticipated similar compliance in the icy Midwest. Instead, his forces encountered a formidable, nonviolent fightback. Tens of thousands of residents across Minneapolis and Saint Paul protested week after week, even enduring such extreme cold that, as one reporter noted, the ink in his pens froze, preventing him from taking notes. Despite globally publicised state executions, tear gas, and physical assaults, ordinary Minnesotans continued to turn out.
Grassroots Organisation and Solidarity
When some community members went into hiding to avoid the immigration enforcers, their neighbours organised to deliver food and essential supplies. Others took on the role of ICE-watchers, meticulously documenting the violence and brutality of armed agents funded by US taxpayers. This civic commitment persisted despite the shocking killings of Renee Good, a poet and mother shot in the face by ICE employees who then derided her, and Alex Pretti, a nurse apparently executed by a gang of seven agents for the act of holding up a phone.
These two ordinary citizens were murdered by their own government and subsequently slandered by it, their bodies labelled as "domestic terrorists." Their fellow Minnesotans have been branded an "organised illegal insurgency" by figures like Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir. On one point, however, Lonsdale was inadvertently accurate: the activists have demonstrated remarkable organisation. They have provided training for newcomers, converted restaurants into field hospitals, and operated sophisticated networks to deliver provisions to families living in fear.
The Heart of the Resistance
The epicentre of this resistance is south Minneapolis, an area last thrust into global headlines six years ago as the site of George Floyd's killing by police. Some veterans of the Black Lives Matter protests from that period have clearly reactivated their old networks. Observers also note that Minnesota consistently ranks highly in measures of social trust, meaning its residents are among the most likely to place faith in their neighbour across the street rather than the leader at the pinnacle of power.
The Concept of Leadership from Below
The resisters in Minneapolis embody what historian Moshik Temkin terms "leadership from below." In his recent book, Warriors, Rebels and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X, Temkin describes how, under authoritarian rule, societies often turn to "leaders who have few followers and no institutional power." He cites the resistance in Vichy France as a prime example. "They might not be able to openly call themselves leaders or reveal themselves as leaders or reveal themselves at all. We might not ever even know their names." Their influence stems not from direct command, but from the power of their example.
In direct opposition to the ethnic division sown by the White House, a significant number of Minnesotans have exhibited profound neighbourliness. Recoiling from the aggression and overreach of Trump's lieutenants, Americans have been presented with a powerful model of homespun solidarity. The Battle of Minneapolis is far from over; ICE agents continue to teargas schools and threaten protesters. Bovino's replacement, Tom Homan, who helped establish ICE's practice of separating children from their parents, represents scant improvement.
A Counter-Narrative for the Future
Yet, after a year in which the American political establishment has discussed a supposed "vibe shift" and a new Trumpian orthodoxy, citizens both in the US and globally can witness an alternative reality: this orthodoxy is being actively resisted in the face of military-grade hardware and unconscionable state aggression.
This week, Minneapolis offers those narrating America's story a different script, though its ultimate conclusion remains uncertain. For E.H. Carr, the significance of any president or protesting crowd is never permanently settled but is perpetually debated by future generations applying the questions of their own age. As he wrote, "The historian belongs not to the past but to the present." We all will one day form the raw material of history; we all ultimately belong to the future. That profound truth should fundamentally inform how we choose to act in the present moment.
