Between 1855 and 1859, a guerrilla war broke out in Kansas, ignited by pro-slavery Democrats who sought to make Kansas a slave state. The violence there — which gave the name “Bleeding Kansas” to this time period — was encouraged and propagandized by Southern Democrat politicians known as “fire eaters,” who believed, like South Carolina’s Senator John C. Calhoun, that states could nullify federal laws, and who eventually pushed South Carolina toward secession. We are seeing in Minnesota modern-day “fire eaters” who are promoting resistance to federal law — in this instance, the enforcement of immigration laws. Their anti-ICE rhetoric and their sympathizing with radical groups in the streets of Minneapolis who are impeding federal agents and officers who are performing their duty to enforce federal immigration law is turning Minnesota into “Bleeding Minnesota.” (RELATED: Minnesota and the New Nullification Crisis)
In the pre-Civil War South, the fire eaters included Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina, William Yancey of Alabama, and Edmund Ruffin of Virginia. Their issue was slavery, but their weapon was first the nullification of federal laws, then resistance to federal laws, and finally secession. Today’s fire eaters include Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and many others. The White House, on Jan. 9, 2026, listed 57 prominent political leaders who have rhetorically promoted resistance to federal law enforcement officers.
A view echoed by today’s fire eaters … who accuse federal officers of “terrorizing” people and committing acts of terror.
South Carolina Democrat Robert Barnwell Rhett called the federal government, like today’s fire eaters call ICE and President Trump, evil and despotic. He accused the federal government, like today’s fire eaters accuse ICE and President Trump, of instigating “new forms of aggression and outrage.” (RELATED: What’s Really Causing the Minnesota ‘Insurrection’?)
Southern fire eater Edmund Ruffin spoke about the “low, vulgar tyranny” of the federal government, a view echoed by today’s fire eaters (New York Governor Hochul, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Sen. John Hickenlooper, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Laura Friedman, Rep. Janelle Bynum, Rep. Chuy Garcia, Rep. Gil Cisneros, Minneapolis Mayor Frey) who accuse federal officers of “terrorizing” people and committing acts of terror.
Alabama fire eater William Yancey accused the federal government of bringing to bear “instruments of warfare” against the peaceful people of the South. He spoke about the “dread of this General Government” that was spreading fear and intimidation and instigating the people to “insurrection.” Today’s fire eaters (Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Lauren Underwood, Rep. Laura Friedman) accuse federal officers of spreading “fear,” causing “mayhem and death,” bringing “chaos to our streets.” (RELATED: Peaceful Protestors Don’t Carry Loaded Pistols)
The language used by today’s fire eaters shows how unhinged they are. Rep. Pramila Jayapal accused federal officers of kidnapping and claimed federal officers will “shoot and kill you.” Rep. Swalwell compared federal officers to the KGB. Other of today’s fire eaters use words like “Gestapo,” “secret police,” “fascist police state,” “anti-civilian force,” “terror force,” “thugs,” “state-sponsored terrorism,” “we are at war,” “lawless, racist force,” and “reign of terror” to describe federal officers enforcing immigration laws. They make the Southern fire eaters seem tame by comparison. And it is they, not federal officers or President Trump, who are responsible for creating “Bleeding Minnesota.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in the wake of another Minnesota agitator being shot by an ICE agent while resisting arrest after attempting to impede an enforcement operation, blamed the federal officers and President Trump for continuing to attempt to enforce federal law, further fueling the flames of insurrection. Walz has been the most fiery of today’s fire eaters.
President Trump should repeat the words of Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural address: “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect, and defend it.’”
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