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Minneapolis: the Landscape of Resistance; plus the Destruction Brought by DOGE

January 21, 2026

Demonstrators against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deployment during a protest in Minneapolis. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Minneapolis: the Landscape of Resistance—Plus, the Destruction brought by DOGE | Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

The landscape of resistance in Minneapolis, John Nichols reports, includes surprisingly powerful and effective faith groups, plus unions, neighborhood mutual aid and community safety networks, ICE observer teams, and direct action groups, plus the ACLU and its allies, as well as the outspoken mayor and the fighting state attorney general. 

Also: DOGE did NOT reduce spending – at all. But it did reduce federal employment; 271,000 people lost their jobs in the federal government, according to CATO. Sasha Abramsky set out to find out what it was like for some of those people — his new book reports on the experiences of eleven fired federal workers: American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE butchered the US Government.

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On this episode of Start Making Sense, John Nichols discusses the Minneapolis groups preparing for Friday’s day of “no work, no school, no shopping”; plus Sasha Abramsky reports on the human toll of Elon Musk’s firing federal workers

The landscape of resistance in Minneapolis, John Nichols reports, includes surprisingly powerful and effective faith groups, plus unions, neighborhood networks for mutual aid and community safety, ICE observer teams, and direct action groups, plus the ACLU and its allies, as well as the outspoken mayor and state attorney general.  All are working toward Friday’s day of “no work, no school, no shopping.”

Also: DOGE did NOT reduce spending – at all.  But it did reduce federal employment; 271,000 people lost their jobs in the federal government, according to CATO. Sasha Abramsky set out to find out what it was like for some of those people — his new book reports on the experiences of eleven fired federal workers:  American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE butchered the US Government.

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The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The Plan for November—and After / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

How are we going to defeat Trump and the Republicans and win control of Congress in the midterms? How are we going to win the White House in two years? Ben Wikler has a plan – he’s published a book with the title This is the Plan. Ben was chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for six years, ending in 2025, where he shaped what became the most powerful and effective state political party in the country.

Plus: John Nichols on the Senate Candidates in Maine and Nebraska, and the governor’s race in Wisconsin. John of course is executive editor of The Nation.

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