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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stepped outside his mansion and told a crowd they should “cause good trouble,” borrowing the language of civil-rights icon John Lewis to encourage protesters to press their case. The remark, delivered into a megaphone as winter crowds gathered, was framed as a call for nonviolent resistance, but the optics of a sitting governor urging disruption are deeply troubling to anyone who believes in law and order.
This moment didn’t happen in a vacuum — it followed the tragic shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, an event that has inflamed emotions and sparked protests across Minneapolis and nationwide. Communities are grieving and demands for accountability are understandable, but grief does not justify a public official cheerleading actions that can escalate into chaos.
At the same time the governor was exhorting protesters, the Justice Department served grand jury subpoenas on Walz and several other Minnesota Democrats as part of an investigation into whether officials impeded federal immigration operations. That escalation shows the very real legal and public-safety stakes that surround these confrontations, and it should give pause to any leader eager to romanticize civil disobedience while federal investigators are knocking on doors.
John Lewis’s idea of “good trouble” was rooted in nonviolent civil disobedience against institutionalized segregation and a specific moral crisis in American history, a legacy that should not be casually co-opted by political actors to justify street-level disruptions. Lewis’s words carry gravitas because they were tethered to moral clarity and disciplined sacrifice; invoking them as cover for contemporary political theater cheapens that legacy and risks normalizing unrest.
We’ve already seen how quickly protests can spin into dangerous situations — what began as righteous anger can become property destruction, assaults, and threats to everyday citizens simply trying to get to work or school. Leaders who urge “good trouble” without clear, enforceable boundaries are flirting with responsibility for the fallout when things turn violent, and Minnesotans deserve elected officials who prioritize public safety over partisan theatrics.
Make no mistake: accountability for any wrongdoing by federal agents must be pursued, and families like Renee Good’s deserve answers. But there is a difference between seeking justice through courts and institutions and egging on a political atmosphere that elevates confrontation above due process. Conservatives believe in both rule of law and respect for victims; the two are not mutually exclusive and should never be traded for political points.
Governor Walz’s posture looks less like measured leadership and more like opportunism — a message of moral posturing to a sympathetic base while his state’s institutions and businesses pick up the pieces. Real leadership means cooling tempers, protecting neighborhoods, and cooperating with investigations to find the truth, not amplifying rhetoric that can be read as permission for escalation.
To hardworking Americans in Minnesota and beyond: demand leaders who keep the peace, protect families, and pursue justice through the proper channels. Patriotism means standing for both compassion and order, and now is the time for governors and mayors to show courage by calming the street, not stoking it.
