Since Kristi Noem keeps repeating false claims that ICE only engages in brutality when agents feel threatened, query what legitimate need those agents could possibly have to strike a person, car or building that’s miles away. A toddler with the nuclear codes Trump, who openly fantasizes about s------ on and destroying half the county, even as he literally destroys the White House like he owns it, probably thinks he could nuke California and get away with it. Never mind that California has the world’s fourth-largest economy, contributing $81 billion more to the federal government than it receives — long-term, mid-term and even immediate consequences are not accessible to Trump’s pre-frontal cortex. ICE is also building a public surveillance system that would make Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping salivate. The “crowd control” surveillance system features iris scanners that photograph and record facial measurements. The system includes phone hacking and tracking, and facial recognition tools loading data into AI. ICE has partnered with Palantir Technologies, a software company co-founded by JD Vance’s BFF and anti-democracy mentor, Peter Thiel. Palantir plans to use artificial intelligence and data mining to identify, track, and deport suspected noncitizens, collecting data on US citizens along the way. According to Business Insider, ICE is paying Palantir $30 million for the platform; Palantir was slated to deliver a prototype of the ImmigrationOS platform in September. Keep in mind that Trump has increased spending on deadly weapons for ICE by over 700 percent, yet ICE continues to claim it can’t afford bodycams for its masked agents. Judd Legum at Popular Information sums it up: “If the immigration enforcement apparatus of the United States were its own national military, it would be the 13th-most heavily funded in the world. This puts it higher than the national militaries of Poland, Italy, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and Spain — and just below Israel.” Trump is building a police state to keep himself in power Stephen Miller recently told assembled law enforcement officers in Memphis, Tennessee, that they should now consider themselves “unleashed.” Addressing a “crime task force” comprised of ICE, local police, the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Miller encouraged them to go forward and “police aggressively,” concluding his talk with praise for their anticipated ruthlessness. It’s the same unhinged directive for “unrestrained lethality” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered to military generals at Quantico last month. It’s all of a piece: deploying the military against US citizens, pitting red states against blue, and arming masked ICE agents with sophisticated tools of war signal that Trump is building his own domestic paramilitary force to try to remain in power past 2028. We have to admit this reality before we can prepare to meet it. Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.