Coming off last week’s examination of the killing of Renee Nicole Good, Rick lays out how the United States is sliding into an American police state—one powered by ICE intimidation, fear-based propaganda, and a rapidly expanding government surveillance apparatus. Rick breaks down how ICE relies on spectacle, misinformation, and selective enforcement to force citizen compliance, while the Trump-era state deploys AI surveillance and facial recognition, license plate readers, and Flock Safety cameras to monitor Americans in ways that openly undermine the Constitution, the Fourth Amendment, and basic civil liberties. This isn’t about public safety—it’s about control. This isn't a flaw, it's a feature. It's no longer about equal protection under the law, but about protecting power, punishing dissent, and enforcing political obedience. When agencies like ICE are shielded from accountability while technology is used to surveil citizens instead of defend their rights, justice stops being blind and starts taking orders.

For best practices on dealing with ICE, this week's episode of The Breakdown features our legal counsel, Mario Nicolais, and is also worth a watch.
https://youtube.com/live/eRihj_qXUYw
•
•
•
•
•
Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln.

Visit www.bollandbranch.com/lincoln for 15% off your first order + free shipping. #ad

Go to www.ethos.com/lincolnproject to see how you could protect your family with life insurance with a free quote in under ten minutes. #ad

Check out www.werobot.com/lincolnproject for 60% off. #ad

Donald Trump didn’t speak for the working class—he played it. In this episode, Rick Wilson sits down with Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey to unpack how Trump’s brand of fake populism conned millions of working Americans while delivering power, tax cuts, and protection to billionaires and authoritarians. Rick and Ken break down how grievance replaced policy, how MAGA culture turned resentment into a loyalty test, and why the people waving the biggest flags ended up getting sold out first. Then they flip the script: punk rock as an early warning system, a working-class truth teller, and a loud, unapologetic form of resistance to fascism, cult politics, and manufactured outrage. This isn’t about music nostalgia—it’s about class consciousness, propaganda, and why real resistance has never come from strongmen at the top, but from people willing to call bullsh*t, turn up the volume, and refuse to be fooled again.
•
•
•
•
•
You can find Ken Casey at dropkickmurphys.com. Check out their website for tour information and details on their upcoming album! Their updated song "Citizen ICE" is out now.

Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln.

Visit www.quince.com/lincoln for free shipping & 365-day returns. #ad

Go to www.expressvpn.com/lincolnproject to learn more about how you could get up to 4 extra months. #ad

This week, we confront MAGA’s escalating performative cruelty following the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis — a woman shot and killed by an ICE officer and then posthumously smeared as a “domestic terrorist” to justify the violence. As facts emerged, the Trump movement did what it always does: lied, dehumanized, and closed ranks around power. JD Vance went even further, effectively arguing for blanket immunity for federal agents, treating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an untouchable arm of the state — Trump’s modern secret police. This episode breaks down how authoritarian movements manufacture enemies, why disinformation follows state violence every time, and how Donald Trump’s political culture rewards cruelty over truth. This isn’t about law and order — it’s about power without accountability, the erosion of civil liberties, and what it means when a political movement decides some lives are disposable. Say her name: Renee Good.
•
•
•
•
•
If you'd like to support Renee Good’s wife and son, below is a link to their publicly accessible GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-renee-goods-wife-and-son

Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln.