January 2026 in Minneapolis

The Tipping Point

By Doug Smith

May 16, 2026

I believe the events of January 2026 in Minneapolis will come to be seen as a tipping point for many people.  Seeing the on-camera murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by agents of the federal government has stunned this country.  I’ve heard that some lifelong Republican voters are now saying “I can’t vote for this party anymore if this is what they do with the power my vote gives them.” 

Add to that the disgust people continue to feel about seeing the image on Trump’s social media showing the Obamas’ faces on apes.  Not that he ever bothered to hide his racism, but this just makes it impossible for anyone to justify or deny anymore. 

When Republicans see with shocking clarity the cruel stupidity of what their party is doing, and are forced to re-evaluate their whole political identity, it can be disorienting.  To be forced by your own conscience to look objectively at your own side, perhaps for the first time in your life, is like questioning the ground beneath your feet. 

I know, because I was forced to do that back in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq proved that they did not have weapons of mass destruction nor were they involved in planning 9/11.  After I discovered I had been lied to, I dropped my self-identity as a conservative Republican instantly.  No party that lied so egregiously about this, at the cost of thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of wounds (both external and internal), would ever get my vote again until they repented of their lies and returned to the integrity and wisdom I once thought they possessed. 

After years of hating Democrats, I couldn’t bring myself to register as one, so I changed my voter registration to No Party.  My world was upside down.  I could actually hear what the Democrats were saying, and you know what?  For the first time in my life, I could listen to someone and evaluate what they said without sifting it through the self-imposed conservative censor in my head. 

It took me a few years to fully recover my political equilibrium, and when I did, I started voting with my mind and my heart fully engaged.  And I never voted for a Republican presidential candidate again.  Some family members didn’t understand it, some friends didn’t understand it, I paid a price in my career, and we had to change churches… but I wouldn’t change a thing. 

Why didn’t more evangelicals react the same way I did to the Iraq War?  Because tribal identity was more important than Truth.  It’s the same reason many cannot see the significance of this moment.

But if you do, and the events in January in Minneapolis are causing you to go through a similar seismic shift in your political orientation right now, know that you are not alone.  You can get through this, you will feel better about yourself, and you will be able to make better decisions in the future.  A website that may be helpful for you is leavingmaga.org.

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