When Greenlanders protested Trump’s threatened takeover of their country—either by force or forced purchase—many wore red hats, the MAGA color. On the hats were the expressions “Nu det Nuuk” and “Make America Go Away” (MAGA). It was a twist on the Danish phrase “Nu det nok,” meaning “Now it’s enough,” substituting Nuuk, Greenland’s tiny capital. I read that a charity in Greenland was selling these hats, so I bought one to show my support. Melania Trump also wore an article of clothing to make a statement: a jacket with “I Really Don’t Care, Do You” written on the back—which is exactly how I feel about her movie, which Jeff Bezos bankrolled to curry favor with the president.

Now to the main part of my column. On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University, members of the Ohio National Guard killed four students and wounded nine others when they indiscriminately opened fire on the campus without any legal justification. The students who were killed were:

Jeffrey Miller, a 20-year-old psychology student from Plainview, New York—head wound

Allison Krause, a 19-year-old honors college student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—chest wound

William Schroeder, a 19-year-old psychology student from Lorain, Ohio—chest wound

Sandra Scheuer, a 20-year-old speech and hearing therapy student from Youngstown, Ohio—neck wound

 

Two of the dead were not even involved in the protests. None of those wounded were shot at a range of less than 71 feet from where the National Guard was located. The closest of those killed was almost a hundred yards away. It was estimated that between 61 and 67 shots were fired. There is a famous picture of a young woman kneeling by a body with horror on her face. The members of the Guard were wearing gas masks at the time of the shooting.

Protests against the war had been ongoing, and a few days earlier the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) building had been torched. A grand jury in October 1970 indicted Kent State students for the torching of the ROTC building but did not indict any members of the National Guard for the killing of the four students and the injuring of nine others.

In a Gallup Poll taken soon after the shootings, 58% of respondents blamed the students for the bloodshed and only 11% blamed the National Guard. The first major rally after the killings was in New York City on May 8, 1970. It became known as the Hard Hat Riots, where construction workers attacked anti-war protesters. A song by the band Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young called “Ohio” was released within a few weeks of the incident. It became a hit (if you consider reaching number 14 on the charts a hit). Ultimately, no one was ever convicted for the killings of the four students.

Trump is older than I am, so I am sure he remembers what happened at Kent State and that the reaction was solidly behind “law and order,” even though the use of force caused innocent people to die.

Fast forward to today. When I saw ICE/Border Security going en masse into Minnesota and the protests in response, I knew that it was only a matter of time before ICE/Border Security would kill innocent people. After Renee Good and then Alex Pretti were killed by Border Patrol/ICE, the Trump administration used their typical playbook: double down and blame the victim. To their shock, it did not work.

America in January 2026 is different than it was in May 1970. Back then there was staunch support of authority—whether the president, Congress, or law enforcement, including the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the National Guard. ICE did not exist back in 1970. Since the Kent State killings, there have been scandal after scandal where entities we trusted were found wanting. This includes the FBI spying on MLK and other Americans, the FBI and DOJ being used by Nixon against his enemies, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, Iran-Contra, Iraq War weapons of mass destruction, and January 6 pardons. There are many other examples that have led to the erosion of trust, depending on your political beliefs. If you are MAGA, your reasons may be the charges against Trump; if not, it’s the use of the DOJ and FBI by Trump to go after his enemies.

Also, now there are cell phones that record everything and social media. That makes it hard for authorities to control the message like they did in May 1970. Moreover, seeing video as opposed to still photographs has a greater impact.

I can only imagine if what happened at Kent State in May 1970 happened today. The reaction against the National Guard would be off the charts.

Trump benefited from this change in tone by creating an image of the outsider. Now, as the man in charge for the second time, it is coming back to haunt him.

The more Trump and the DOJ try to double down by threatening a stronger response, the greater the protests will be. The DOJ may think that indicting journalists when they are at a protest in a church is going to intimidate the media, but they are in for a surprise. They kicked independent journalists out of the Pentagon, and the media still got the stories. The DOJ charges look even worse since a federal district judge refused their request to issue an arrest warrant, citing lack of evidence. This was affirmed by an appellate panel. Also, the DOJ charged the protesters with crimes. This contrasts with their inaction when it comes to misconduct by ICE. To my knowledge, no member of ICE has been charged with any crime pertaining to their conduct in Minnesota. Instead, the DOJ gave them the green light to do what they want by mentioning that they have immunity.

Even when the DOJ switches a position—such as now claiming that they will investigate the killing of Alex Pretti—it has had negligible effect. Once you lose legitimacy and objectivity in the public’s eyes, it is hard to get it back. Except for MAGA diehards, few people have any trust that a DOJ investigation will be fair and impartial.

Generals sometimes make the mistake of fighting the last war. The most famous example was the French and British when the Germans invaded western Europe in May 1940. They were using World War I tactics when the way of fighting war had changed. This also applies to dealing with similar situations such as Kent State and Minneapolis. What worked in May 1970 will not work in 2026. Trump is finding that out the hard way.