As a former military member, I can attest that there are escalation measures in every conflict. Every act might trigger a response from the opposition. So it's very important to weigh every action carefully before performing it.

In this particular situation, escalation appears to be the end goal of Trump. He wants people to rise up, because it gives him an excuse to declare Martial Law and shut down blue states, as well as stopping elections from continuing until the "escalation" is under control.

Think of Star Wars, Episode III. Palpatine was a senator, causing mayhem and chaos in the background to cause civil unrest among the Republic. Once he was outed as a Sith Lord, he survived the assassination attempt on his life and used the attack and disfigurement of his face to convince the government to grant him temporary emergency control of the government until the "threat of the Jedi Order" was under control. Then he conveniently forgot to return his emergency powers, declared himself emperor, and formed the Galactic Empire.

This is kind of what Trump is doing, in a sense. Martial Law is emergency military control over a nation granted to an individual. Elections aren't held during Martial Law. If Trump can enact Martial Law and prevent us from holding the November elections, he can further solidify his power over the US. He's already started up the "we shouldn't have elections" rhetoric again.

ICE is already violating the law, breaking our Fourth Amendment rights, and kidnapping people in the streets. The federal government has given them a free pass to do it. But they're just waiting for us to have enough and act in anger or violence in return so Trump can send in active duty military members to take over control of the state.

We can't let it get that far, so we're doing everything in our power to protest peacefully and hold the line. Eventually, he'll realize he won't get his way and he'll move on. Or he'll push ahead anyway and we'll have more of an excuse to end his dictatorial reign.

Right now, we're just gathering evidence. When this is all over, we can use the legal system to punish all involved in the human rights violations. But as long as Trump is in power, we just have to hold the line and document everything. It seems like nothing is happening right now, but we're letting Trump "Fuck Around," so later he can "Find Out."