Sunday, January 18, 2026

Will Trump Invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota to Send in Federal Troops?

 There has been talk that President Trump might invoke the Insurrection Act and direct federal troops to go to Minneapolis.  Reports are that the 11th Airborne Division - Arctic has been put on alert for the possibility of approximately 1,500 troops to deploy.

Fifteen Presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act (some on multiple occasions).  The six most recent Presidents to do so (for eleven events) are listed below.  Curious, would the a$$hole liberal left call FDR, JFK & LBJ nazis and fascists?  Note, that on various occasions, state governors had activated the National Guard, for opposite reasons. The President federalized them, then ordered them to stand down, and brought in the federal troops.

The list is below:

Date

Invoker

Event

Results

June 21, 1943

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Race riot in Detroit.

Riot suppressed.

September 23, 1957

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Arkansas National Guard forbids black students from a school in Little Rock.

Arkansas National Guard federalized and ordered to stand down. Federal troops escort black students to school.

September 30, 1962

John F. Kennedy

Siege and riot of University of Mississippi due to racial integration.

Riot suppressed.

June 11, 1963

Governor of Alabama forbids black students from a school in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama National Guard federalized and ordered to stand down. Federal troops escort black students to school.

September 10, 1963

Alabama National Guard forbids black students from all-white schools.

Alabama National Guard federalized and ordered to stand down.

March 20, 1965[40]

Lyndon B. Johnson

Alabamian policemen suppress first Selma to Montgomery marches.

Federalization of Alabama National Guard before the third march.

July 24, 1967

Protests and riots in Detroit.

Riots suppressed.

April 5, 1968

Riots and civil unrest in multiple states after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr..

Riots suppressed.

November 24, 1987

Ronald Reagan

Prison riots in Atlanta over announced deportations of Cuban detainees.

Riot suppressed.

September 20, 1989

George H. W. Bush

Looting in the United States Virgin Islands after Hurricane Hugo.

Order restored.

May 1, 1992[50]

Riots in Los Angeles after the acquittal of policemen who beat Rodney King.

Riot suppressed.


Per Greg Jarrett:  Uninformed critics erroneously assert that Trump is barred from acting by the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of federal troops for policing on domestic soil. This is a frivolous argument since the Insurrection Act is a well-established exception to Posse Comitatus.