THE INVISIBLE COUP

How Power Shifts When the Law Is Still on the Books—but No Longer Enforced

By Staff Writer
January 30, 2026

The most effective coups do not announce themselves.

They do not come with tanks, suspended constitutions, or dramatic declarations. They arrive quietly, through pressure rather than force, until one day the law still exists—but no longer functions.

That is the argument at the center of The Invisible Coup, an investigation by respected journalist Peter Schweizer, and it is now playing out in states like Minnesota and Illinois.

To understand how it works, you have to start where this story actually began—not in the streets, but inside federal investigations.

Where it really began

In late 2025, federal authorities under the Trump administration began an aggressive nationwide effort to clean up fraud and abuse in public assistance programs. These were not symbolic actions. They were detailed, document-driven investigations led by federal agencies—DHS, DOJ, and others—targeting long-standing schemes that had drained billions of dollars from taxpayer-funded programs.

In states like Minnesota and Illinois, federal investigators uncovered organized fraud networks exploiting weak oversight, falsified identities, shell nonprofits, and fabricated services. According to federal officials, many of these schemes relied on non-citizen and undocumented identities, not because of immigration itself, but because identity verification failures made abuse easier.

State and local governments were not leading these investigations.
They were being exposed by them.

Subpoenas were issued. Warrants were prepared. Arrests were expected.

And that is when the political ground shifted.

When enforcement became politically dangerous

As federal enforcement intensified—both immigration enforcement and fraud suppression—state and city leadership faced a problem: continued cooperation risked revealing how long the abuse had been allowed to continue under their watch.

According to federal investigators and subject-matter experts, this is where the strategy changed.

Instead of supporting enforcement, the governor and mayor reframed federal actions publicly as an “illegal immigration crackdown.” That framing, investigators say, was not accidental. It redirected public anger away from fraud and toward the agents enforcing the law.

The story changed almost overnight.

What had been about fraud and accountability became about fear, identity, and outrage.

How demonstrations exploded

The demonstrations that followed were not spontaneous expressions of public grief. Federal authorities say they were organized, funded, and mobilized rapidly through activist networks, labor groups, and advocacy organizations experienced in large-scale protest coordination.

The framing worked.

Protests escalated. Streets filled. Businesses closed. Strikes were called. And as the demonstrations grew, so did the level of confrontation. Officers were assaulted. Vehicles were used as weapons. One federal officer suffered internal bleeding after being struck during a confrontation.

This was not peaceful protest.

Two demonstrators—Renée Good and Alex Pretti—were killed in separate encounters with federal agents. Neither deserved to die. Both deaths are under review.

But investigators note an uncomfortable reality often omitted from public discussion: both individuals were engaged in violent confrontations with officers at the time of their deaths. In the Good case, an officer was critically injured after she attempted to run him over with a vehicle.

Context does not justify lethal force.
But it explains escalation.

And it underscores the larger point: the chaos was real—and it mattered.

When chaos became leverage

As violence spread, state and city leaders warned that restoring order would “inflame tensions.” Federal authorities now believe that allowing disorder to continue served a political purpose.

With streets unstable, everything slowed:

• fraud arrests stalled

• warrants went unserved

• witnesses withdrew

• enforcement paused

The investigations did not end.
They were neutralized.

This is the core of Schweizer’s argument.

“You don’t have to stop the law,” Schweizer writes.
“You just have to make enforcing it impossible.”

No statute was repealed.
No court struck anything down.
The law simply became too costly to carry out.

How the narrative locked in

Media coverage followed a familiar pattern. Images traveled faster than facts. Emotion hardened before timelines were established. Enforcement was framed as cruelty, and agents became symbols rather than professionals carrying out lawful orders.

Once public opinion set, enforcement became politically radioactive.

Schweizer documents this pattern repeatedly in his work: narrative forms first, facts arrive later—if at all. And once that happens, the rule of law is no longer decided in courtrooms, but in the streets.

Why this isn’t just Minnesota

Minnesota is not unique.

In Illinois, federal fraud investigations have followed similar trajectories—federal exposure, followed by political resistance, followed by public outrage that stalls enforcement before accountability can land.

The pattern is consistent enough that Schweizer gives it a name.

The Invisible Coup.

Not an overthrow.
A paralysis.

Power shifts not because the law changes, but because officials allow chaos to override enforcement—often because enforcing the law would expose them.

What The Invisible Coup actually says

Schweizer is not arguing against immigration.
He is not arguing against protest.

He is arguing that organized pressure can be used to override the rule of law, especially when government officials are politically compromised.

“Power doesn’t belong to whoever writes the law,” he writes.
“It belongs to whoever can stop it from being enforced.”

That is the coup.

Quiet.
Legal on paper.
Effective in practice.

Why this matters now

A government that cannot enforce its laws cannot govern.

And when officials allow chaos because enforcement threatens them politically, citizens are no longer protected—they are used.

Minnesota and Illinois show how quickly this can happen, and how difficult it is to reverse once authority retreats.

The laws still exist.
The Constitution still stands.

But power has already moved.

Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
But decisively.

And that is how the invisible coup works.

Official Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — Federal fraud investigations, enforcement actions, and civil rights reviews related to use-of-force incidents

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, enforcement directives, and agent safety reports

• Government Accountability Office (GAO) — Audits and reports on fraud, waste, and abuse in federal and state-administered public assistance programs

• Congressional Research Service (CRS) — Analysis of federal enforcement authority, immigration enforcement, and intergovernmental jurisdiction

• Federal Court Filings — Charging documents, warrants, and injunctions related to fraud investigations and protest-related offenses

• U.S. Census Bureau — Population counts and apportionment methodology relevant to federal funding and representation