The deadly shooting of four student protestors at Kent State University in May1970 [pictured] was a watershed moment in the anti-Vietnam War movement. It was the first time protests had turned deadly at the hands of the government, in this case, the Ohio National Guard.
This all happened under President Richard Nixon’s watch after he ordered the invasion of Cambodia to help bring the war in Vietnam to a close by shutting the door on infilitration points for troops and weapons pouring into South Vietnam.
In January 2026, Presdient Donald Trump faced a similar situation when protests turned deadly in Minneapolis, but this time the protests were over ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agent activities to round up and deport illegal aliens, at least the most dangerous among them. In this case, a young mother was shot dead by an ICE agent who feared the woman was going to run him over with her car.
I bring up the parallel because, when protests turn deadly, there is often some government agency behind all the physical injury and death. As noted above, it was the Ohio National Guard, a state agency, that brought about the Kent State fatalities, though it was Nixon’s decision to up the ante in Vietnam that sparked the protest.
In Minneapolis, it was Trump’s decision to up the ante on immigration control by beefing up ICE ranks and relaxing restraints on them that led to the death of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of a federal agent.
Nixon survived the Kent State tragedy to go on and end the Vietnam War, but eventually the CIA and FBI brought him down through Watergate. In Trump’s case, he will no doubt survive the Minnesota shooting of Good. In addition, Trump was smart enough to put his own people in charge of both the FBI and CIA to avoid Nixon’s fate (though he will certainly be impeached once Democrats retake the House of Representatives in November).
This all brings up the larger issue of how the CIA and FBI have been the controlling forces over presidents and politicians in general since their establishment. The CIA brought down John Kennedy when he dared try to reorganize and downsize their ranks. The CIA had its hands all over the Watergate break-in after Nixon threatened to expose their involvement in the Kennedy assassination.
Infamous FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had secret dossiers on every prominent politician, which he threatened to use to expose their shenanigans if he didn’t get his way. Kennedy was actually either shot by a CIA agent riding in a trailing car in Dallas, or through a scheme hatched to get rid of him involving Lee Harvey Oswald.
Obviously, these are larger issues that need further documentation and developmentc in a future post.
Let me end this article by noting that deadly domestic incidents have often brought down presidents, one way or another. In Trump’s case, he’s a lame duck already, so we’ll just have to see what happens in the coming months and years.
