Governor Tim Walz says the City of Minneapolis’s response to rioting there has been an “abject failure,” which is true. Walz’s response on behalf of the state has been an abject failure, too. Maybe the feds can do better: the Pentagon says it has troops ready to deploy if Walz requests them. But there is zero chance Walz would do that.
In lieu of actually doing anything to discourage or punish rioters and arsonists, local authorities have closed the metropolitan area’s most heavily-traveled interstate highways, beginning in twenty minutes:
Is there precedent for such drastic action? It seems extraordinary to me. Nor is the point clear: closing the highways will make it hard for normal people to get around; then again, there is an 8:00 curfew in effect almost everywhere in the area. If the idea is to prevent rioters and arsonists from getting to Minneapolis and St. Paul, it will fail. The rioters and arsonists are already there. But I suppose if the authorities want to maintain the fiction that violence is all the work of outside agitators, the highway closures will make it harder for people to get here from Kansas City, Sioux Falls and Chicago. All signs indicate that we are in for another rough night.
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