I’m founding the Chicken Little Club (CLC) as a safe space for those who think alerting Daily Kos readers to potential dangers is needlessly scaring the wimmen and chilluns. Membersip is free and there are only a few simple requirements for membership.
Posting a response to a diary or comment that is similar to any of the following immediately qualifies one’s self as a proud member of the CLC:
- Despite repeated DKos warnings by Markos and others, Trump hasn’t declared martial law.
- Mentioning violence against protesters will keep people home on No Kings Day.
- ICE isn’t going to detain American citizens, so stop saying that!
Follow along as we examine the pros and cons of those claims.
Martial Law
Why It Won’t Happen
1. Trump has, indubitably, not yet declared martial law and never will because he fully understands the limits on presidential power.
2. Martial law refers to imposing military law on civilians. Trump wants to use the Insurrection Act, which is using the militaries to impose civilian law. Way different!!
More Info About Martial Law vs Insurrection Act
Why It Could Happen
1. Vice President JD Vance indicated in a 10/12/2025 interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that President Donald Trump was not opposed to invoking the Insurrection Act. Source: NBC News
2. “We have an Insurrection Act for a reason," Trump said. "If I had to enact it, I'd do that. If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that." Ibid.
3. If Trump invokes the Insurrection Act of 1807, most legal barriers to military use in Chicago would disappear. Source: NBC Chicago
Violence Against Protesters
Why It Won’t Happen
1. My chance of dying in a traffic accident on the way to the march is much greater than anything the crazies are likely to do once I am there.
2. Too much drama and not enough focus around here.
3. I’m NOT a fan of “you just know someone’s likely to [start shooting, drive their car into your group, whatever]” doomsaying.
Why It Could Happen
1. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said, “The theory we have right now: They have a ‘Hate America’ rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the Antifa people, they’re all coming out.” Source: Politico
2. Make no mistake friends and family. We are headed towards Civil War II. Arm yourselves, take training and get your CPL if you don’t live in a Constitutional Concealed Carry State like Tennessee. This is war. It will NOT get better. I never leave my house without my firearm. [Source: Gizmodo’s high school friend of 50 years who is now distressingly MAGA.]
ICEd American Citizens
Why It Won’t Happen
1. “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States,” US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, “they promptly let the individual go.” Source: Raw Story
2. “To the extent that excessive force has been used,” Kavanaugh wrote in a 10-page concurrence, “the Fourth Amendment prohibits such action, and remedies should be available in federal court.” Source: CNN
3. ICE officers and agents are on the streets every day, prioritizing public safety by locating, arresting and removing criminal aliens and immigration violators from our neighborhoods. Source: ICE FAQ
It Did Happen
1. We compiled and reviewed every case we could find of agents holding US citizens against their will, whether during immigration raids or protests. We found more than 170 such incidents during the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second administration. Source: Propublica
2. ICE policy makes clear that, “[a]s a matter of law, ICE cannot assert its civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest and/or detain a U.S. citizen.” However, in recent high-profile cases, ICE has erroneously arrested U.S. citizens, at times appearing to use violent physical force. ICE has also reportedly detained citizens in immigration detention facilities, sometimes for over a week. Source: Congressman Dan Goldman
Conclusion
Unlike Fight Club, there is no rule to not talk about the Chicken Little Club. After all, the goal of Chicken Littling is to stop DKos diarists from posting the things Chicken Littlers consider needlessly alarming. Welp, their reasoning goes, it's just Kos members expressing the worst to freak other people out. Those things haven’t happened, so stop being an alarmist.
OTOH, isn’t it possible that writing about Trump’s fascination with martial law and the Insurrection Act is the very thing that’s impeding his plans? Isn’t it also possible that posting about MAGA threats and past incidents of violence keeps protesters on their toes and reduces or prevents violence? And doesn’t knowing ICE Gestapo tactics and what can be done to fight them prepare us in case the next target is “and then they came for me”?
IIRC, when Mom said look both ways before crossing the street, she didn’t need to have a prior example of an older brother that didn’t and thus got creamed by a passing motorist. The mere warning was enough to focus my attention and get me to look both ways.
