Protesters swarm Susan Collins’ office after feds shoot a man in Maine

Susan Collins Didn’t Get Caught in the Crossfire. She Helped Build It.The Power Was FederalA 26-year-old man from Colombia was killed in a shooting involving ICE agents in Maine, and protesters went to Susan Collins’s office because Collins voted in June for a $70 billion funding bill for Border Patrol and ICE. That is the political center of gravity here: not a noisy office confrontation, but a senator helping finance the enforcement apparatus that produced the killing.Collins Owns the VoteThe story is not about confusion. It is about authorization. Collins voted to expand and sustain the machinery of immigration violence, then gets to posture as a moderate while that machinery does what it was designed to do. When people shout “Vote her out,” they are not missing the point. They are naming the decision-maker closer to home than the federal badge.ICE Is Not a Side IssueThis is the part that needs saying plainly: ICE is the problem. Not a few rogue officers. Not a training gap. Not an oversight failure waiting for a polite hearing. If a federal agency can kill someone in a Maine community while a senator votes to flood it with money, the issue is structural. Reform language is the consolation prize politicians offer when they intend to keep the system intact.The Moderate Mask Is ThinCollins has spent years selling herself as the reasonable Republican who can be worked with, while, according to the source, she has backed Brett Kavanaugh, shrugged through a two-page Iran memorandum on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and avoided town halls for decades. That is not moderation. It is insulation. It is a political style built to look careful while repeatedly delivering power to reactionary projects.Money Explains the SilenceThe reporting also points to the financial structure around Collins: at least 79 billionaires donated to her fundraising network between January 2025 and May 20, 2026, rising to 97 if spouses are included, for a total of $9.8 million. That does not prove corruption by itself. It does show who has the patience and resources to keep a senator like Collins protected while she votes for the state violence they prefer from a safe distance.The PatternThe larger pattern is simple: Democrats and anti-authoritarian politics do not need theatrical outrage, they need institutional accountability. Collins is part of a political class that launders cruelty through moderation branding, uses donor money to blunt consequences, and treats public harm as an unfortunate misunderstanding. That is the system. And when that system kills, the people funding it should not be shocked to find protesters at the door. Get full access to Systemic Error at paulstsmith.substack.com/subscribe