Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a firebrand liberal, placated activists when he announced he was escalating charges against the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck and was pressing charges against the other officers who didn’t intervene.

But by upping the stakes in what are likely to be high-profile, emotional trials, Ellison may have also set the stage for more disappointment, frustration, and rage, with local and national political ramifications.