Welcome back to the ongoing saga of "The Arsonist Fireman." In this week's episode, our protagonist lights a fire which could burn down the entire Western world -- starting with its military alliance -- before grabbing a fire extinguisher and singlehandedly snuffing it out. As usual, he then wonders why everyone doesn't congratulate him on having bravely averted such a disaster.

Sorry for the snark, but it's really hard to see the past week through any other lens. This week, Donald Trump followed through on his sword-rattling over owning Greenland (or perhaps Iceland?) by going to Davos, Switzerland, giving a meandering and insulting speech (full of lies, as usual), and then declaring victory before going home.

However, there was no actual victory. Nothing changed. Trump spoke of a "format of a deal" and "concepts of a deal," but there simply was no actual deal in sight. And certainly not one that gave Trump any of what he was demanding. Denmark and Greenland have unequivocally stated that they are not giving up even one inch of their sovereignty over the island to Trump, period. That has not changed. But all of a sudden, Trump was claiming that somehow all of his goals had been met.

Again: nothing has changed. America already had the ability to open military bases and beef up Arctic defenses on Greenland to their heart's content. That has not changed -- we can still do so quite easily. No new agreement with Denmark is necessary for us to do so. No new "deal" is required. So Trump's big victorious "deal" is a giant nothingburger, or (more properly) Trump desperately seeking some sort of way to save face after the entire rest of the world stood up to his bullying.

Trump's goal in owning Greenland was ridiculous from the get-go, it bears mentioning. All his arguments for why we needed to do so were nothing more than "self-evidently bullshit from top to bottom," as a former Obama State Department official put it. Even some Republicans were denigrating Trump, with Representative Don Bacon calling his obsession over Greenland "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Mitch McConnell was more polite, but equally as scathing: "I have yet to hear from this administration a single thing we need from Greenland that this sovereign people is not already willing to grant us." A bipartisan delegation from Congress even flew over to Denmark, in an attempt to reassure them that Trump was politically out on a limb even in his own country with this whole obsession.

But a funny thing happened in response to Trump's megalomania: Europe stood up for itself. They challenged the bully. First, several nations sent a token amount of soldiers to Greenland for joint exercises. The unspoken reason for doing so was to serve as a "tripwire" -- the same way American soldiers in Germany during the Cold War and current American soldiers in South Korea serve. They are a warning to the host country's enemies: attack, and you will be at war with the United States. Which is why Europe sent their troops to Greenland -- to provide the same sort of warning to the United States. The message was clear (if unstated): "Attack, and you will be at war not just with Denmark, but with all of us."

Trump, in response, flipped out. He ranted on social media, "Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown," and called it a "potentially perilous situation." He further complained: "This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet. These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable." Which, you will note, would only be true if the United States militarily attacked Greenland. In a fit of pique, Trump then announced new tariffs on those countries. This is his go-to answer in response to anything foreign countries do that he doesn't like, and brings to mind the maxim: "When the only tool you have is a hammer, pretty soon every problem begins to look like a nail."

After all this happening during last weekend, the stock market and the bond markets took a big dive when they reopened. Which was another way people (and foreign countries) were standing up to the bully. People in Greenland rallied, wearing red caps with the slogan: "Make America Go Away."

Then Trump let everyone know precisely how petty this whole episode was, by releasing a text he had sent to the leader of Norway whining about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yep, that's why Trump has been throwing a tantrum over Greenland -- because he is still outraged that he didn't get a shiny gold medal. It's notable that this text didn't leak -- Trump voluntarily released it himself, completely unaware that the entire rest of the planet would conclude that he was being a total whiny baby.

One Democratic senator called for consideration of using the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to oust Trump (which we also had wholeheartedly supported, earlier in the week).

When Trump finally did get to Davos and give his speech, he merely proved on the world stage that he is now a doddering old man who is essentially yelling at them damn kids to get off his lawn. He couldn't even remember what country he was threatening, and used the wrong name four times during his speech:

Until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me.... They're not there for us on Iceland. That I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money.

When asked about this, the White House spokesperson flat-out denied it had happened. Because of course she did.

Later, Trump couldn't remember what another word was and had to resort to talking about "the opposite of peace," and then at one point he just completely garbled the two: "Peace is so destructive for everyone. Even countries that are not involved. It's so destructive for everyone, when you have wars."

Trump was speaking about peace because he is apparently attempting to set up a new United Nations, ostensibly to rebuild Gaza. He wanted all the other countries of the world to pony up $1 billion to join an international group that Trump himself will lead. Oh, and only he will have a veto. Most Western countries either politely declined or made no announcement while quietly not joining Trump's effort. This brought forth another tantrum from Trump, as he threatened France with 100 or 200 percent tariffs on their wines.

But even in the face of all this abuse, Europe actually stood together. They spoke openly of using a "bazooka" they had written into their trade laws which, if triggered, would have allowed them to block any company or country from doing business in the European Union. They also immediately halted the ongoing negotiations over the trade deal that Trump cut with them last year (which has not been finalized yet). And they all supported Denmark over the United States, because they all know full well how important NATO is.

Donald Trump, in the face of this blowback (and in the face of the markets tanking), then totally capitulated. He announced almost casually during his Davos speech that he had decided that a military invasion would not in fact be necessary, and then after meeting with the head of NATO started his victory lap for his non-existant concepts of a framework of a "deal." When reporters asked him whether this "deal" would mean America would own all or parts of Greenland, Trump had no clear answer (since the real answer is: "No, we would not," which Trump doesn't want to come right out and admit).

As we began with, the entire thing was just another episode in the long-running series "The Arsonist Fireman," where Trump causes some major crisis because he has no clue what he is doing or even what he is demanding, and then later on has to pretend that he solved it all by accepting absolutely nothing in return for backing down. Or perhaps our ongoing series might be called: "TACO Man Strikes Again!"

In other "standing up to Trump" news, the city of Minneapolis is currently closed for the day. Well, that's an overstatement, but a "day of economic blackout" to protest the invasion of ICE thugs did indeed cause many businesses to close down for the day. Roughly 100 clergy were just arrested at the airport today, for protesting deportation flights.

Earlier in the week, a federal judge blocked ICE from "using pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity," and also from pulling cars over who were following them at a safe and appropriate distance. Stephen Miller, meanwhile, called for local police in Minneapolis to "stand down and surrender."

Trump's ICE tactics are taking a toll on his standings in the polls. Immigration was the one issue that Trump maintained support from most of the country even after they had soured on the rest of his agenda, but now his poll ratings on immigration are underwater. ICE and the brutal tactics they are using are also massively unpopular with the public.

This is understandable, since ICE is basically out of control in the Twin Cities. They are ignoring the Fourth Amendment, they are using White nationalist slogans in their recruiting efforts, they are even targeting non-White local police officers on the streets, they are lying their faces off to federal judges when called to account for their actions, and they just got caught snatching up a 5-year-old boy, who was then whisked away to be deported. The photos of this last one are having the same sort of impact as the videos of them killing a suburban soccer mom did a few weeks ago.

Throughout all of it, the Justice Department has their backs. Both the governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis (and others who have spoken out against ICE) are now being investigated (with grand jury subpoenas being issued) for the "crime" of disagreeing with Donald Trump. A man detained by ICE died in their custody in Texas, and the medical examiner ruled it a homicide -- so ICE tried to quickly deport the two other detainees who witnessed the killing and then completely contradicted the "he committed suicide" official explanation (a federal judge stepped in and blocked their deportation just in time).

JD Vance, perhaps aware of how politically damaging all of this has been for the Trump administration (and Republicans in general) flew to Minnesota and tried to calm things down. But, of course, he didn't announce any changes in tactics or mission for ICE, so this was no more than an empty gesture. Vance was ridiculed for one remark he made during his visit, where he begged for cooperation from the community: "Like, if we're trying to find a sex offender, tell us where the guy lives." Plenty of people were happy to do so online, sending in photos of the White House or the simple answer: "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

This week also marked the end of Donald Trump's first year of his second term. A few articles appeared to note the year in chaos that was, but our favorite was one that looked at it all from the point of view of what America has become during that year. This is just one part of the list, which we encourage everyone to read in full:

We have become a country whose government is attacking its universities, defunding research, reversing scientific advances, assaulting museums and hollowing out cultural institutions. Few of these attacks -- carried out in broad daylight, announced in executive orders, extolled in speeches and put on display in giant metal letters -- meet meaningful resistance. We are making ourselves stupider.

We have become a country that demonstratively tramples on international laws. Our military bombs a different nation every few weeks, commits murder on the high seas and removes foreign political leaders by force. Our government threatens the world, including our allies, with its imperial ambitions.

We are a country ruled by a megalomaniac whose views are openly hateful and proudly ignorant, whose avarice knows no bounds and whose claim to power is absolute. Foreign leaders try to appease him with flattery and curry his favor with gifts. It rarely works to temper his appetite or even catch his attention, but it's seemingly all they can do.

Or you can check out a scorecard the New York Times ran, which tries to measure Trump's progress (or lack thereof, on most of them) on his major campaign goals.

Trump's polling has taken a real dive, even in the past few months. There is only one president who is even remotely as unpopular as Donald Trump in his second term -- since modern presidential polling began -- and that is Donald Trump in his first term. The Washington Post noted: "Trump has always been a uniquely unpopular president, and he's as unpopular as ever. Two major polls out last week show 40 percent approve of how he's doing as president. A Washington Post average of polls in January finds 57 percent of Americans disapprove of how he's handling the country."

This is reflected across the board, as voters agree that Trump has made the country worse during his first year back in office. Polls also show that when elected, Trump had gained the support of some traditionally-Democratic groups (such as Latinos or young voters), but they've all soured on him now in a big way.

Trump celebrated his anniversary by appearing in the White House briefing room to give a press conference that was almost two hours long (over an hour of it was him just boasting about his "accomplishments" and endlessly rambling on about other unrelated subjects) and was notable only for its overall incoherence. Jake Tapper at CNN called it: "a marathon rambling, at times incoherent, possibly unsettling White House News briefing." This was being charitable. Other commenters called the spectacle "genuinely insane" and observed that Trump seemed "clearly unwell."

As we mentioned earlier in the week: one year down... three more to go [heavy sigh].

 

We have to begin this week with two people who are technically ineligible for the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award, before giving it to a group whose eligibility is unclear.

First, Jack Smith stood up for himself and the rule of law in a public hearing before a House committee. Republicans on the committee tried to paint him as some sort of rabid out-of-control partisan who launched a "witch hunt" to go after Donald Trump, after being told to by Joe Biden. Smith denied all of this, of course, since none of it is true.

The Republicans had absolutely nothing to base any of their accusations on, and never have. They are just following their Dear Leader's instructions to demonize Smith in any way they can, plain and simple. Smith reportedly made mincemeat of them, for which he is to be commended, but he's not (to our knowledge) technically a Democrat, so we can't hand him an award.

Our second non-eligible person doesn't qualify because he isn't even an American, much less a Democrat. But Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did an exemplary job of standing up to Trump in Davos this week, by accurately summing up where the world stands right now -- at the end of the era where all freedom-loving democracies could count on the rock-solid support of the United States of America as a given, and instead moving into a new era where an egocentric madman sets American policy on personal whim. Trump backed down in the end, but even the thought that the United States would militarily threaten another member of NATO does indeed mark a turning point in world history, that's for sure.

Other world leaders also (to one degree or another) pushed back on Trump this week -- starting with the leaders of Greenland, Denmark, and Norway -- but none did so with such elegant rhetorical style, which is what made Carney's speech so notable.

But we have to award our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award to a group that is not only not officially Democratic, but is actually completely anonymous. This is a smart move on their part, since claiming public credit would doubtlessly bring the weight of the Trumpian weaponized Justice Department down on their head(s), so it is entirely understandable.

The group in question is an anonymous group of artists known as "The Secret Handshake," which has been putting installations up on the National Mall for the past year or so which draw attention to the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, among other things. Here's the story, for anyone who missed it:

A large replica of a sexually suggestive birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein, featuring a drawing of a naked woman's torso and what appears to be President Trump's signature, was placed on the National Mall in Washington overnight on Sunday.

The appearance of the 10-foot-tall installation near the United States Capitol was timed to coincide with what would have been Mr. Epstein's 73rd birthday on Tuesday. Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender and disgraced financier, was 66 when he died in prison in 2019.

One side of the mock card has the greeting "Happy Birthday To A 'Terrific Guy!'" -- an apparent reference to a description of Mr. Epstein that Mr. Trump gave to New York magazine in 2002. The other side features the rendering of the female torso with "Donald" written below her waist and the cryptic message: "may every day be another wonderful secret."

. . .

At the site, a sign invites visitors to write a message to the administration, to "celebrate the birthday of President Donald Trump's 'closest friend,' Jeffrey Epstein, with a larger-than-life tribute to their intimate correspondence." The message was placed near mock boxes brimming with redacted files.

There are two basic ways to defeat a bully. One is to stand up to him and punch him in the nose. The other is to just laugh at him -- so long and so loud that everyone else joins in.

For being true pioneers of the latter, when it comes to Donald Trump, we hereby award this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week to "The Secret Handshake," and we certainly look forward to learning who was behind it all -- which (we assume) will happen roughly one day after the next Democratic president is sworn into office.

[Since they are anonymous, The Secret Handshake has no public contact information available. But we'd certainly like to send a rousing, "Keep up the good work!" message to them, whomever they may be....]

 

There was one story that mostly got lost in all of the Greenland frenzy this week, and that was of Bill and Hillary Clinton refusing to appear before a House committee which had subpoenaed them to appear in person.

We can't really say that this was all that disappointing, since (as Hillary knows full well) a Clinton appearing before a Republican-led congressional committee means sitting for over 10 hours while they try to rip you to shreds on any subject under the sun. It's understandable why they were not looking forward to that.

Then the committee voted to hold both Clintons in contempt of Congress -- with some Democrats voting for the measure. We also find this understandable, since subpoenas from Congress are not supposed to be considered optional, so these Democrats can state that they were merely standing up for the rule of law. Breaking party ranks for such a vote certainly disappointed some Democrats out there, but as we said, we can understand the reasons why they did so.

Instead, we are giving the award to a different group of House Democrats who broke party ranks this week and voted for a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security -- which includes money for ICE.

Congress is facing yet another government shutdown deadline at the end of January. If a full budget hasn't passed by then, the government will shut down again. Some argue that ICE funding wouldn't have been affected even if the government had shut down, while others point out that the bill also funds FEMA and other important departments.

But the math is the math. Seven Democrats voted for the bill. The final vote was 220-207. Take those seven away and add them to the other side, and the vote would have been 213-214 and failed. Republicans would likely have been able to scare up another two votes if they had really needed them (they do still have a majority), but it would have been spectacularly embarrassing for them to pull the bill from the floor while they scrambled to do so.

Which is why we have to collectively award these seven Democrats -- Henry Cuellar, Jared Golden, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Laura Gillen, Don Davis, Tom Suozzi, and Vicente Gonzalez -- this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week award.

The real battle, of course, will be in the Senate, since Republicans are going to need seven Democrats there to overcome the filibuster threshold. But that will come next week -- for now, the seven House Democrats who helped the Republicans pass their budget are this week's winners of the MDDOTW.

[Contact Representative Henry Cuellar on his House contact page, Representative Jared Golden on his House contact page, Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez on her House contact page, Representative Laura Gillen on her House contact page, Representative Don Davis on his House contact page, Representative Tom Suozzi on his House contact page, and Representative Vicente Gonzalez on his House contact page, to let them all know what you think of their actions.]

 

Volume 825 (1/23/26)

A very mixed bunch this week, with one at the end just for fun. Enjoy, and as always, use responsibly....

 

   Six percent

We just had to start off with this one, for obvious reasons.

"You know what we weren't all talking about this week, because Donald Trump was having his Greenland tantrum? The fact that an overwhelming amount of Americans are still waiting to see the Epstein files. While a lot of issues in politics poll fairly evenly, other issues show a big majority versus a small minority. But few issues poll that show only six percent support -- that is almost 19-to-1 against, folks. But that's precisely how much of the public is happy with the way the Trump administration has been releasing the Epstein files: six percent. Even among Republicans, that number was only twelve percent! Two-thirds of the public believes the Department of Justice is intentionally holding things back. So maybe that's what we should all be talking about -- how the Justice Department is breaking the law by not fully releasing the Epstein files and how only six percent of Americans support their delays."

 

   Wait a minute... Iceland?

Moving along to the distraction of the week....

"Remember when everyone -- Republicans, Democrats, and most especially the news media -- went on and on and on about how the president was losing his mental capacity? Remember that? Back when Joe Biden was in the White House? So where is any of that concern now when Donald Trump can't even figure out which foreign country he wants to invade? Or whether he's talking about war or peace? In Davos, Trump mentioned Iceland four times in his speech about how the United States really needed to take over a different island altogether. He got confused between Greenland and Iceland. On the world stage, with everyone watching his mental decline accelerate. So where is the flood of media coverage asking if the president still has enough mental capacity to serve? That's what I'd like to know...."

 

   TACOs for all!

Can't resist this one, even if it did happen on a Wednesday rather than a Tuesday....

"It was TACOs for all this week in Davos, as Trump chickened out, once again. Now don't get me wrong -- I am extremely relieved in this case that Trump did chicken out, since what he was threatening was nothing short of the end of NATO -- but still, it was noticeable how quickly Trump caved not only on his demands that the U.S. be given Greenland but also on his threats to levy tariffs on all European countries who disagreed. The rest of the world must be getting sorely tired of this endless "Boy Who Cried Wolf" nonsense, don't you think?"

 

   China is laughing

Trump continues to make America small again.

"You know what the end result of Trump's threats and trade wars and insults to our longtime allies has been? To push all of them into the welcoming arms of China. Trump said he was going to 'Make America great again,' but instead what he is doing is to make America look scary and unpredictable and unstable to our allies. Just recently, Canada announced a big trade deal they had cut with China, because they are looking for more stable countries to trade with than us. Europe signed a deal with a bunch of Latin American countries for the same reason. While Trump flailed around scaring the Hell out of everyone in Davos, China welcomed other countries in, promising stability and longterm free-trade agreements. Trump is singlehandedly helping their efforts to eclipse the United States as the most popular country in the world to do business with, plain and simple."

 

   Five years old

This is important, mostly because it proves what a lie the administration's propaganda truly is.

"From Trump on down, the administration insists that ICE is only concerned with getting violent criminals off the streets. This is a lie. They are sweeping up everyone they can -- even U.S. citizens -- because they have their quotas to meet. They don't care if the people they deport have criminal records or not. Did you see the videos this week of ICE snatching up a five-year-old boy in Minneapolis? I would love to hear some intrepid reporter ask Kristi Noem or Donald Trump what violent crime this five-year-old had committed. Was he a murderer or a rapist? Because they keep telling us that is all they are going after -- the so-called 'worst of the worst.' So what crime did this five-year-old commit?"

 

   Eyes wide shut

The optics of this were just downright bizarre.

"Recently a party was held at Mar A Lago that featured people dancing with each other dressed up in Bridgerton-style outfits -- period dresses and costumes -- while wearing dog masks. Seriously. You simply cannot make this stuff up. One podcaster noted the jarring disconnect of these video clips with the fact that 'it's literally the end of the world!' and also helpfully including a clip from the movie Eyes Wide Shut. From the way these dogs were dressed, you would not have been surprised to hear one of them growl, 'Let them eat cake.' Is this the type of event we can all expect to see if Trump ever finishes building his new ballroom at the White House? I shudder to think about it, personally."

 

   Fled Cruz

And finally, just for fun....

"I see that another horrendous winter storm was approaching Texas, so it was obviously time for someone to catch Senator Ted Cruz fleeing the state once again. He was seen on a flight heading to (gasp!) California, while his home state was preparing for the worst. Nothing like Ted Cruz to show us all the exact opposite of a profile in courage! Have fun in the sun, Ted... while your fellow Texans brave the storm, that is."

-- Chris Weigant

 

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground