An ‘Exciting and Hectic Time’

Good afternoon. Here’s the news.

The Latest

Donald Trump hasn’t arrived in Davos yet, but he’s already worn out his welcome. American ally after American ally said the president’s threats — spread out across Truth Social in the last 24 hours — are taking Western alliances to the breaking point.

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the old “rules-based order” is fading, replaced by “a brutal reality where the geopolitics of the great powers is not subject to any constraint.”

• Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said Europe is at a crossroads with the United States. “Being a happy vessel is one thing, being a miserable slave is something else.”

• French President Emmanuel Macron said we’re shifting toward “a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot, and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest, and imperial ambitions are resurfacing.”

• If it all sounds familiar, maybe that’s because Stephen Miller has been saying pretty much the same thing: “We live in a world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he told Jake Tapper on CNN a couple of weeks ago. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

The Canadian military is modeling a U.S. invasion, and it’s apparently the first time in 100 years that it’s felt the need to do so. The upshot: Canada couldn’t defend itself head on, so it would rely on “irregular military or armed civilians” to conduct “ambushes, sabotage, drone warfare or hit-and-run tactics” to inflict “mass casualties on U.S. occupying forces.”

• Greenland’s prime minister said he thinks a U.S. attack on his country is “not likely,” but he warned residents that they should be prepared for anything.

The Administration

Trump was supposed to be celebrating his first year in office, but his appearance in the White House press briefing room this afternoon was somber and meandering. Trump spoke softly, distractedly shuffling through mug shots of ICE detainees before complaining that he isn’t getting enough credit for what he’s done.

• “Maybe I have bad public relations people,” he said.
• Trump seemed preoccupied with the public and polling blowback to ICE’s actions in Minnesota, and he didn’t even mention Greenland until a reporter asked him about how far he’d be willing to go to acquire it. “You’ll find out,” he said.

The DOJ is subpoenaing Minnesota Democrats. The subpoenas focused on whether local officials conspired to impede ICE.

The Trump administration admitted that DOGE may have misused Social Security data, and that some DOGE officials were in communication with a group trying to overturn election results in some states.

The IRS is shaking up its leadership just as tax filing season begins.

The Hill

Lawmakers released a bipartisan funding deal that covers Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, HHS, HUD, Transportation and Education. Sen. Patty Murray said there’s no point shutting down the government over ICE because the administration could continue to do “everything they are already doing” during a shutdown.

Rep. Julia Letlow confirmed she’s running against Sen. Bill Cassidy. Cassidy said Letlow called him and said he’d done a good job for Louisiana. “I will continue to do a good job when I win reelection,” he said.

Former military officials are backing Sen. Mark Kelly in his fight with Pete Hegseth.

‘This Exciting and Hectic Time’

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