- ⚖️ Retribution: A federal grand jury unanimously rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to indict six Democratic lawmakers over a video they made urging service members to refuse unlawful orders. It’s at least the fifth time that charges against Trump’s adversaries or protesters have been turned away by a grand jury — virtually unheard of in modern federal prosecutions. A federal judge also shut down Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attempt to punish Navy veteran Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over his role in the video, accusing the Pentagon of unconstitutional retaliation.
- 🚨 ICE raids: Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced an end to the 10-week ICE surge in Minneapolis following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, which drew mass protests and rare rebukes from corporate America. The president acknowledged his mass deportation campaign could use a “softer touch,” as private and public polls point to a sharp decline in support for his immigration policies.
- 🪖 National Guard: Trump also withdrew all federalized National Guard troops from L.A., Chicago and Portland after repeated legal defeats and opposition from state and local leaders, dealing a blow to his efforts to crack down on crime in Democratic-run cities.
- 📦 Tariffs: Six House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a resolution rescinding Trump’s tariffs on Canada. The vote became possible only after a smaller group of Republicans staged a floor rebellion against GOP leadership, opening the door for Democrats to force more politically painful votes on Trump’s trade agenda.
- 🗂️ Epstein files: Trump’s push to shut down MAGA’s Jeffrey Epstein obsession backfired in spectacular fashion. The Justice Department is still grappling with daily backlash after releasing more than 3 million documents, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) voicing rare criticism over revelations that DOJ tracked what lawmakers searched while reviewing the unredacted files.
- 📽️ Racism: A chorus of Republicans, led by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), condemned Trump’s reposting of a video that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The White House initially defended the post before deleting it and claiming an aide shared the clip.
- 🇩🇰 Greenland: Trump dominated Davos last month with his threats to seize Greenland by any means necessary — only to retreat amid market turmoil, European fury, warnings from congressional Republicans, and a vague “deal” promising the U.S. greater access to the Arctic territory.
- 🏦 Fed: The DOJ’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell has drawn deep skepticism from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has vowed to block confirmation of Powell’s successor, Kevin Warsh, unless the probe is dropped. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent privately proposed shifting the investigation to the Senate to placate Tillis, who swiftly threw cold water on the idea.
Trump doesn’t like this but he knows that he can always just self-soothe by saying that the news is fake, the polls are rigged and the elections have been stolen — and tens of millions of Americans will go along with him. I’m beginning to wonder if he doesn’t actually prefer to lie about his failures so that he can see people bowing and scraping, pretending that they believe him. Knowing that people are licking your boots, pretending that they agree with you when it’s patently obvious that you are lying is a very real form of power.
On another level, he’s convinced himself that he is the world’s greatest victim and it’s only because of his very, stable genius that he’s ascended to the presidency twice. And frankly, you can’t blame him. He has never been held accountable for any of his failures, crimes and grotesque behaviors and he’s done it all out in public right in everyone’s faces. You can see why so many people think he is a magic man. Who else could get away with all that?
But that’s a subject that historians, psychologists and political scientists will wrestle with for centuries (if we last that long.) How on God’s green earth did this very sick, inept, stupid man manage to do what he has done?
Calling Hannah Arendt’s ghost…
Update: Krugman weighs in with Pam Bondi’s bizarre performance before the Judiciary Committee, particularly when she objected to any questioning about the Justice Department when the stock market is up:
This plumbed new depths of moral bankruptcy, effectively saying: “How dare you complain about child rape when the stock market is up?”
There was an unmistakable stench of desperation in Bondi’s tantrum. And it fooled no one. The cracks are showing, as some congressional Republicans have now voted against Trump’s tariffs, Justice Department lawyers are quitting en masse or just plain cracking up, and attempts to weaponize prosecutions keep failing.
Now Tom Homan says that the ICE surge in Minnesota will be wound down — an ignominious retreat if true — while Democrats are standing firm on refusing further DHS funding without significant reforms. And Bondi’s yelling isn’t making Epstein go away.
But let’s examine Bondi’s demand that Americans ignore the omnishambles because stocks are up. It’s morally depraved, but what about the economics? Yes, stock prices are up. As any economist can tell you, however, the stock market is a poor indicator of the economy’s overall health. Paul Samuelson famously quipped that the market had predicted nine of the last five recessions.
Furthermore, stock prices are up almost everywhere — and up more in other countries than they are in the United States. The chart at the top compares stock prices in the U.S. and in the euro area; since the latter is measured in euros, and the euro has risen against the dollar, Europe has substantially outperformed America.
And if we go beyond the stock market and look at what really matters to most Americans — affordability and jobs — the Trump economy isn’t delivering. Inflation remains stubbornly elevated. Despite one good month, employment growth has shriveled. And it keeps getting more difficult to find a job.
Here’s one measure I find useful, the Conference Board’s “labor market differential” — the difference between the percentage of Americans saying that jobs are plentiful and the percentage saying that jobs are hard to find:
This is certainly not a great economy. It’s not even a healthy economy. And Americans are not buying the administration’s lies.