DCUM Weblog

What is happening in Minneapolis is turning out to be an important milestone in the effort by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to impose his autocratic rule on the country. It is still too early to tell whether Trump will ultimately succeed or fail, but Minneapolis has shown us that he will face significant hurdles. Minneapolis has revealed the true nature of Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection thugs. Far from going after the "worst of the worst," these masked agents that look and act more like an armed paramilitary than a legitimate law enforcement group, are simply terrorizing the community. The resistance in Minneapolis has inspired not one, but two songs by major songwriters. Yesterday we were blessed with both "The Streets of Minneapolis" by Bruce Springsteen and "City of Heroes" by Billy Bragg. Imagine being the subject of songs by these two songwriters in the course of a day? To quote another famous protest song, "There's something happening here." While the people in the streets, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the Department of Homeland Security gangs hurling tear gas and pepper spray get the attention, much of the battle is being waged in the courts. Today I will provide a few updates on legal developments.

After an attack on Representative Ilhan Omar yesterday evening, it has become apparent that mainstream Republicans are, at best, indifferent to political violence directed towards their political rivals and, at worst, actually supportive of it. This has been clear from the reactions of Republicans from cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump on down. While there have been a few Republican voices unequivocally condemning the assault, this has been very much a minority reaction among those on the right. This is not only true in yesterday's attack, but has been the case in regard to several recent acts of violence committed against Democrats. The same Republicans who practically made it a crime not to mourn the death of Charlie Kirk are now engaging in behavior that would have caused people to lose their jobs had the same behavior been directed at Kirk.

The administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump repeatedly has claimed that its deportation operations are aimed at the "worst of the worst." This is a lie. The majority of those being detained by Department of Homeland Security agents working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol do not have criminal records. While some will argue that simply being an undocumented resident is itself a crime, that is irrelevant in the vast majority of cases in which immigrants have been detained. Those being targeted are generally not undocumented as the term is normally understood. Rather, the immigrants were allowed into the country, often as a result of asylum claims, and provided a list of conditions to which they must adhere. A common condition is regular check-ins with immigration officials, and many of those detained have actually been seized when they showed up for their required appointments. ICE and BP are, in fact, targeting almost any immigrant upon whom they can get their hands, even individuals who are in full compliance with the law. One of the most egregious examples of the Trump administration targeting law-abiding immigrants is Operation PARRIS, which was launched on January 9, 2026, and aimed at 5,600 lawfully admitted refugees residing in Minnesota.

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has long engaged in misogynistic behavior. As far back as 2015, then Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked Trump during a presidential primary debate why "You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." Trump's response was to claim that he only described Rosie O'Donnell in such a manner. But the question bothered Trump enough that days later he would attack Kelly herself, saying, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." During Trump's second term, he has made a habit of attacking women reporters. He responded to Bloomberg News' Catherine Lucey by saying, "Quiet, piggy," called the New York Times' reporter Katie Rogers "a third-rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out," referred to ABC News' Mary Bruce as a "terrible person and a terrible reporter," and described CBS News' Nancy Cordes as "a stupid person." This current of misogyny has infected the entire MAGA movement and has become a mainstay of MAGA ideology. For instance, Vice President and reply-guy JD Vance criticized prominent Democrats as "childless cat ladies." Misogyny is showing up in the normal discourse of MAGA supporters and may well have motivated two recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents.

It is possible to argue that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's entire existence is built on a mountain of lies. We could probably dissect any aspect of his biography and find that this is true. The latest effort by Trump to conjure something into existence on the basis of falsehoods and misrepresentations is his "Board of Peace," which he inaugurated yesterday. Trump presents himself as a peacemaker and is obsessed with the fact that he has not been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, Trump has a poor record when it comes to peace, and his new board has little to do with peace and a lot to do with money. Judging by the Board of Peace, Trump still does not deserve a Nobel Peace Prize, but he does have a serious claim to a prize for innovation in grifting. In that realm, Trump is certainly a world leader.

We have been witnessing a surge of incidents in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents break down doors and enter homes to arrest individuals that are believed to be subject to deportation. In several high-profile cases, innocent individuals, including U.S. citizens, have been arrested. Frequently, residents of the home or those detained have said that the ICE agents acted without a proper warrant. This suggests that ICE has been acting without regard to the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Now, a whistleblower report has revealed that this is no coincidence. Rather, ICE has been training new recruits to follow guidance in a closely held memo that says that an administrative rather than a judicial warrant is sufficient to enter a home, including by force. This guidance is at odds with the Fourth Amendment.

In yesterday's post, I briefly mentioned a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. At the time, I had only seen snippets of Carney's address. While that was enough to convince me that what he had to say was extremely important, I did not really understand its full significance until later. I am now convinced that this may turn out to have been one of the most important talks of our time. That is, if other countries heed Carney's word. Otherwise, the speech will likely simply be forgotten.

After World War I and even more so after World War II, there was widespread recognition that the existing world order had failed to maintain stability, resulting in the devastating wars. There was an eagerness to establish a new international system that would create rules for inter-state interaction and a means for preventing conflicts. The most prominent institution to result from these efforts was the United Nations. The system of international institutions and laws became known as the rules-based order or the liberal international order.

As is often the case these days, cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump spent the night posting controversial "truths" on his Truth Social social media network. Trump appears determined to completely dismantle the NATO alliance and alienate our closest European allies. Once again, both American and European elites appear more interested in appeasing Trump rather than confronting him as the mad king that he is. However, there are indications that the Europeans, at least, are reaching the end of their patience.

Trump started the night off by "truthing" that during a telephone call with Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, Trump agreed to meet with "the various parties" in Davos, Switzerland, where Trump will be tomorrow. Trump reiterated his demand that Greenland remained an "imperative for National and World Security." Rutte, you may recall, last June referred to Trump as “Daddy," which, as I wrote at the time, set off a wave of Republicans referring to Trump as "Daddy." In the neo-royalism theory being advanced by Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman, the driving goals of Trump's behavior are dominance and extraction. Essentially, Trump wants to force others into subservient positions from which he can extract material tributes. Rutte has been more than willing to assume a submissive posture before Trump. Hours after "truthing" about the phone call with Rutte, Trump posted a text that Rutte had sent him. The text said:

If I were to tell you that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump is attempting to take over Greenland because he failed to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, you would think that I am a loony conspiracy theorist. To be clear, not only have I not said such a thing, but I’ve never even thought it. But someone else has said it. That person is Trump himself. Trump made this claim in a letter to Jonas Gahr Støre, the Prime Minister of Norway. What more evidence is needed that Trump has become nothing more than a mad king and is completely unfit for office?

Here is the full text of Trump's letter:

Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a "right of ownership" anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a freeze on federal child care and family assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York. Notably, these are all Democratic states. HHS justified the cutoff of money due to "widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars". Making the announcement, Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said that, "This action reflects our commitment to program integrity, fiscal responsibility, and compliance with federal requirements." However, as reported earlier this week by the HuffPost, O’Neill's concerns do not appear to apply to red states. To the contrary, HHS and the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump have turned a blind eye towards similar fraud in Republican-led Mississippi.