The profound implications of Davos: a stronger Europe and a weaker US

 An impression of the Davos conclave: a stronger Europe; a weaker US..It was more than just embarrassing as Trump in his usual off-script oratory, went off on his stolen election results in 2020, ended 8 wars, so he deserved the Nobel prize, got Greenland confused with Iceland, and insulted any number of European countries. World leaders at Davos vacillated between treating Trump like a dangerous, deranged egomaniac who declares his thoughts for the day as his policies or they flattered his ego, or began to show a backbone and call his bluff, bunders, and verbal blasts as something to take seriously, or acted like the adults in the room using careful diplomatic speak to mask their own feelings. Post Trump's on-stage act, CNN's interviews with European leaders was telling and a contrast with how real international leaders should speak.. This from the British Mirror is even more telling:Donald Trump's strongman act collapses - but now he's confirmed the world's worst fears     The most indepth and influential analysis came from Der Spiegel in Germany. Donald, that's enough! - DER SPIEGEL - The German View   The Germans have him figured out.  The opening sentence of the Der Spiegel substack reflected the disgust and failure of the European leaders to appease and flatter him: "One of the most reliable constants of Donald Trump's secpnd term is that he responds to weakness with brutality." and the closing paragraph on expecting more threats, though Trump folded in Greenland annexation for now was: "On Wednesday afternoon at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he (Trump) would b very grateful if the Europeans handed over Greenland voluntarily. 'If you say no, we will remember'. That is not how a president speaks. That is how a mafia boss speaks."    

The implications of this are profound for now and the future. Above all, Trump seems to have accomplished two things: get Europe and Canada unified to be independent of US support, and the US has lost control of influencing Europeans to agree to his priorities. He has lost any trust in words or policy pronouncements as his whims soar with his midnight rants on

Truth Social.

So what does it mean for those in the US? It means those whose businesses are dependent on trans atlantic trade are now ugly Americans abroad and are toxic as business partners. How this influences prices of everyday expenses like housing, construction, and groceries, subject to the insane tariff policies, is just being felt. What is noticeable when Trump makes his threats and divorces himself from our allies is that the stock market takes a dive. It may cause the bond market to collapse as foreign investors seek more friendly countries. Even Canada is seeking greater ties with China. It may also affect the oligarchs and uber wealthy bottom lines as the dollar dives. It means if Trump wants help with any of his own treasured delusional policies, Europe is likely to give him a one-finger salute. There is one upside: Europe has realized it has to take care of itself and not depend on the military umbrella of the US to give it a national defense shelter. Their priorities begin to differ from ours, and NATO is now weak and damaged goods, since mutual defense is now in question.

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The only winner is Putin, who loves to see NATO destroyed and the US not coming to the defense of Ukraine. clearing his way to an invasion of Poland, step two in Putin's goal to return Eastern Europe to the days of the USSR glory. It is like 1939 all over again. ..except now the US is also an aggressor, and our president is still seeing Putin as a desireable anti democracy peer and colleague.

Why does Trump seem not to care he facing plunging polls and a loss of the House in November?

 Polls today, nearly all of them, show Trump's approval is sinking into Nixon territory, and nearly 60% of Americans disapprove of his top issues: immigration, affordability, and land grabs of foreign territories. He is already brushing off the loss of the House this November. Why does he seem not to care that voters feel the pain, and instead, just doubles down? He seems in a hurry to get revenge and punish his enemies and is engaged in stuffing his personal wealth with crypto converted to dollars and exchange fees while the getting is good. He is acting like a deranged fascist dictator gorging himself in a candy shop and satiating an appetite that craves for more and more power and control, domestic and abroad, and getting away with it before he is stopped in November: Why? He keeps issuing executive orders that he treats like they are the law, but that are blatantly unconstitutional. He counts on court delays and appeals to give him time and let him keep on violating the Constitution. He is hinting at calling off even the November 2026 and 2028 elections or confiscating ballot boxes, or declaring some national emergency or a cooked-up insurgency, as a pretext for military occupation.  Observers fear he is hoping that the streets turn so ugly he can use ICE as a pretext to invoke the insurrection act, using military,  and his ICE paramilitary, even Joe Rogan calls it a Gestapo,  funded and in place and able to act as his personal army. Why?

 Why has this happened? 

(1). First and foremost, there is no one or no way to stop Trump's lust for power, and he knows it.  He has whipped Congress into subservience as they cower in fear of crossing him. Court rulings? He just figures a way around them and keeps on enforcing and executing his orders while the courts delay, delay, delay decisions and hear appeals upon appeals.  He may even ignore court rulings if there is an insurgency, he hinted to the New York Times recently. He believes he has the power to do it. Update 1 20 2026: A comprehensive report of how Trump and conservative GOP leaders are turning America into a unitary form of governement. (Unitary form: all power to the executive with eliminating checks and balances of the legislature and judiciary...( That in my view is a polite description of an autocracy) Trump Tests Presidential Power: Venezuela Operation, Iran Bombing and More - The New York Times

 (2)  He is a lame duck who will never have to face angry voters again, so he can ignore them, even those in his own party.

(3)"His" Supreme Court gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, so breaking the law is of no concern to him.

.(4) He is counting on his partisan loyalists of about 40% of all adults polled, to keep him going and have his back. 

 What to do; what to do, hand wringers? The only way to stop two more years of this is still an overwhelming vote and kicking out his political allies up and down the ballot in the midterms. In the meantime, angry voters have to deny Trump a fascist style pretext for such a military-like takeover of democracy by keeping their protests peaceful, large, and focusing on voter registration and turnout. FYI: an insurrection is not peaceful protestors nor even a handful of violent protestors...but Trump threatens to invoke the insurrection act, nonetheless. Those threats will go nowhere if the protests remain peaceful.

 In the meantime, cool it, hot heads, you who want to vent anger with violence.  As Minnesota officials say, "Don't take the bait". ICE hopes you do lose self-control and become violent. They will then have a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act and oppress you with overwhelming military-like force. As they escalate their violent behavior, they are provoking you to answer in kind. Don't. If you play this right, your day will come to oust these MAGA. The real power, the opinions of the majority of the people, is the force that is already with you. So is a federal judge. Don't mess it up. 

Judge Restricts Immigration Agents’ Actions Toward Minnesota Protesters - The New York Times Renee Good killing is the straw that broke the camel's back. Judge clamps down on ICE actions to suppress Minneapolis protesters exercising their constitutional rights with flash bangs, pepper spray, chemical agents, and excessive force by combat-ready ICE paramilitary-garbed agents... We are not yet a militarized police state working on behalf of a government leadership determined to get its way by any means, including violence. Let's see if this gets appealed or ignored.

These ICE are not patriots or just police. They are a masked paramilitary, claiming they are a law enforcement agency, while using excessive force techniques to take down their targets and use violent weapons of crowd control, inflaming, not de-escalating, being overtly racist, targeting those who are brown or looks like a migrant, in a way that would have gotten local policemen fired, suspended, prosecuted, and even imprisoned. The agents wear masks and display no badge numbers, so citizens cannot hold individual agents accountable. Their leader claims they have total immunity from prosecution and conceals evidence that could lead to prosecution, even for murder. Wearing masks makes them look fierce and threatening as well. No local police agency condones this.  

Here is the real value of organizations like Indivisible and 50501. They give the opposition cover and safety in numbers,, and give them the guts, non-violent techniques, and the discipline to stand up peacefully. They provide a non-party-based outlet, support, and protest opportunity for disaffected GOP members, independent,  unaffiliated voters, and Democrats dissatisfied with their own party's leadership.  The tent of these groups is welcoming, with room for a wide variety of ideologies and public policy issues.   They have the ability with vast lists of activists and their emails, leaders trained,  ready, able, and willing to galvanize voters in November. This is not the MLK civil rights movement of 50 or so years ago, but it is similar in its spirit, and it has drawn on many of the same peaceful and effective techniques of protest. The Indivisible types of protesters know from their education what kind of democracy we have and why it is so valuable. They know the difference between our kind of democracy and dictatorships. They have also inspired other organizations, grassroots, and neighborhood groups to adopt their same techniques, so it is creating a movement that goes far beyond the influence of the Indivisible lists of participants. 

 As much as the Trump regime tries to say these are paid agitators and organizers, they are fooling themselves and MAGA. Without millions themselves realizing they are the only way to stop this wannabe dictator, since the guardrails against such have failed, Indivisible could never have succeeded in turning out so many, mostly white, educated middle-class people of all ages.  The participants have been willing to risk Trump's threats and abuse of power, "screw their courage to a sticking post" (Shakespeare) all across America, and for many, for the first time in their lives, to get out and march in support of democracy. They know a wannabe King, tyrant, dictator when they see one because they remember what they learned about the history of the 1930s  in Europe, the 1950's to current times in South America, and how ordinary people suffered under such rule, causing many to flee their home countries to western democracies. (There is a reason the migrants are not hordes flowing to such dictatorships.) They see it happening here and now.  Above all, they are a pro-democracy force that wants to preserve the kind of democracy we have had for 250 years, of, by, and for the people  (not of, by, and for a one-man, small minority,  or oligarchic ruler). They know about such dictatorships that, once in power, they only care enough to trickle down just enough to the masses to keep them from violently revolting. The rest of the tax benefits and grift is for their personal lifestyles and the causes that serve them. The goal of such autocrats is to stay in power by whatever means, including violence.  

CNN poll: Democrats are deeply motivated for the midterms despite having dismal views of party leaders

 

Are Trump's supporters getting what they want from his second term? Here's what a new poll shows

A post from mid December which  dives deeper into why and what of Trump's brand of fascism, or whatever you call how he is acting. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: My nagging question: why does fascism keep raising its ugly head

A post written in October: MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What is MAGA? Whatever you call it, it is not conservative, but something else.

Why are ICE agents so prone to violence and so dedicated to taking down anyone who looks like a migrant. Look at who they are recruiting. Whatever could go wrong? . The US government seems to have a clear message for white nationalists | CNN Politics

Grocery price inflation end of 2025: up 2.4 percent  tariff role per an ABC news report.Grocery inflation is picking up, defying Trump's claims. Here's why.

Gas prices at pump..just below $3 per gallon; mid Jan 2026 AAA Fuel Prices  Not..below $2 per gal as Trump claims.

Housing price inflation:Housing price inflation, 1967→2026

Energy cost inflation: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/21/why-electricity-prices-are-surging-for-us-households.html#:~:text=Electricity%20prices%20are%20rising%20quickly,the%20electric    Nearly 5% in 2025

White people are poorly treated, claims Trump. His true self is revealed again

 The president just claimed that "white people in this country are poorly treated."Trump's true self is revealed again. I have been trying to find proof, too, that those who are not DEI hurt white people. By eliminating DEI throughout the federal government, the result is not to level a playing field, but to give a green light and to remove a barrier to what nationalists most desire, which is giving their race (and mine), already a heady majority, more of an advantage over others. This is a nation with nearly 40% percent of those not white. This is the white nationalists' dream to increase domination of a majority over a minority, a formula for a past and a future of racial conflict. It is not just divisive, it is dangerous for a future we hope will be peaceful and governed by and for all of the people.

What we now have is a country led by an obvious racist and who includes white nationalists in non-elected, powerful, influential positions in his administration. Now his administration is actively recruiting white nationalists for ICE. The US government seems to have a clear message for white nationalists | CNN Politics Whatever could go wrong?

What is clear is that Trump has built his political base and risen to near absolute power on racism, from birtherism to central park 5 to the golden escalator to constantly documented dog whistles to rally his fellow racists, like calling tiki torch carrying neo nazis fine people. Trump has made it clear that the only migrants he welcomes to the US are Norwegians and White South Africans. How much more blatantly obvious can a racist be?

The real shame is that so many Americans share or tolerate his racism.

The other shame is that his racist whisperer is in his ear daily and given a permission slip to proceed. Stephen Miller on his staff has a long history of white nationalism. If anything, Miller's contribution to the Trump regime is his anti-immigrant stance, including using the cruelty of family separation as a tool and in deporting immigrants without due process. He is viewed as an extremist in these sensitive matters. Given his anti-immigrant reputation, I doubt if the Bill of Rights and the civil rights-related amendments would be high on his required list of curriculum topics. The Southern Poverty Law Center tags him as an extremist.https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/stephen-miller/. Miller is in charge of this ICE project aimed at ridding the country of as many brown people as he can under the pretext migrants are criminals when 70 percent of those they grab have no criminal record.. ..but are brown and are both american citizens and who only committed a misdemeanor of being undocumented. Miller's campaign involves eliminating the birthright citizenship of those born in the US and cleansing them from this country.

the-independent.com

Trump says white people being treated ‘very badly’ due to civil rights protections

Show me your papers. If you are an American citizen, what papers?

 "Show me your papers." ICE should not demand of anyone in what we once had a democracy. Videos of show American citizens are being snatched and brutally taken down if they look like a migrant. ICE does not even pause to ask first.. They just throw their suspect n to the ground, dragged and cuffed by a masked paramilitary. So, what papers should American citizens carry with them? We do not have a national ID card. Drivers license and SSI cards are not proof. Should all Americans have to carry their birth certificates around? Only a small percent of Americans have passports, and migrants with green cards have some evidence of legality, but what about the rest of us? Heaven help you if you do not look Anglo and have an accent. There is a history here of show me your papers laws. SB 1070 at the Supreme Court: What's at Stake | American Civil Liberties Union

startribune.com

Target employees detained by federal officers were U.S. citizens, legislator says

Minnesota Rep. Michael Howard, who represents Richfield, said the employees also were injured in the incident.