Newsom in Davos: "This Is Code Red," Europe Declares Independence, Congress ReturnsLegal commentator Glenn Kirschner joins us at 2pm EST today to talk about Trump's assault on the rule of law here and everywhere.....
Morning all. Join my live conversation with Glenn Kirschner at 2pm EST today by clicking here. A recording will be sent to everyone later this afternoon if you can’t join us live. Glenn is terrific, and this will be a timely and informative events. Let’s start with a reminder that in the CNN poll we discussed last week 58% of American adults think the first year of Trump’s term has been a failure. A year in Trump’s approval rating has stabilized in an ugly place for him and 2026 Republicans:
Navigator has some new data showing how unhappy voters are with Trump:
Would this week’s polls show a rejection of Trump’s dramatic and dangerous escalation in recent days? This morning’s Economist/YouGov tracking poll suggests yes, as this is his worst poll in this series this year. His job approval is 37%-57% (-20), 6 points worse than last week’s results. Ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next up is a clip of Governor Gavin Newsom in Davos, Switzerland in what’s become an important, even historic moment, in the Trans-Atlantic Alliance. Our friend Gavin just lays it out there, powerfully. Watch it above, and let’s read a rough transcript, together:
Yesterday, at Davos, The President of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, gave an extraordinary speech essentially declaring independence from the United States and the end of the 80 year old Western alliance:
Here are a few of the opening graphs of the speech:
Here’s Danish Parliament Deputy Speaker Lars-Christian Brask yesterday: "If I could come with some advice, it would be for the Senate & House to start to take control of political power in America because with this erratic & mad behaviour, you have to ask the question, is the President capable of running the US?"  Here’s the great Anne Applebaum today from a new essay, Trump’s Letter To Norway Should Be The Last Straw: Will Republicans In Congress Ever Step In? (gift link): “Let me begin by quoting, in full, a letter that the president of the United States of America sent yesterday to the prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. The text was forwarded by the White House National Security Council to ambassadors in Washington, and was clearly intended to be widely shared. Here it is:
One could observe many things about this document. One is the childish grammar, including the strange capitalizations (“Complete and Total Control”). Another is the loose grasp of history. Donald Trump did not end eight wars. Greenland has been Danish territory for centuries. Its residents are Danish citizens who vote in Danish elections. There are many “written documents” establishing Danish sovereignty in Greenland, including some signed by the United States. In his second term, Trump has done nothing for NATO—an organization that the U.S. created and theoretically leads, and that has only ever been used in defense of American interests. If the European members of NATO have begun spending more on their own defense (budgets to which the U.S. never contributed), that’s because of the threat they feel from Russia. Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland. Think about where this is leading. One possibility, anticipated this morning by financial markets, is a damaging trade war. Another is an American military occupation of Greenland. Try to imagine it: The U.S. Marines arrive in Nuuk, the island’s capital. Perhaps they kill some Danes; perhaps some American soldiers die too. And then what? If the invaders were Russians, they would arrest all of the politicians, put gangsters in charge, shoot people on the street for speaking Danish, change school curricula, and carry out a fake referendum to rubber-stamp the conquest. Is that the American plan too? If not, then what is it? This would not be the occupation of Iraq, which was difficult enough. U.S. troops would need to force Greenlanders, citizens of a treaty ally, to become American against their will. For the past year, American allies around the world have tried very hard to find a theory that explains Trump’s behavior. Isolationism, neo-imperialism, and patrimonialism are all words that have been thrown around. But in the end, the president himself defeats all attempts to describe a “Trump doctrine.” He is locked into a world of his own, determined to “win” every encounter, whether in an imaginary competition for the Nobel Peace Prize or a protest from the mother of small children objecting to his masked, armed paramilitary in Minneapolis. These contests matter more to him than any long-term strategy. And of course, the need to appear victorious matters much more than Americans’ prosperity and well-being.”
So what do we do? It’s time now for Democrats to offer a unified national front - Govs, Congress, Big City Mayors, whatever Rs want to join along - to fight for these two things we’ve been talking about:
There can be no question in the minds of Americans, or the free people of the world, where we stand on these matters. The world is watching, and we must follow the counsel of the Gavin Newsom above and these words from EU President von der Leyen:
It is time to seize this opportunity, fellow Democrats, and build a far more powerful and effective opposition, one that works tirelessly to counter Trump and bring about a new birth of freedom in the years ahead, here and everywhere.
We need to be very loud today people. Congress needs to hear from us today. All of us, loudly. Now….. Let’s Get To Work!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks to everyone who contributed our campaign for the Minnesota DFL. We’ve exceeded our goal and have raised $67,000! Thank you all. Now that we’ve hit our goal we are once again prioritizing our current working line-up: Winning The Midterms - Support Our Candidates
Expanding The Senate and Electoral College Maps, Winning In Red States and Red Places (2026-2032)
Why We Must Invest Early, Now, And Not Wait - In three new essays (here, here, here) I discuss how one of the ways we win the 2026 midterms is by providing early support to our candidates and parties to allow them to staff up, be loud, define the terms of the debate now, before the inevitable onslaught on AI slop, Russian disinfo, and Trumpian lies funded through bribes and corruption wash across the land. The midterms could be won or lost in these next few months - not in the fall of 2026 - and we need be fighting now with everything we got. Winning The Big Arguments With Trump, Defend Our DemocracyWe have two recommended actions today: 1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Five-Part Agenda - We need to be loud people, very, very loud and make the case for our now five part agenda:
2 - Celebrate America, Our Constitution, Our 250th Birthday By Bringing Our Resolutions Project To Your Community - This July 4th America celebrates it’s 250th birthday. We need to make this holiday, a celebration of our Declaration Of Independence from a mad king, our day, and not allow it to become his. One way we can do this is by bringing our Resolutions Project to your community or state. Imagine if by July 4th of next year a large number of towns, counties and states had passed formal resolutions, in the spirit of our Declaration of Independence, defending our Constitution and condemning the “injuries,” “abuses,” and “usurpations” of our mad king. For as our Founders wrote in the Declaration:
So far Hopium members have introduced or passed resolutions in 85 communities in 23 states. In the coming days we will be convening to discuss how to bring this campaign to more places and start planning to Own The Fourth next year. Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder! Keep working hard everyone, and I remain so incredibly proud to be in this righteous fight with all of you - Simon
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Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Newsom in Davos: "This Is Code Red," Europe Declares Independence, Congress Returns
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