January 17, 2026

0:00January 17th, 2026. After the extraordinary pushback on President Donald J. Trump's bizarre demand for Greenland, he has responded with what economist Paul Krugman called, a howl of frustration on the part of a mad dictator who has just realized that he can't send in the Marines. In a long-screed this morning, Trump's social media account said the president is placing tariffs of 10 percent on all goods from the country's currently protecting Greenland after February 1st, and that the tariffs will increase to 25 percent on June 1st. The post says the tariffs will be at effect until such time as the deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland. This post is bonkers on many levels.

1:00On the most basic, where is he thinking he's going to find the money for the complete and total purchase of Greenland? And besides the countries involved, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, are all US allies. Economist Justin Wolffers notes this trade war will include the entire European Union for a trade war with one EU country is a trade war with the entire EU. The post also makes it explicit that Trump is trying to use tariffs not to nurture the American economy, but to force other countries to do his bidding. The question of whether his tariffs are constitutional because they address what he claims is an economic emergency, is currently before the Supreme Court. New lower courts have found that the president does not have the power to levy the sweeping tariffs he has been announcing.

2:03Today's tariff announcement does not refer at all to economic need, but rather is about economic coercion. Finally, in its insistence that only the US can protect Greenland, the screed echo Russian President Vladimir Putin's promises to protect Ukraine. Knowing the reality that Greenland is part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO, the world's strongest defense alliance, it's said that Greenland and Denmark, of which Greenland is a part, currently have two dog sleds as protection one added recently. It also added that the protection Trump insists only US ownership of Greenland can provide, might also include the possible protection of Canada. As huge demonstrations of solidarity broke out today in Copenhagen and nook, the capitals of Denmark and Greenland respectively, both the European Council made up of the heads

3:06of state or governments in the European Union, and the European Commission, the primary executive branch of the European Union, weighed in on Trump's threats. President of the European Council, Antonio Costa and President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, issued a joint statement, underlining that territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole. The two leaders reiterated that they are committed both to dialogue with the US and to standing firm behind Denmark and the people of Greenland. Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral, they wrote. Trump will remain united, coordinated and committed to upholding its sovereignty.

4:09The European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Kayakales, the EU's chief diplomat, wrote, China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies. If Greenland's security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. Representatives from the 27 countries in the European Union are holding an emergency meeting tomorrow. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the EU say they will not ratify a new trade agreement the European Commission and Trump signed last July. Some lawmakers are talking about using a trade bazooka against the US, a range of measures outlined in the EU's anti-coercion instrument that punish trade rivals trying to coerce

5:09the EU. Those include trade restrictions and restricting investment in the EU. Meanwhile, Reuters reported today that Trump appears to be trying to set up his own organization to rival the United Nations. The administration has sent letters to leaders from several countries, inviting them to be part of a board of peace, led by the US. The board would first tackle the crisis in Gaza and then go on to take on other crises around the world. Bloomberg reported today that the draft charter for the proposed organization makes Trump the board's first chair and gives him the power to choose a successor. He would decide what countries can be members. Each member state would get one vote in the organization, but the chair would have to approve all decisions. The draft says that each member state has a term of no more than three years unless the

6:12chair renews it, but that limit doesn't apply to any member states that contribute more than a billion dollars in cash funds to the board of peace within the first year of the charter's entry into force. The draft suggests that Trump himself will control that money. Last night, US District Judge Catherine Menendez and Minneapolis prohibited agents from the Department of Homeland Security from retaliating against or arresting peaceful protesters or using pepper spray or other less lethal weapons against them. Menendez also prohibited agents from stopping or detaining people following their vehicles. The descriptions in the decision of how agents have treated protesters are detailed and damning. The plaintiff submitted sworn testimony. In contrast, the judge notes, the agents did not provide sworn declarations from immigration

7:15officers or others who witnessed or were themselves directly involved. But instead relied on the declaration of the Acting Field Office Director for the Ice St. Paul Field Office, David Easterwood, who was not present at any of the incidents that the agents said the protesters had obstructed their activities. Yesterday, Fox News broke the story that the Department of Justice is investigating both Minnesota Governor Tim Walls and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye on criminal charges for allegedly impeding the work of law enforcement officers in the administration's surge of agents to their state. Trump's reliance on bogus investigations to establish a narrative is well established. This tactic of launching investigations to seed the idea that a political opponent has committed crimes has been a staple of the Republican Party since at least the 1990s.

8:17As the media reported on those investigations, people assumed that there must be something to them. Trump adopted this tactic wholeheartedly, most famously when he tried to force Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce he was opening an investigation into Hunter Biden, not actually to open the investigation, but simply to announce it before Trump to release to Ukraine the money Congress had appropriated for it to help it fight off Russia's invasion. The administration is trying hard to project dictatorial strength and power, but the narrative is slipping away from it. For all Trump's bluster about U.S. trade, the world appears to be moving on without the U.S. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada visited Beijing this week, the first visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to China since 2017. On Friday, Canada broke with the U.S. and struck a major deal with China, cutting its

9:20tariff on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China's lowering its tariffs on Canadian canola seed. Many posted on social media, the Canada-China relationship has been distant and uncertain for nearly a decade. We're changing that, with a new strategic partnership that benefits the people of both our nations. Trump's triumphant narrative is not working at home either. A new CNN poll released Friday shows that 58% of Americans believe that Trump's first year in office has been a failure. Americans worry most about the economy, but concerns about democracy come in second. The numbers beyond that continue to be bad for Trump. 66% of Americans think Trump doesn't care about people like them. 53% think he doesn't have the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively as president. 65% of Americans say Trump is not someone they are proud to have as president.

10:27In Virginia today, former representative and former intelligence officer Abigail Spanberger took the oath of office as the Commonwealth's 75th governor, the first woman to hold that position. In her inaugural address, she celebrated the peaceful transfer of power and called for Virginians to work together to make life more affordable and embrace progress, writing a new chapter in the state's history. As we mark 250 years since the dawn of American freedom, what will our children, grandchildren, and their descendants write about this time in our Commonwealth's history? This chapter, 50, 100, and 250 years from now, she asked. Will they say that we let divisions fester or challenges overwhelm us? Or will they say that we stood up for what is right, fixed what is broken, and served

11:28the common good here in Virginia? Today we're hearing the call to connect more deeply to our American experiment, to understand our shared history, not as a single point in time, but as a lesson for how we create our more prosperous future. And so I ask, what will you do to help us offer this next chapter? Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at SoundScape Productions, Dead and Massachusets, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.