Part 2 Anti-Anti-Nazi Barbarian Hordes are Knocking Down ...

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Donald Trump 'orders army chiefs to draw up plan to invade Greenland': US President emboldened by success of Maduro capture operation
By GLEN OWEN and DAN HODGES
DAILY MAIL
Published: 18:04 EST, 10 January 2026 | Updated: 21:02 EST, 10 January 2026
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ident.html

Donald Trump has ordered his special forces commanders to draw up a plan for the invasion of Greenland - but is being resisted by senior military figures, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Sources say that the policy 'hawks' around the US President, led by political adviser Stephen Miller, have been so emboldened by the success of the operation to capture Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro that they want to move quickly to seize the island before Russia or China makes a move.

British diplomats believe that Trump is also motivated by a desire to distract American voters from the performance of the US economy before the mid-term elections later this year, after which he could lose control of Congress to the Democrats.

But such a dramatic move would put him at odds with Sir Keir Starmer and would effectively lead to the collapse of Nato.

According to the sources, the President has asked the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to prepare the invasion plan, but it is being resisted by the joint chiefs of staff on the grounds that it would be illegal - and would not be supported by Congress.

One source said: 'They have tried to distract Trump by talking about less controversial measures, such as intercepting Russian 'ghost' ships - a clandestine network of hundreds of vessels operated by Moscow to evade Western sanctions - or launching a strike on Iran.'

Diplomats have war-gamed what they describe as an 'escalatory scenario' under which Trump uses force or 'political coercion' to sever Greenland's links to Denmark.

One diplomatic cable describes the 'worst-case' scenario as leading to 'the destruction of Nato from the inside'.

It adds: 'Some European officials suspect this is the real aim of the hardline MAGA faction around Trump. Since Congress would not allow Trump to exit Nato, occupying Greenland could force the Europeans to abandon Nato. If Trump wants to end Nato, this might be the most convenient way to do it.'

Under the 'Compromise Scenario', Denmark would agree to give Trump full military access to Greenland and deny access to Russia and China.

Although America already has free access to the island, it would be put on a legal basis.

The cable says: 'For domestic political reasons, Trump can start with an escalatory scenario which shifts to a compromise scenario.

'European officials fear that, for Trump, the window of opportunity before the mid-terms is closing in the summer, therefore action is expected sooner rather than later. The Nato summit on July 7 seems like the natural timing for a compromise deal'.

It concludes: 'The current concerns [about an invasion] are driven by the most extreme views coming from Stephen Miller. The UK's positioning will be key - whether it sticks closely with European allies or breaks ranks [to sanction Trump's approach].'

A diplomatic source said: 'The generals think Trump's Greenland plan is crazy and illegal. So they are trying to deflect him with other major military operations. They say it's like dealing with a five-year-old'.

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Bombshell: USA admits it lied about Venezuela drug trafficking - while CIA supported cartels
Geopolitical Economy Report
Jan 8, 2026

To justify bombing Venezuela and abducting President Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump falsely accused him of leading the so-called "Cartel de los Soles". But the US Department of Justice was forced to admit that this "Suns Cartel" doesn't exist. The USA lied -- while the CIA actually has trafficked drugs in Latin America. Ben Norton reports.



US attacks Venezuela

Donald Trump has been very open about
the fact that the reason that the US
government has been attacking Venezuela
and even abducted Venezuela's president
Nicolas Maluro is because he wants US
corporations to exploit the oil in
Venezuela. And Venezuela has the world's
largest oil reserves.
(CLIP) Trump wants Venezuela's oil
We built Venezuela oil industry with
American talent, drive, and skill. and
the socialist regime stole it from us.
We're going to have our very large
United States oil companies, the biggest
anywhere in the world, go in, spend
billions of dollars, fix the badly
broken infrastructure, the oil
infrastructure,
and start making money. We're going to
be taking out a tremendous amount of
wealth out of the ground. We're in the
oil business. We're going to sell it to
We're not going to say we're not going
to give it. In other words, we'll be
selling oil. We're going to be running
it with a group and we're going to make
sure it's run properly. We're going to
rebuild the oil infrastructure. We're
going to run the c country right. It's
going to be run very uh judiciously,
very fairly. It's going to make a lot of
Trump's colonial war on Venezuela
money. Trump announced that he's forcing
the government of Venezuela at gunpoint
to hand over billions of dollars worth
of oil that will be given to the US and
that will also cut out China. China
until now has bought 80% of Venezuela's
oil. So, it's obvious that the US is
waging an imperialist war against
Venezuela. This has nothing to do with
democracy or human rights or any of
those propaganda buzzwords. And I also
have to emphasize that this has nothing
to do with drugs. This is what we're
going to be explaining today because for
years the US government has spread the
lie that supposedly Venezuela's
president Maluro was the head of a drug
cartel. And now that the US has
kidnapped Maluro and is trying him in a
show trial in New York, the US
US DOJ admits it lied about Maduro
Department of Justice is finally
admitting the truth. It knew all along
that Maduro is not the leader of a drug
cartel. In fact, as part of the show
trial against Maduro, the US Department
of Justice admitted that there is no
such thing as the so-called cartel de
loles or the sons cartel. Now, this
blatant lie goes back to the first Trump
administration when Trump's DOJ led by
the former CIA agent William Bar claimed
that supposedly Maluro and other top
Venezuelan government officials were
part of this fake cartel de loles. And
then the US government acted like a
mafia boss and it originally offered a
$25 million bounty on the head of
Maduro. And then the second Trump
administration expanded that to a $50
million bounty for the head of
Venezuela's president. But again, now
that the US DOJ is trying Maduro in this
show trial, it was forced to admit that
this was a lie all along. that not only
was Maduro not the leader of this group,
the group did not even exist. It was
fabricated.
92-year-old judge oversees show trial
And by the way, the judge overseeing
this show trial against Maduro is 92
years old, which is a perfect example of
the decadence of the US Empire, which
thinks it can just kidnap foreign heads
of state from internationally recognized
sovereign governments and then try them
in a kangaroo court overseen by people
who remember World War II. Everything
about this is just a complete farce. And
"Cartel de los Soles" doesn't exist
I have to say, if you've been following
our reporting here at Geopolitical
Economy Report, you will not be
surprised to learn this because we've
talked about this in multiple videos
over months. In fact, back in November
of 2025, I wrote a tweet that went viral
in which I looked at some of the
evidence from mainstream sources showing
that the so-called Suns cartel did not
exist and that Trump and Marco Rubio
were using this lie to try to justify a
colonial war of aggression against
Venezuela. For instance, CNN published
an article in November admitting that
this so-called cartel does not exist.
CNN interviewed a researcher at the
international crisis group which is
funded by Western governments and he
admitted that it does not exist.
Similarly, the French state media outlet
France 24 also published an article back
in August acknowledging that the
so-called cartel de loles does not
exist. it quoted the same researcher
from this western government funded
group who said there is no such thing so
Maduro can hardly be its boss end quote.
WMD lie
So it was so obvious at the time in the
leadup to this US war of aggression
against Venezuela that the US government
was lying just as it lied in the leadup
to the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003
when the George W. Bush administration
falsely claimed that Iraq's leader
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction or WMDs.
In fact, the Trump administration has
been so lazy in its war propaganda that
the Trump White House passed an
executive order designating fentinol as
a so-called weapon of mass destruction,
WMD. But what's so absurd about this US
Venezuela does NOT produce fentanyl
government narrative is that Venezuela
does not produce any fentinyl. Venezuela
has nothing to do with fentinyl and
synthetic opioids like fentinyl are
responsible for the vast majority of
drug overdose deaths in the US. Cocaine
only represents a small fraction of
those deaths. And yet the Trump
administration has been absurdly trying
to blame Venezuela for these deaths that
Venezuela has absolutely nothing to do
with. Just like the Bush administration
implied that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had
something to do with 9/11, which
obviously was a complete lie to justify
another colonial war of aggression. If
Cocaine-producing countries
you actually look at independent
research done by international experts
at the United Nations, they have showed
repeatedly that Venezuela does not play
a significant role in the global drug
trade, including for cocaine. Venezuela
has nothing to do with fentinyl. But
even when it comes to cocaine,
Venezuela's role as a producer is
basically non-existent. And even
Venezuela's role as a transit country
for cocaine is very small. This was
admitted by a former top official in the
Joe Biden administration, Juan Sebastian
Gonzalez, who is certainly no friend of
Latin America, and he was very anti-
Venezuela, but he admitted that
Venezuela has nothing to do with the
drug trade. I
(CLIP) Biden official admits truth
I want to press you on this, the the
narot trafficking state. Um, this is
what Juan Carlos, sorry, Juan Gonzalez,
who was uh, President Biden's national
security director for the Western
Hemisphere, told me about this. Um,
being that essentially only 5% of
cocaine flows through Venezuela. This is
what he told me.
The reason that drugs have never
originated from Venezuela in the way
that they've originated from Colombia,
over 95% of the cocaine that comes to
United States come from comes from
Colombia, is because Venezuela has one
of the largest oil reserves in the
world. They have the largest gold
reserves in Latin Americs
issue to justify getting rid of Maduro
like they used the non-existent WMD
issue to get rid of Saddam Hussein in
Iraq. So are you I guess what I'm asking
you is are you concerned about that
given that it's not as much of certainly
it's not fentinil which comes through
from China through Mexico um and it's
not that much cocaine relatively
speaking. Now, if you know anything
CIA trafficked drugs in Venezuela
about the modern history of US
government meddling in Latin America,
you also probably know that the US
government has been deeply linked to
drug trafficking, especially the CIA. In
fact, back in the early 1990s, Venezuela
was governed by a right-wing US puppet
regime that obediently did whatever the
US government wanted. This was several
years before Venezuela's left-wing
independent president came to power, Ugo
Chavez, in 1999.
Before that, the CIA was actually using
Venezuela's right-wing pro- US regime in
order to, can you guess it, traffic
drugs. This is an article that was
published in the New York Times in 1993
titled anti-drug unit of CIA sent ton of
cocaine to US in 1990. I'm reading here
from the New York Times. Quote, a
central intelligence agency anti-drug
program in Venezuela shipped a ton of
nearly pure cocaine to the United States
in 1990, government officials said
today. Officials say the cocaine wound
up being sold on the streets in the
United States. End quote. And this was
not an isolated instance. The New York
Times pointed out that this CIA case
involved the same program in which the
CIA created a Haitian intelligence
service whose officers became involved
in drug trafficking and acts of
political terror. It added that some of
the CIA officers involved were also
working with anti-gorilla forces in El
Salvador and other Central American
nations in the 1980s when the CIA was
carrying out a campaign of terror
against left-wing groups in Central
America and using drugs in order to fund
their operations. In fact, back in 1993,
the major CBS news program 60 Minutes
published an investigative report
detailing how the CIA was trafficking
cocaine into the US in collaboration
with Venezuela's right-wing US puppet
regime. Again, this is years before the
leftist Ugo Chavez came to power and
Nicolas Maluro was the successor of Ugo
Chavez. 60 Minutes in fact won a
prestigious Peabody Award for its
journalism reporting on the CIA's
involvement in trafficking cocaine. Here
is a clip from the video that the
Peabody Awards prepared celebrating 60
Minutes for breaking this bombshell
story.
(CLIP) 60 Minutes on CIA drug trafficking
It's now my pleasure to congratulate my
colleagues at 60 Minutes for this
investigative report on the CIA's
involvement in drug trafficking.
A ton of cocaine. Pure cocaine worth
hundreds of millions is smuggled into
the United States. Sound familiar? Not
the way this ton of cocaine got here.
According to what the former head of the
Drug Enforcement Administration told
Mike Wallace, this drug shipment got
here courtesy of what he calls drug
trafficking by the CIA in partnership
with the Venezuelan National Guard.
The CIA and the Guardian Nationals
wanted to let cocaine go on into the
traffic without doing anything. They
wanted to let it come up to the United
States.
DEA agent accuses CIA of trafficking
Back in the 1990s, this became a huge
scandal in the US. There were many
reports about the CIA using drugs in
order to fund its operations in Latin
America in order to prop up right-wing
puppet regimes that would serve the
interests of US corporations, which is
exactly what Trump wants in Venezuela
today. In 1993, a former undercover
agent who worked for the US DEA, the
Drug Enforcement Administration, named
Michael Lavine, published a bombshell
book titled Big White Lie, the CIA and
the Cocaine Crack Epidemic. And the US
Department of Justice, in fact, has
information about this book in its
virtual library. It notes that this
book, written by a former DEA agent,
charges that the CIA and other US
federal agencies are perpetuating the
scourge of drugs on American streets
while they profess to be fighting the
war on drugs. And this is for their own
geopolitical reasons, their imperialist
reasons to put in power right-wing
corrupt puppet regimes in Latin America
run by drug traffickers who obediently
serve the interests of Washington and
Wall Street and help US corporations to
exploit the region. Later in the 90s,
CIA, cocaine, Nicaraguan Contras
the American journalist Gary Webb
published a series of reports and then a
book titled Dark Alliance: The CIA, the
Contras, and the Crack Cocaine
Explosion. And he showed in his
reporting how the CIA was using cocaine
in order to fund the right-wing terror
war it was waging against the
revolutionary socialist Sandinista
government in Nicaragua to try to
overthrow the Sandinistas. This was part
of the infamous Iran Contra scandal. It
was a huge story in the 1990s and yet so
many people today have forgotten about
this. A lot of young people have never
even heard about this history. But it
shows how for decades the US government
and especially the CIA has been one of
the main supporters of drug traffickers
in Latin America as part of this
makavelian scheme to impose the hegemony
of the US empire on the region to
destabilize and overthrow independent
left-wing governments and to put in
power corrupt right-wing regimes to
serve US corporate interests. And just
as in the 1980s the CIA targeted
Nicaragua's revolutionary socialist
government, similarly for years the CIA
and other US government agencies have
been targeting Venezuela's socialist
government to try to overthrow it and
destabilize it. And the US has been
deeply involved in drug trafficking
while falsely accusing Venezuela's
President Maluro and other Venezuelan
government officials of being involved
in drug trafficking. Again, if you
actually study the modern history of US
imperialism in Latin America, it is just
mindblowing the level of hypocrisy and
lies, the non-stop lies we hear from
Washington. And as I often emphasize in
Trump pardoned Hondura drug trafficker
my reports here, this is not something
new under Donald Trump. This has been
bipartisan US imperialist policy for
decades. However, Trump has taken that
hypocrisy and that blatant imperialism
to a whole new level. Trump does not
even care about hiding the fact that the
US is a violent empire based on lies and
criminality. For instance, just a few
weeks before Trump invaded Venezuela and
kidnapped its internationally recognized
president to subject him to a show trial
in the US based on fake charges. A few
weeks before, Donald Trump pardoned and
released from prison one of the worst
drug traffickers on Earth the right-wing
former dictator of Honduras, Juan
Orlando Ernnandez, who was a US puppet
who trafficked hundreds of tons of
cocaine. And the US government supported
him, not only under Trump, by the way,
but also under Democrats like Joe Biden
because he was obediently serving the
interests of the US empire and US
corporations in Latin America. And in
fact, after Trump attacked Venezuela and
kidnapped Maluro, he was asked about
this in a press conference and Trump
said, "Yeah, we released this drug
trafficker because he claimed that the
charges against him were supposedly
politically motivated." which is not
true.
(CLIP) Juan Orlando Hernández
You said that Maduro is responsible for
drug trafficking. You recently pardoned
the former president of Honduras who was
convicted of many drug trafficking.
The man that I pardoned was, if you
could equate it to us, he was treated
like the Biden administration treated a
man named Trump. That didn't work out
too well for them. This was a man who
was persecuted very unfairly. He was
ahead of the country. He was persecuted
very unfairly.
But the message from the US government
Ecuador's drug-linked President Noboa
is very clear. If you are a right-wing
US ally, then the US will allow you to
traffic drugs and to continue to make
more and more money because you're a US
puppet. Another great example of this is
the current president of Ecuador, Daniel
Nooa, who is the son of the richest
billionaire oligarch in the country.
He's from a dynasty that has had
multiple members of this family who have
governed Ecuador in the past. They are
complete US puppets and they are corrupt
billionaires and they are deeply
involved in drug trafficking. Police
documents in Ecuador have extensively
documented the role of the Nooboa
dynasty in trafficking cocaine in banana
crates that are then exported to the US
and Europe from these private ports
owned by the Naboa family, these
oligarchs. And yet the Trump
administration strongly supports this
puppet regime that traffics drugs
because they are loyal US allies who
serve the interests of US corporations.
Colombia's drug lord Álvaro Uribe
Similarly, if you look at Colombia,
which is the number one producer of
cocaine on Earth, Colombia's right-wing
politicians are deeply involved in drug
trafficking, including the most powerful
politician and oligarch in Colombia,
Alvo Uribe, who is the right-wing former
president of Colombia and an obedient US
ally. And he has been involved in drug
trafficking for many decades. And US
intelligence agencies have known this.
They knew back in the 1990s that he was
working with the Medigene cartel and
Pablo Escoar, probably the world's most
famous or infamous drug trafficker. And
yet, Marco Rubio has publicly continued
to support Alvaro until today. In 2025,
Marco Rubio, when he was serving as
Secretary of State and National Security
Adviser, he was publicly praising this
drug trafficker in Colombia, Alvaro
Reebe, this corrupt right-wing oligarch,
because again, he's an obedient US
vassel who serves US corporate
interests. The US government does not
care about drug trafficking at all. We
USA armed Mexican cartels
have seen the same thing happen in
Mexico for decades. And this is
bipartisan. This is not just Trump and
Republicans. It's also Democrats. For
instance, during the Barack Obama
administration, the US government armed
Mexican drug cartels as part of the
infamous Operation Fast and Furious. In
fact, if you know anything about the
history of cartels in Mexico, you would
know that many of the leaders of these
cartels were literally trained by the US
military, including the infamous School
of the Americas and Fort Bragg,
including, for instance, one of the the
most violent and horrific cartels in
Mexico, Losas. Their leaders were
trained by the US military. And more
US allies in Mexico are narcos
recently in 2024, we saw another big
scandal in Mexico where the head of the
US backed so-called war on drugs in
Mexico. The head of security under
Mexico's right-wing oligarch president
Filipe Cadderon, who is a close US ally.
His head of security was Heno Garcia
Luna who was corrupt the entire time and
he was taking millions of dollars of
bribes from the Sinaloa cartel and
working with other cartels protecting
drug lords. This is one of the closest
US allies in Mexico under Mexico's
right-wing US puppet regime that
partially privatized Mexico's oil
industry by the way which was stateowned
to allow US corporations to profit.
These again are the closest US allies in
Latin America. We also see the same
Drug links to Argentina's Javier Milei
thing today in Argentina which is
currently governed by a right-wing US
puppet leader Javier Mle who is a close
ally of Trump and does whatever Trump
wants. And some of MLE's closest
political allies from his right-wing
so-called libertarian party in Argentina
have also been linked to drug
traffickers. And by the way, while we're
Marco Rubio's links to cocaine trafficking
on the subject of US government
involvement in drug trafficking, I need
to point out that Marco Rubio also has
his links to drug trafficking. Of
course, Rubio is the second most
powerful person in the US government
right now after Trump. He's not only the
Secretary of State, but also
simultaneously serving as the national
security adviser. And he's overseeing
this colonial war on Venezuela. And
Marco Rubio has been linked to not just
drug trafficking, but cocaine
trafficking, which is quite ironic given
that he's now falsely accusing Maduro
and subjecting him to a show trial on
fake accusations of cocaine trafficking.
And I should point out that when Rubio
was younger, his brother-in-law was
convicted of trafficking cocaine. and
Rubio lived in the same house as his
brother-in-law while he was trafficking
cocaine. Now, defenders of Rubio would
argue that this is not fair because
Rubio was a teenager when his
brother-in-law was arrested and
imprisoned for drug trafficking when
Rubio was living with him. But this is
also relevant to Rubio's career later in
life because after his brother-in-law
Orlando Cecilia was released from
prison, Marco Rubio was serving as a
state representative from Florida from
the Republican party. And Rubio used his
position as a US politician in order to
lobby a regulator to get a real estate
license for his brother-in-law because
his brother-in-law was imprisoned for
drug trafficking. He was a convicted
felon which made it very difficult to
get a real estate license. So Rubio was
lobbying for his drug trafficking
brother-in-law. I mean again the
hypocrisy is endless. And by the way
this is why Marco Rubio is often
referred to as Nar Rubio because Narco
Rubio has been very closely linked to
drug trafficking for a long time. And
yet now he's trying to justify these
colonial wars of aggression in Latin
America on fake accusations of drug
trafficking. It's incredible. And by the
US Special Forces links to drugs
way, if you want to learn more about the
US government's role in global drug
trafficking, I highly recommend the
reporting of Seth Harp, who's a great
American journalist and also he is a US
military veteran. and he became an
anti-imperialist because of his
experience seeing how horrific the US
military is and its involvement in not
only crimes against humanity and war
crimes but also in drug trafficking. He
wrote a brilliant book titled the Fort
Bragg Cartel detailing the involvement
in particular of US special operations
forces in drug trafficking. And he
pointed out, by the way, that the US
special operations forces unit that
abducted Venezuela's President Maluro
was Delta Force, which he pointed out is
an organization filled with cokeheads
and pervaded by drug trafficking. And he
quipped that the only narcotics involved
in this US war in Venezuela were not
drugs traffked by Maluro, but actually
the drugs traffked by US special
operations forces. And Seth Harp
Trump attacks Colombia President Petro
responded to a video of Colombia's
president, Gustavo Petro, who is a
left-wing leader who has been very
critical of US imperialism and has
pointed out the role of the US
government in trafficking drugs. And
Trump is now openly threatening Gustavo
Petro. Trump put sanctions on the
sitting president of Colombia, the
democratically elected president, which
is a blatant act of aggression and a
violation of the sovereignty of
Colombia. But Gustavo Petro pointed out.
He said, quote, "The narcos live in
Dubai and Miami, and the dollars of drug
trafficking
are circulated in the world banking
system." End quote. And in response to
Afghanistan opium production
this, this journalist Seth Harp pointed
out that the biggest drug cartel that
ever existed was the US client state in
Afghanistan, which was backed by US
special operations forces and the CIA
and produced 15,000 metric tons of pure
heroin under the US military occupation
from 2001 until 2021. And we've never
heard a word about where all of that
money went. And I should point out that
this data is backed up by reports from
the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime. If you look at their 2025 survey
on the production of opium in
Afghanistan, this report was prepared by
leading experts on the global drug trade
and they're from the UN. They're
independent of the US government. And
they showed how during the US military
occupation of Afghanistan, the
production of opium skyrocketed. And
opium is used to create heroin. And then
immediately after the US military
withdrew from Afghanistan, what
happened? The production of opium and
heroin collapsed. So, it is not an
exaggeration at all to say that the US
government oversaw the world's largest
drug cartel ever in human history during
its 20-year occupation of Afghanistan.
And by the way, this directly
Opioid epidemic in USA
contributed to the opioid crisis in the
US. Hundreds of thousands of Americans
died from overdoses, the vast majority
from synthetic opioids. Again, not from
cocaine. According to US government
data, the vast majority died from
synthetic opioids. And this is not only
due to the US war in Afghanistan and the
mass production of opium there, but also
because of US pharmaceutical
corporations, especially Purdue Pharma
and the billionaire oligarchs in the
Sackler family. And I'm reading here
Purdue Pharma and Sackler family
from a peer-reviewed article in a
scientific journal, Missouri Medicine, a
medical journal. And it pointed out the
role of Purdue Pharma and its drug
Oxycontton in causing the opioid
epidemic in the US, which killed half a
million Americans in two decades. Nearly
one half of the cases of drug addiction
began with a doctor's prescription. And
Purdue Pharma's drug Oxycontton was the
leading supplier of prescription opioids
to patients. This corporation used
thought leaders in medicine. The
corporation paid doctors in order to
promote the so-called benefits of
Oxycontton. They caused the opioid
epidemic in the US. These big
pharmaceutical corporations, this was
spelled out in a great book that
everyone should read called Empire of
Pain. the secret history of the Sackler
dynasty, showing how these billionaire
capitalist oligarchs in the US profited
from creating this epidemic in the US
that killed half a million people. And
yet now the Trump administration
scapegoats Venezuela, which has
absolutely nothing to do with it, and is
using this to attack countries in Latin
America, to try to expand the US empire,
to impose the colonialist Monroe
Doctrine. Now they call it the Donro
doctrine. using this excuse when it has
nothing to do with drugs. In fact, we've
seen right-wing influencers on social
media spread the lie that supposedly
Maduro is to blame for drug overdoses in
the US. For instance, Alex Witoff, who's
the son of the oligarch who works for
Trump, Steve Witoff, who's one of
Trump's ambassadors, he went on Twitter
and he defended Trump's attack in
Venezuela and kidnapping of Maduro. And
he said, "Anyone who defends Maludo is
turning their back on tens of millions
of American families afflicted by this
drug overdose crisis every day." Again,
this is the son of the rich oligarch who
works for Trump. And yet, they're
blaming Venezuela. And actually what's
funny is on Twitter, this insanely
ridiculous tweet got a correction
pointing out that Andrew Witoff died
from an Oxycontton overdose from Purdue
Pharma that has nothing to do with
Venezuela. So this is a great example of
US imperialism based on lies
how the US government constantly lies to
try to justify its imperialist wars of
aggression around the world. The US is
not trying to stop drug trafficking. The
CIA has been deeply involved in drug
trafficking in Latin America for
decades.
The US war on Venezuela is an
imperialist war of aggression aimed at
exploiting the country's natural
resources, trying to put a puppet regime
in power, trying to prevent China from
having close relations with countries in
Latin America. It is part of an
imperialist attempt to impose US
hijgemony in the entire Western
Hemisphere. It has nothing to do with
drugs and certainly nothing to do with
democracy and human rights and any of
that nonsense. On that note, I'm going
Outro
to conclude. I am Ben Norton. I'm the
editor-inchief of Geopolitical Economy
Report. I want to thank everyone for
joining me today. Please like and
subscribe. Please share this. I will see
you all next time.

[admin]

Trump seeks $100bn for Venezuela oil, but Exxon boss says country 'uninvestable'
by Natalie Sherman
BBC Business reporter
1/10/26
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205dx61x76o

US President Donald Trump has asked for at least $100bn (£75bn) in oil industry spending for Venezuela, but received a lukewarm response at the White House as one executive warned the South American country was currently "uninvestable".

Bosses of the biggest US oil firms who attended the meeting acknowledged that Venezuela, sitting on vast energy reserves, represented an enticing opportunity.

But they said significant changes would be needed to make the region an attractive investment. No major financial commitments were immediately forthcoming.

Trump has said he will unleash the South American nation's oil after US forces seized its leader Nicolas Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital.

"One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices," Trump said in Friday's meeting at the White House.

But the oil bosses present expressed caution.

Exxon's chief executive Darren Woods said: "We have had our assets seized there twice and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes from what we've historically seen and what is currently the state."

"Today it's uninvestable."

Venezuela has had a complicated relationship with international oil firms since oil was discovered in its territory more than 100 years ago.

Chevron is the last remaining major American oil firm still operating in the country.

A handful of companies from other countries, including Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni, both of which were represented at the White House meeting, are also active.

Trump said his administration would decide which firms would be allowed to operate.

"You're dealing with us directly. You're not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don't want you to deal with Venezuela," he said.

The White House has said it is working to "selectively" roll back US sanctions that have restricted sales of Venezuelan oil.

Officials say they have been coordinating with interim authorities in the country, which is currently led by Maduro's former second-in-command, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez.

But they have also made clear they intend to exert control over the sales, as a way to maintain leverage over Rodríguez's government.

The US this week has seized several oil tankers carrying sanctioned crude. American officials have said they are working to set up a sales process, which would deposit money raised into US-controlled accounts.

"We are open for business," Trump said.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order that seeks to prohibit US courts from seizing revenue that the US collects from Venezuelan oil and holds in American Treasury accounts.

Any court attempt to access those funds would interfere with US foreign relations and international goodwill, the executive order states.

"President Trump is preventing the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue that could undermine critical US efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela," the White House wrote in a fact sheet about the order.

Venezuela's oil production has been hit in recent decades by disinvestment and mismanagement - as well as US sanctions. At roughly one million barrels per day, the country accounts for less than 1% of global supply.

Chevron, which accounts for about a fifth of the country's output, said it expected to bolster its production, building on its current presence, while Exxon said it was working to send in a technical team to assess the situation in the coming weeks.

Repsol, which currently boasts output of about 45,000 barrels per day, said it saw a path to triple its production in Venezuela over the next few years under the right conditions.

Executives at other firms also said Trump's promises of change would encourage investment and they were hoping to seize the moment.

"We are ready to go to Venezuela," said Bill Armstrong, who leads an independent oil and gas driller. "In real estate terms, it is prime real estate."

But analysts say meaningfully increasing production would take significant effort.

"They are being as polite as humanly possible, and being as supportive as they can, without committing actual dollars," said David Goldwyn, president of the energy consultancy Goldwyn Global Strategies and former US state department special envoy for international energy affairs.

Exxon and Shell are "not going to invest single-digit billions of dollars, much less tens of billions of dollars", without physical security, legal certainty and a competitive fiscal framework, Goldwyn said.

"It's not really welcome from an industry point of view," he said. "The conditions are just not right."

[b][size=120]While smaller companies might be more eager to jump in and help boost Venezuela's oil production over the next year, he said those investments would likely hover in the $50m range - far from the "fantastical" $100bn figure that Trump has floated.

Rystad Energy estimates it would take $8bn to $9bn in new investments per year for production to triple by 2040.[/size][/b]

Trump's suggested $100bn of investment into Venezuela could have a major impact on production - if it were to materialise, said the firm's chief economist, Claudio Galimberti.

He said companies would only be likely to invest on that scale with subsidies - and political stability. Americans should not expect the situation in Venezuela to lower oil prices anytime soon, he added.

"It's going to be difficult to see big commitments before we have a fully stabilised political situation and that is anybody's guess when that happens," he said.

Additional reporting by Danielle Kaye

[admin]

"The most BS statement I've ever heard." Ilhan Omar SHREDS DHS blocking her from ICE facility
MS NOW
Jan 11, 2026 #IlhanOmar #ICE #Minneapolis

The Department of Homeland Security is receiving backlash for blocking Democratic lawmakers from accessing ICE facilities without a week's notice, citing safety concerns. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MS), who was one of those lawmakers blocked from visiting an ICE facility in Minneapolis, joins The Weekend: Primetime to react to DHS' defense and the growing outrage over the brutal ICE killing of Renee Good.



Transcript

hey there everyone welcome to the weekend pri
me we begin tonight with the nationwide
backlash against the trump administration's
increasingly aggressive crackdown
on both immigrants and american citizens today
americans took to the streets in minneapolis
and right here in new york city to protest
ice's deadly killing of renee good
in minneapolis as well as the border patrol
shooting of a man and a woman
in portland oregon though through it all trump
administration is not budging in its defense
of ice and its operations, not only defending the
officers' actions,
but also its unproven claims that Good was,
quote, a domestic terrorist.
Just listen to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem
this morning.
Why did you not wait for an investigation
before making your comments?
Oh, everything that I've said has been proven to
be factual and the truth.
How can you assert with certainty
that she was trying to hurt the officer
as opposed to she was trying to flee the scene?
If you look at what the definition
of domestic terrorism is,
it completely fits the situation on the
THINK OF THE SHOOTING, NOAM QUIETLY SIGNED A NEW
POLICY
BARRING CONGRESSIONAL VISITS TO
ICE FACILITIES WITHOUT A WEEK'S
ADVANCED NOTICE.
THAT POLICY PREVENTED
Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
and two other lawmakers from gaining access to
a Minneapolis ice facility yesterday.
That's in spite of a recent federal court
ruling directing officials to follow the law
and allow lawmakers to conduct oversight visits
to ICE facilities at any time.
Joining us now is Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Congressman, thank you so much for coming back
on the show.
Let's start with what happened yesterday.
Tell us exactly what happened when
you tried to enter this ICE facility
and perhaps more importantly,
why you think you were denied entry.
Thank you so much, Eamon, for having
WE MADE AN ATTEMPT TO GO VISIT THE DETENTION
PROCESSING CENTER.
WE WERE INITIALLY MET, ESCORTED IN,
WE WERE GIVEN A START
OF A TOUR AND THEN ABRUPTLY STOPPED AND TOLD THAT
BECAUSE WE,
BECAUSE OF THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,
WE CAN NO LONGER CONTINUE OUR TOUR
OF THE FACILITY, WHICH AGAIN DIDN'T MAKE ANY
SENSE.
CONGRESSWOMAN ANGIE CRAIG AND KELLY
THE CASE YOU JUST REFERENCED.
WE BROUGHT A COPY OF THE COURT CASE THAT YOU
JUST REFERENCED.
WE BROUGHT A COPY OF THE BILL THAT
TRUMP HIMSELF CITED INTO LAW
IN HIS FIRST ADMINISTRATION.
AND WE MADE OUR CASE ON WHY IT
WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR US TO BE
ALLOWED TO FULFILL OUR OVERSIGHT DUTIES
AS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, BUT AGAIN,
THE ICE AGENTS KEPT REARATING THAT IT WAS
BECAUSE OF THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL
THAT WE COULD NO LONGER CONTINUE WITH OUR
WE WERE TOLD THEM THEY WERE BREAKING THE LAW AND THEY
SAID THAT WAS IT,
THAT THEY WEREN'T
GOING TO GIVE US ANY FURTHER EXPLANATION.
WE TOLD THEM THAT THEY WERE BREAKING THE LAW
AND THEY THEY SAID THEY UNDERSTOOD.
IT WAS ALSO THEIR UNDERSTANDING
THAT THEY WERE BREAKING THE LAW
FOR NOT ALLOWING US TO DO OUR OVERSIGHT,
BUT THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE
THAT THEY COULD DO AND IT WAS CLEAR
THAT THEY MIGHT
have gotten a call from Washington,
probably known herself.
Congresswoman, in the brief time that you
were there
in the facility with your fellow congressional
DETAINEES WERE BEING TREATED.
WE WEREN'T REALLY ABLE TO SEE THE TREATMENT
OF THE DETAINEEES,
WE WERE ABLE TO GET A GLIMPSE
OF WHAT THE FACILITY LOOKED LIKE.
WE WERE ABLE TO SEE A HOLDING AREA WITH ABOUT
MAYBE 20 PEOPLE,
ALMOST ALL OF THEM WERE MEN OF EITHER HISPANIC OR
LATINO PACKGROUND.
THEY POINTED TO A PLACE THAT LOOKED
LIKE A THEY POINTED TO AN AREA WHERE
IT DIDN'T HAVE A SHOWER AREA.
I OPENED THE DOOR.
IT DIDN'T HAVE A SHOWERHEAD.
THEY POINTED TO AN AREA WHERE PEOPLE WERE
SUPPOSED TO CHANGE.
IT SAID CHANGING STATION. IT DIDN'T HAVE A LOCK.
I ASKED ABOUT HYGIENE.
THEY TOLD US THEY HOLD PEOPLE FOR ABOUT 12
HOURS SO THERE WASN'T A HYGIENE PROCESS
I KNOW THAT REPRESENTATIVE KELLEY MORRISON,
WHO IS A PHYSICIAN HERSELF, ASKED ABOUT
ANY HEALTHCARE THAT MIGHT BE PROVIDED AGAIN,
WE WERE TOLD YOU KNOW THE LONGEST THEY HOLD
PEOPLE FOR WAS 12 HOURS SO THEY WEREN'T SURE
WHETHER THAT THAT WAS AVAILABLE
AND WE WERE ALSO INFORMED THAT THERE WERE TWO
DETENTION CENTERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED
STATES AS WELL.
SO, CONGRESSWOMAN, I UNDERSTAND YOU WEREN'T
ABLE TO
GET INTO THE DETENTION CENTER AND
ACTUALLY conduct your full
oversight responsibilities there.
But I'm curious, you have spent time out on
the streets.
You've seen the protests, of course,
that have fanned out across the entire city.
And I want to get a sense from you of the mood,
the concerns that you're hearing
from your constituents, but also the kind
of advice I guess you're giving them
in this moment as people are
out there ARE YOU WORRIED THAT MORE OF FILMING,
TRYING TO TRACK ICE OFFICERS,
WARN THEIR NEIGHBORS
AND SUPPORT THEM IN DIFFERENT WAYS
THAT THEY CAN IN THE WAKE OF SOMEONE
BEING SHOT AND KILLED.
ARE YOU WORRIED THAT MORE OF YOUR
CONSTITUENTS' LIVES WILL BE AT RISK?
ARE YOU WORRIED AT ALL AS THEY
PULL OUT THEIR CELL PHONES,
AS THEY INTERACT WITH THESE OFFICERS?
THAT MIGHT JUST FRANKLY NOT BE SAFE.
WE HAD ABOUT 100 ,000 FOLKS PROTESTING YESTERDAY
OUT IN THE STREET.
IT STARTED AT A PARK AND DID WHERE REESE RENEE
GOOD WAS SHOT AND WE ARE SEEING JUST THE
OUTPOURING OF LOVE FOR NEIGHBOR IN MINNEAPOLIS
AND ACROSS MINNESOTA AND ACROSS MINNESOTA AND
ACROSS THE THE BEST OF OUR COUNTRY,
PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT THESE TIMES ARE
VERY DANGEROUS. THEY'RE DARK, CHAOTIC,
VERY CONFUSING.
THEY KNOW THAT I THINK THAT OUR DEMOCRACY,
OUR CONSTITUTION IS BEING CHALLENGED.
WHAT THEY DO KNOW IS THAT THEY
HAVE TO BE OUT THEY HAVE TO BE DOCUMENTING,
THEY HAVE TO BE LOOKING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY.
AND YOU KNOW, WE'RE, YOU KNOW,
I WAS JUST IN MINNEAPOLIS AND WHAT WE SAW WAS CARS
BEING
ABANDONED IN GAS STATIONS BECAUSE
ICE JUST SNATCHED PEOPLE.
WE SAW IN DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS A
CAR THAT WAS JUST ROLLING,
IT'S STILL, YOU KNOW, MISSING A DRIVER BECAUSE
ICE TOOK
THAT DRIVER WITHOUT TURNING THE CAR OFF.
AND SO PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEIR NEIGHBORS THAT ARE
BEING
DISAPPEARED AND WE KNOW THAT ICE
IS NOT COOPERATING WITH US,
DHS IS NOT COOPERATING AND TRYING TO
GET INFORMATION.
WE STILL DON'T HAVE A LIST OF THE PEOPLE THEY HAVE
DETAINED,
HOW LONG THEY HAVE DETAINED THEM,
WHY THEY HAVE DETAINED THEM.
SO IT IS BECOMING EVEN MORE AND
MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE PUBLIC TO
BE OUT THERE TO BE DOCUMENTING
BECAUSE WE ARE SEEING PEOPLE BEING
DISAPPEARED IN OUR STREETS.
CONGRESSWOMAN, WE JUST
RELEE, WE JUST RECEIVED A STATEMENT FROM DHS
ABOUT CASES LIKE YOURS WHERE YOU WERE BARRED
FROM VISITING AN ICE facility.
They said, in part, a previous court
order stated
that funding appropriated to DHS
by Congress cannot be used to prevent
members of Congress from entering facilities.
However, the court also ruled
that funding derived from the one
Big Beautiful Bill Act is exempt
from this limitation.
They further go on to say that
this is to ensure adequate protection
for members of Congress, congressional staff
detainees
and ICE employees alike.
Unannounced visits require pulling ICE officers
from their normal duties and they go on.
Do you think you would have been unsafe
if you had continued your tour of this facility
as this statement seems to suggest
that you would have been inadequately protected
because they had not been given sufficient
time to prepare for your visit?
Absolutely not, that is the most BS
statement I have
ever heard from DHS and there are a lot
of BS statements from DHS I've heard
over the tenure of the Trump administration.
When we were let into the building,
it was no different than when I visited back
in January to have a meeting with DHS officials.
There was no need to have anyone guarding us,
there was no need to have anyone
with weapons with us.
It was a casual visit inside the building,
and we could have been allowed to fully
complete our oversight duties.
Like I said, it was very fascinating to
us that in the,
you know, in the middle of that visit,
that they did get that phone call,
that we were immediately told
that we had to go upstairs,
and that the explanation on why our tour was
abruptly ending,
would come after we went upstairs.
So if it had to do with any sort
of security problems, you know,
we would have been rushed with some armed guards or
any of those kind
of things that you normally see
but no we quietly walked and we were asked
if we wanted coffee so this had nothing to
do with safety or worry for ice agents
or for ourselves.
Congresswoman, I want to play what Borders are,
Tom Homan said this morning about violence
and the escalation and his blame,
the blame he's putting I THINK IT'S NOT
GOING TO HAPPEN ON THE DEMOCRATS,
AND HERE YOU RESPOND TO THAT.
WE'VE GOT TO STOP THE
IT'S GOING TO INFURIATE PEOPLE
MORE WHICH MEANS THERE WILL BE
MORE INCIDENTS LIKE THIS BECAUSE
THE HATEFUL RETORIC IS NOT ONLY CONTINUING,
NOW IT'S TRIPLE DOWN AND DOUBLE DOWN.
CONGRESSWOMAN, I'LL GIVE YOU THE
OPPORTUNITY RIGHT NOW.
DO YOU CONDEMN ALL VIOLENCE HIS OWN ICE AGENTS.
I MEAN, I WOULD SAY THIS MAN HAS TO LOOK INTO
THE MIRROR.
HE HAS TO LOOK INTO
THIS IS A MOTHER OF THREE, A DOMESTIC TERRORIST.
THEY ARE SAYING PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE,
YOU KNOW, COMMITTING TERROR,
AND IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE THE WAY IN WHICH
THEY ARE DESCRIBING THE AMERICAN
PUBLIC AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT
THAT ARE TRAINED TO PROTECT AND SERVE THEM.
AND I MEAN, I'M AT A LOSS OF WORDS TO
HEAR HIM SAY
WHAT HE JUST SAID.
BUT, YES OR NO, YOU DO CONDEMN VIOLENCE ON
ANY VIOLENCE,
WHETHER IT'S ON ICE AGENTS OR THE PUBLIC.
CONGRESSWOMAN, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS
FUNDAMENTALLY
FUNDAMENTALLY WHAT DO YOU THINK IS
leading to violence,
leading to what we saw happen to Renee Goode.
Because it's been interesting
from afar to see the dynamics there
on the ground.
It's, there's THERE ARE SEVERAL PARTS OF SORT
OF THE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION APPARATUS.
THERE ARE ICE OFFICERS, OF COURSE,
WHO ARE THERE.
BUT BORDER PATROL IS ALSO ON THE GROUND IN
MINNEAPOLIS.
I THINK THE CLOSEST BORDER FOR
Minneapolis would be
about a seven-hour drive away to Canada, I think.
So not typically where Border Patrol officers
would usually be.
And we had John Sandweg, who led ICE for a period of
time
under the Obama administration yesterday.
And he argued that part of the reason why we're
seeing these intense,
violent clashes and unrest is
because Border Patrol is moving
into parts of the country and bringing with it
militarized gear
and processes that are very different
from what immigration enforcement
used to look like in the interior.
And I guess as you would assess
what's happening there on the ground,
what do you think are the factors
that brought us
to explain having 2 ,000 and soon
over 3 ,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents
into our city?
As you've alluded, there has been many,
many a times in many administrations
where they have carried out immigration necessary raids,
where they have looked for people who have had
deportation orders
or removal orders, as they're called.
They know where they are.
Oftentimes if they don't have an address
for them, they know where their relatives are.
If there is a certain business where
they have observed,
they go in and they provide that raid.
There is no reason to be roaming the streets,
stopping people, stopping cars, stopping
what the search is supposed to accomplish.
To this day, I don't know any criminal
that they have uncovered,
that they would not have been able to find
with the normal path that THEY NORMALLY
WOULD PURSUE ANY OF THOSE CRIMINALS THAT
WERE READY TO BE DEPORTED OUT OF THIS COUNTRY.
THIS IS TO CREATE FEAR.
IT'S TO TERRORIZE OUR COMMUNITIES,
IT IS TO TELL US THAT WE ARE POWERLESS AND IT
IS DANGEROUS BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE
USED TO KNOWING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHTS.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE KNOW THAT
ICE AGENTS AND THEY KNOW
THAT OUR UN-BORDER CONTROL AGENTS HAVE NO
JURISDICTION OVER THEM IN OUR URBAN CITIES.
THEY KNOW THAT THEY'RE ONLY SUPPOSED TO INTERACT WITH
IF THEY'RE CROSSING A BORDER OR
IF THEY'RE DOING SOMETHING THAT
RELATES TO IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS.
SO THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.
AND WHAT THIS ADMINISTRATION IS LOOKING
FOR IS FOR THERE TO BE DEADLY
ENCOUNTERS,
SO THAT THEY CAN REVOKE THE INSURRECTION ACT
AND HAVE MARTIAL LAW, AND IT IS A DANGEROUS,
DANGEROUS ESCALATION THAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR,
AND MINNEAPOLES RESIDENTS ARE NOT GOING TO
GIVE THEM THAT THEY'RE GOING TO GIVE THEM THE
WE'RE NOT GOING TO TAKE DEBATE,
PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE OUT THERE
ARMED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT
THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ARE
AND WHAT THE LIMITS ARE IN THEM EXERCISING IT,
AND THEY ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE
THEM THE RIOTS THAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR AND THE
LAWLESSNESS
BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT IT IS THESE
FEDERAL AGENTS THAT ARE BEING
LAWLESS AT THIS MOMENT.

[admin]

BREAKING: Trump IMPLICATED In Criminal BOMBSHELL
Harry Sisson
Jan 11, 2026 The Harry Sisson Show

Harry Sisson breaks down the major bombshell on Donald Trump's lawless regime targeting Jerome Powell with a criminal investigation.



Transcript

All right, folks. This is urgent and
perhaps one of the most significant
stories of the month. The admission that
just came from Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell, somebody that was
appointed by Donald Trump, completely
incriminates both Trump and the people
around him. This is a serious, serious
story, a serious development. We're
learning that Jerome Powell is now being
criminally investigated by Donald Trump
and he's not holding back. He's exposing
the entire thing in a new video he
dropped tonight. So, before we get into
any of this, make sure to subscribe down
below, drop a like on the video,
comment, let me know what you think
about the story. And without further
ado, I want to start here with a video
of Donald Trump earlier this month, very
recently, where Donald Trump previewed a
lawsuit against Jerome Powell, saying it
related to the Federal Reserve
buildings. But now Donald Trump is is
serving the Federal Reserve with grand
jury subpoenas. So he went from we're
going to do a lawsuit to now let's just
throw him in prison. Just watch.
Help. That was supposed to help get her
elected. It had no impact. We won all
seven swing states.
But but no no
we're thinking about bringing a suit
against Powell for incompetence
because think of it. These are two these
aren't outstanding buildings. These are
small buildings.
He said four billion more. It's going to
end up costing more than $4 billion. 4
billion. It's the highest price
of construction. Again, Democrats,
highest price of construction per square
foot in the history of the world.
There's never been gorgeous monuments
are built for a much smaller price. So,
we're thinking about bringing a a gross
incompetence, what's called gross
incompetence lawsuit. It's gross
incompetence against Powell.
and it was his baby.
And uh the guy's just incompetent. I
mean, there's nothing you can do about
it. He's just very incompetent.
So, Donald Trump is saying that he's
bringing a gross incompetence lawsuit
against Jerome Powell, the Federal
Reserve chair, somebody he's had
long-standing beef with because a
building, a project has gone off the
rails, has been mismanaged. And what
he's referencing is this year-long
conflict he's had with Powell. Something
that he's brought up pretty
consistently. Trump and his allies have
repeatedly slammed him over the past
year for not cutting interest rates, of
course. And the Fed in the second half
of the last year lowered the rates three
times in a row. But Trump's pressure
campaign has included a barrage of
personal insults evolving into threats
to fire him, which he cannot do. But
later in the year, Donald Trump targeted
Fed Governor Lisa Cook, appointed by Joe
Biden. The president and his allies
accused Cook of mortgage fraud. Trump
cited the allegations when he fired her
in August. Though she's not been charged
criminally, and the Supreme Court will
hear oral arguments later this month on
whether Trump can actually do that. Can
he fire her? But that renovation that he
was talking about, that building is the
source of what he sees these criminal
charges being based off of. The Fed's
renovation has also been a source of
ongoing controversy. Powell testified
before Congress in June, saying the
renovation was a collaboration with
various agencies and that costs had
changed over time. But Trump allies have
said that the project was mismanaged.
But the Federal Reserve said the
upgrades to its decades old buildings
were necessary, including removing
asbestous and upgrading electrical and
ventilation systems. The acrimony
spilled out into public view in July
when Trump joined Powell on a tour of
the project and Powell corrected Trump
in front of reporters about the cost of
the project with the tension between the
two men palpable. So what Donald Trump
is claiming here, the criminal
allegations he's making and these grand
jury subpoenas are all about apparently
uh Jerome Powell lying in front of
Congress about these buildings, this
project. That's what Donald Trump is
claiming it is. But we all know the
truth. Donald Trump is not bringing this
criminal investigation or this criminal
inquiry into Jerome Powell because of
lying before Congress. He's bringing it
against Powell because number one, he
can't fire him and he wants him out of
there. But also, number two, it's
political retribution for not doing
Donald Trump's bidding. Trump has asked
Powell to reduce the rates, the interest
rates, because it helps him politically.
But Powell has argued correctly that
that is not the right thing to do for
the economy right now. That would hurt
the American people. And this there's a
reason for why the Federal Reserve and
the president are independent of one
another. The decisions surrounding the
economy made by the Fed should be
without political influence without
Donald Trump certainly getting in there
and saying something. But Donald Trump
doesn't want that. And now in order to
resolve that conflict, Trump is trying
to bring criminal charges. Now I want
you to hear from Jerome Powell who
released a statement tonight that was
honestly quite blunt. He didn't really
hold back against Trump. And the
admission he's making, essentially
implicating Donald Trump in this scheme
to out him, to criminally charge him
when there's no basis for it is
stunning. Certainly one of the most
significant statements we've ever gotten
from a Trump official. Remember, he was
appointed by Donald Trump. Just watch.
Good evening.
On Friday, the Department of Justice
served the Federal Reserve with grand
jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal
indictment related to my testimony
before the Senate Banking Committee last
June.
That testimony concerned in part a
multi-year project to renovate historic
Federal Reserve office buildings.
I have deep respect for the rule of law
and for accountability in our democracy.
No one, certainly not the chair of the
Federal Reserve, is above the law. But
this unprecedented action should be seen
in the broader context of the
administration's threats and ongoing
pressure. This new threat is not about
my testimony last June or about the
renovation of the Federal Reserve
buildings. It is not about Congress's
oversight role. The Fed, through
testimony and other public disclosures,
made every effort to keep Congress
informed about the renovation project.
Those are pretexts.
The threat of criminal charges is a
consequence of the Federal Reserve
setting interest rates based on our best
assessment of what will serve the public
rather than following the preferences of
the president.
This is about whether the Fed will be
able to continue to set interest rates
based on evidence and economic
conditions or whether instead monetary
policy will be directed by political
pressure or intimidation.
I have served at the Federal Reserve
under four administrations, Republicans
and Democrats alike. In every case, I
have carried out my duties without
political fear or favor, focused solely
on our mandate of price stability and
maximum employment.
Public service sometimes requires
standing firm in the face of threats. I
will continue to do the job the Senate
confirmed me to do with integrity and a
commitment to serving the American
people. Thank you.
That is stunning. I mean, a really well
said statement from Jerome Powell. A
really direct statement. But think about
what he's saying here. He is directly
accusing Donald Trump correctly, I might
add, of pressuring him with political
pro prosecution. He is openly saying,
"Yes, Donald Trump is prosecuting me
politically via the Department of
Justice because I won't do his bidding."
That is coming from a Trump appointed
official. That's coming from the chair
of the Federal Reserve. That is not a
statement he is making lightly lightly
and he's out there saying it. And we all
know what's happening here. It's not
like it's nuanced or ambiguous. Donald
Trump is absolutely targeting him for
not lowering the rates and not bucking
to political pressure. As the chair just
said right there, it's absolutely what's
happening. And even some Republicans are
outraged by this. Surprisingly, Senator
Tom Tillis, a Republican from North
Carolina, said, "If there were any
remaining doubts about whether advisers
within the Trump regime are actively
pushing to end the independence of the
Fed, there should now be none. It is now
the independence and credibility of the
Department of Justice that are in
question." And here's the big thing. I
will oppose the confirmation of any
nominee for the Fed, including the
upcoming Fed chair vacancy, until this
legal matter is fully resolved. And this
is coming from a Republican senator.
Even they can see with their own eyes
what's happening here, what's happening
right in front of our faces. And that is
Donald Trump is abusing the rule of law,
abusing the Department of Justice to go
after somebody he doesn't like. It's the
next edition. It's Leticia James. It's
James. Leticia James and uh James Comey
as well. And now we have Jerome Powell.
It's ridiculous. It is ridiculous. So,
this is genuinely an urgent story. A
very significant story. The implications
are broad. But anyway, I will leave the
video there. Thank you so much for
watching. Please let me know what you
think about this in the comments. Drop a
like on the video. Subscribe down below
as well. It goes an incredibly long way.
I greatly appreciate you and I hope you
have an amazing rest of your

[admin]

Leaked ICE Docs Reveal Trump's "Wartime Recruitment" Plan for CONSERVATIVE ARMY
Status Coup News
Dec 31, 2025 #iceraids #immigrationnews #immigration

The Trump administration is launching a $100 million ad campaign to recruit thousands more ICE agents. Status Coup reporter JT Cestkowski breaks down a Washington Post report on a leaked ICE document revealing a $100 million dollar ad campaign for ICE to recruit gun-rights advocates and military admirers. Status Coup has reported ON THE GROUND FOR MONTHS covering Trump’s ICE terror and protests against fascism in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, and Charlotte. It’s very expensive & we’re INDEPENDENT.



Transcript

To enact President Donald Trump's vision
for the United States's future, ICE is
preparing for wartime here at home in
the United States by launching a $100
million ad campaign to recruit thousands
of conservative aligned people into a
paramilitary force ultimately answerable
only to the president.
You can help build the only independent
news outlet always on the ground with
the people for as low as 16 cents a day.
Corporate med. We they've been lying to
us for years and you go straight to the
people
Clint Michigan, New York.
Government sending one more you to the
residents of Chicago.
We need as many independent voices as
possible and that's why what you guys do
is soing important
covering what the corporate media covers
up.
I'm JT Saskowski for Status Coup. This
report comes from the Washington Post.
Reporter Drew Harwell says, "New, we got
an internal ICE document revealing its
$100 million wartime ad plan to bring
14,000 new hires, deals with tactical
influencers, ads to gun and military
buffs, and geoargeting phones around
NASCAR races and gun shows. This is a
very sophisticated ad campaign that is
being detailed in these documents
acquired by the Washington Post and
backs up some of our own on the ground
reporting which has shown some pretty
shocking conduct already from Department
of Homeland Security's immigration
enforcement officers. So this here is
from the Washington Post story. Quote,
"US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials are planning to spend $100
million over a one-year period to
recruit gun rights supporters and
military enthusiasts through online
influencers and a geoargeted advertising
campaign. Part of what the agency called
a quote unquote wartime recruitment
strategy. It said was critical to hiring
thousands of new deportation officers
nationwide. according to an internal
document revealed or reviewed, excuse
me, by the Washington Post. That use of
wartime language is important there.
When my I was messaging about this back
and forth with my boss Jordan, and one
thing he said is, "Hey, if this is
wartime, doesn't that need some sort of
congressional approval, you know, for
the the it's the power of Congress
enumerated in the Constitution to
declare war?" My response to him was, I
mean, we're looking at the actions of
this administration so far. Why let
congressional approval get in the way of
good old fascist takeover of the United
States? We've seen this administration
occupy city after city. We have been on
the ground in those cities including in
Chicago, Minneapolis, Charlotte, LA,
Washington DC, New York, where ICE
agents and border patrol agents have
occupied these cities in reigns of
terror, usually targeting brown people
based purely on the color of their skin
or the job they happen to do or the
community they happen to be living in.
The advertising campaign that is being
laid out here in this document that was
reviewed by the Washington Post is
pretty sophisticated for an advertising
campaign. That $100 million figure can
go a long way, too. We're going to get
into some of the specifics here about
where all this money is being spent, but
I want to give you here just a frame of
reference. I pulled up the numbers of
what it costs to buy a single 30 second
Super Bowl ad. This is reporting from
CBS News. Uh, a single Super Bowl ad for
30 secondond spot, which is notoriously
some of the most expensive advertising
real estate that you can buy in the
United States. A 30 secondond ad cost $8
million on average during the last Super
Bowl, according to Peter Bray, founder
and executive creative director at the
ad agency Braden Co.. So, that gives you
a sense of scale. The administration
here is preparing to spend $100 million
on their advertising campaign. They
could buy many, many Super Bowl ads.
With that kind of money, but Super Bowl
ads is not necessarily what they are
targeting. More here from the Washington
Post. The ads quote will uh are designed
to quote target people who have attended
UFC fights, listened to patriotic
podcasts, or shown an interest in guns
and tactical gear. So what the
administration is looking to do here is
to target people who have an affinity
for gun culture, for this hyper macho
conservative vision of America. And what
we've seen, myself and John Fina, when
we are on the ground in these cities
reporting the conduct that we have seen
from border patrol and ICE agents is
this hyper machismo. This idea that or
this really laring is what we see
liveaction role playing where they want
to be able to play soldier. They want to
be able to play police officer and god
damn it, the government is giving them
the opportunity to do so and a financial
incentive to do so, which we will get
into here in the Washington Post
reporting. They say that they will be
targeting Snapchat ads, influencers, and
live streamers on Rumble, a video
platform popular with conservatives.
Under the strategy, ICE would also use
an ad industry technique known as geo
fencing to send ads to the phone, web
browsers, and social media feeds of
anyone who set foot near military bases,
NASCAR races, college campuses, or gun
and trade shows. So, who is the Trump
administration looking to target here
through this very sophisticated
advertising campaign? Well, they are
looking to target conservatives first
and foremost with some of the platforms
that they are looking to target. They
also want to use geo fencing or monitor
where you physically are to target you
with ads if you have set foot near
military bases, NASCAR races, college
campuses, or gun and trade shows. What
do those all have in common? One, they
are people who might have more of an
affinity with the conservative cause,
too. They might be people who are now
out of work and looking for the next
direction in life. if they are former
military looking for what is that next
step in my life that I am looking to do.
NASCAR races I think is just a blatant
uh typ casting of the kind of people
that they think align with their causes.
College campuses people who are already
probably in debt students and might be
looking for lucrative career path to pay
off that debt. So the in uh the debt and
wage slavery here in the United States
being used as a cudgel to recruit
workingclass people to harass and berate
other workingclass people on behalf of
the wealthy elites and gun or trade
shows again looking to target that
laring community as well. They go on to
say the appeal to law enforcement should
not uh this is uh they're they're
quoting here from Sarah Salana who was a
director of ICE during the Obama
administration where she says the appeal
to law enforcement should not be quote
the quicker we get out there and run
over people the better off this country
will be. She said, quote, "That
mentality you're fostering tends to in
uh in inculcate in people a certain
aggressiveness that may not be necessary
in 85%
of what you do." And just so you know
here, this uh running over people that
she references is not an exaggeration.
And this is something that we have seen
through our actual on the ground
reporting that we have done in cities
like Chicago and Minneapolis. We have
video of ICE agents literally running
people over and then laughing about it.
Don't believe me? Well, here
get a new [ __ ]
Hey, watch how I spray that.
[Applause]
He's a German.
[Music]
[Applause]
That was from our on the ground
reporting in Minneapolis where we were
on the ground for two weeks. We're
talking about going back there or
certainly going to some of these cities
that the Trump administration continues
to target with its occupation and
deportation agenda. And I want to talk
more about this financial incentive that
the Trump administration is committing
itself to or advertising to people as a
way to try and entice them in to build
up what is essentially a conservative
paramilitary force. You can see how ICE
agents, border patrol agents are armed
in a lot of these scenarios. They are
given either pepper spray like you see
there in that clip, brandishing it out
the window. There's another clip uh that
we have played repeatedly where ISIS
went out of their way during that same
incident that we just showed you to
pepper spray people in the face who were
just protesting them, standing off to
the side of the road just protesting.
That was enough. The challenge to their
authority was enough to merit being
pepper sprayed directly in the face by
ICE agents. But ICE, but Border Patrol
agents have also shown, I mean, they
carry real guns with them, long guns,
handguns, and this level of training
that the Trump administration is
implementing and the kinds of people
that they are attracting and giving guns
are not always qualified people. In
fact, in many cases, they are not. We
have talked to eyewitness after
eyewitness to immigration enforcement
activities who have repeatedly said that
they do not feel that the agents that
they were interacting with were properly
trained. And that was on display through
body camera video from Operation Midway
Blitz in Chicago that we reviewed where
you saw an agent go into a Walgreens and
brandish a gun and point that gun at
customers in the Walgreens all because
they were just chasing down a person and
just allowing that adrenaline to get so
high and not try to deescalate
situations. instead directly escalating
them and threatening violent force,
potentially deadly force against people
inside of a store. You
nasty [ __ ] doing it in my
[ __ ] neighborhood.
Hey, stay back.
Stay back.
Hey, I need additional support inside
Walgreens.
Inside Walgreens.
I need additional support.
I don't know. with a gun.
They assaulted an agent, man.
With a gun.
Yes.
You
[ __ ] little here somewhere.
You little nasty little [ __ ]
What do you look like?
Hey,
I'm in here. Straight back. Pink jacket.
Pink jacket.
Nazi.
What are you doing in here?
Hey, she's over here. She's over here.
So there you see the kinds of people
that these agents are and the way that
they comport themselves when they are
among the general public. The way that
they so freely use force and brandish
weapons and and act without any sort of
real degree of training in how and when
to use these weapons. But the kinds of
pe the Trump administration is actively
encouraging more of this through their
recruitment tactics right now. And it's
all in an effort to build up this large
paramilitary force. I've even talked to
people on the ground who thought the
National Guard had been deployed in
Chicago before it ever actually was just
because they saw border patrol agents
that were so militarized in their gear
and in their setup that they couldn't an
average person couldn't tell the
difference between a soldier, someone
who is actually trained to fight and
kill and equipped to do so and a border
patrol agent. So, the Trump
administration wants to recruit
thousands of people into ICE, into
Border Patrol, into its DHS, Department
of Homeland Security agencies to enforce
its immigration deportation agenda. In
effect, building up a paramilitary force
that will be employed here on American
soil, also against Americans. Make no
mistake that Americans have gotten
caught up in these deportation drag
nets. Americans have been held for hours
and hours at a time in ICE and Border
Patrol custody as they wait to be
released and confirmed to be American
citizens. You saw there in that
Walgreens the video that we just played.
People who presumably are American
citizens, not afraid to go right up to
Border Patrol agents having a gun
pointed in their face. And of course, we
had one uh we had an incident where two
people were shot in Chicago. One was
killed and another woman was shot five
times. An American citizen shot five
times by a border patrol agent. And
these are the kind of scenes that we're
going to start to see play out across
the country. More here from the
Washington Post. To bolster its
recruiting, the agency, meaning ICE, has
removed its age limits for applicants
and offered signing bonuses of up to
$50,000. A job listing on a federal
hiring board said that the salaries for
many deportation officers could range
from 50 to $90,000
a year. And I'm likely don't need to
tell you what 50 to90,000
in a salary means to so many Americans,
maybe even yourself. How many people do
you know or maybe you personally who
would see that as a dramatic salary
increase? And certainly then the
government benefits that come along with
that that would be such a a a boon to
many people. I'll never forget when I
got my first job in media, I was making
$16.10
an hour, but because it was a full-time
job, I had several friends who told me
that one, they were jealous of my
consistent salary, even though it would
have been completely inadequate to raise
a family the way I am now on that
salary. and two just the fact that I had
access to benefits subpar though they
were at that particular job.
So the abil like $50 to $90,000 a year
plus government benefits is a huge lure
to many people. And when you start to
factor in then the way that these ads,
this $100 million ad campaign is going
to be targeted at specific people and
specific places, particular audiences in
a very sophisticated way. you know,
where ads, especially digital ads, go
for just a few cents a click or even
fractions of a penny per click that they
generate. You can see just the scale,
the thousands upon thousands, millions
of people that this $100 million ad
campaign is going to be able to reach
and the kinds of people that they are
targeting and the kinds of effects it's
going to have in American communities.
I'll note that this Washington Post
reporting very important but doesn't go
to the same extent that we feel
comfortable doing here at Status Coup to
be able to call out the fact that it's
going to lead to a paramilitary force
that is answerable ultimately only to
this president without any sort of real
oversight. We can say these things
because we are beholden only to you, our
audience. If you want to help keep us
editorially independent, please go to
statuscoo.com/join.
For as low as $5 a month, you help
ensure that there is a real independent
voice in the media landscape.

[admin]

Trump's Midterm Plan EXPOSED
Really American
Jan 8, 2026

Really American host Steve Harness breaks down Trump's threats of cancelling the midterms this year being more serious than previously imagined...



Transcript

My dear, when people show you who they
are, why don't you believe them? Why
must you be shown 29 times before you
can see who they really are? Why can't
you get it the first time? So, the
adjunct to that is when people show you
who they are, believe them the first
time.
Yeah. So, I have to say I find myself a
little frustrated today because I don't
think that America is paying attention
to what Oprah and Maya Angelou said back
in the '9s. Don't wait until the 29th
time. Believe someone the first time
they tell you who they are. And Trump is
telling us who he is. And everyone seems
to think he's joking. Back on December
1st, I interviewed a former Trump
insider who warned us that Trump would
invade Venezuela. not to stop narotist,
but to go after their oil and to use
that war as an excuse to cancel the
midterm elections this year. We now know
that the first part of that prediction
was 100% correct. So, are you ready to
believe the second part? Well, at least
one elected official finally believes
Trump when he says who he is, and he's
ringing the alarm bell today that Trump
will in fact try to cancel or postpone
the elections this year. And again,
people don't want to believe it. So, I
need your help. I need you to believe
him. And I need you to help me spread
the word before it's too late. Before we
miss our chance to freeze Trump's agenda
with the upcoming elections. Please hit
subscribe to Really American Media right
here on YouTube and go find us on
Substack as well. All right. So, what's
the joke that I'm talking about? Well,
here it is from just this week.
The worst president did the worst job.
They had the worst policy. How we have
to even run against these people. Now, I
won't say cancel the election. They
should cancel the election because the
fake news will say he wants the
elections canled. He's a dictator. They
always call me a dictator. Who? Nobody's
worse than Obama. Yeah, that's our
wannabe dictator talking to a bunch of
elected Republicans joking about cancing
the elections because the GOP shouldn't
even have to run against the Democrats.
He feels that's an insulting scenario.
And since dementia Donnie cannot help
but say whatever comes to his Swiss
cheese brain, he says it all out loud,
including the obvious part that we're
all going to call him a dictator. And
like I said, so many people have
dismissed those comments as a joke. But
I am not joking when I tell you, no,
warn you, he's not joking. Back on
December 1st of 2025, I interviewed Lev
Parnes, a former Trump insider who went
to jail because of his ties to Trump's
lawless first administration. And then
he saw the light. He is now trying to
repent for all of that and get on to the
right side of history. And five weeks
ago, he correctly predicted what
happened just a few days ago. Just to
clarify for everyone, you guys came up
with this plan back in 2019 to go into
Venezuela for the oil, for the minerals,
nothing to do with narot terrorist or
any of this protecting America,
protecting our hemisphere. That's all
just a smoke screen.
Yeah, that's total smoke screen. And
this plan was even hatched prior to me
by some wealthy uh uh oil uh uh
Republican donors that were trying to
push it for a while. uh uh but different
administrations wouldn't allow had
different policies with Venezuela
because American uh oil uh uh companies
always Venezuela for them was a gold
mine.
Yep. And Trump has not been shy to admit
that all week long here that he wants
the oil. So before I play you the
comments from the elected Democrat who
like me is trying to warn you, I beg
you, please listen to the next thing
that Lev Parnes is telling us is coming
our way next.
That's why what I'm hearing and that's
why that's why we need to keep the
attention and keep the, you know, our
voices loud and heard is because now
he's trying to do whatever he can and
that's why this war with Venezuela is
very dangerous. uh is because you know
he could inflict martial law during
wartime, call off elections, you know,
do all kinds of stuff and that and
that's and that's where it becomes a
double-edged. So yes, it's not just a
distraction. Yes, they want the oil.
Yes, they but it also feeds their
purpose because uh you know it could it
could help with uh you know stopping the
momentum, the wave that's going.
That's a great point you brought up
there because I don't think a lot of
people are looking at that way. A lot of
people think wars happen in in other
lands far away. It's not going to affect
them. But you're saying as a guy that's
been in the room with Trump and some of
these people that he would actually be
able to spin some of this or manipulate
laws like you said, martial laws,
cancelling, postponing elections, like
if he gets to declare a war whether
Congress is on board or not, there's
other more uh evil plans that he could,
you know, unleash state side here.
100%. And he's and he's constantly
testing the waters with what he's doing
with ICE. Uh because ICE is not uh you
just think of it, Tom H. Homeman is not
a Senate approved position. This is a
guy that's loyal to him. And and after
the the bill that he pushed, he
basically gave him more money and power
than any other agency in in in the
United States. And you see the
lawlessness. I mean, we see the videos.
I mean, ICE agents not not caring about
arresting. I mean, just think about we
have American forget forget about due
process. We have American citizens that
are being arrested, uh, dragged out,
thrown out in the middle of the the the
woods somewhere when they realize that
he's an American, they won't even drop
him back. Beaten, no. No. You and then
when you try to sue them or open your
mouth and say they they threatened to
arrest you saying you interfered with an
with an investigation, it's crazy what's
going on. The power and this is what
he's doing because he's testing the
water. is seeing how far he could push
how far he could push how far he could
push with that and that's why I think
right now uh he he with the Epstein
files with the cracks that's happening
in mega with the November 4th elections
that came out uh that is why what I
broke today about the Venezuela a lot of
things are right now putting a lot of
pressure on him where he is now not just
thinking about that's also why what's
happened in Ukraine it's a combination
of now where it's trying to figure out
how to steal the elections, stop the
elections because he understands he
right now he is not winning the
midterms. He is actually scared that he
might lose the Senate and then real
impeachment.
Everything you just said right there
scared the crap out of me. I mean, I
could feel it in my chest. The way you
brought it back to what can happen
stateside, I think that will really
resonate with people.
Yeah. Well, I was wrong. It did not
resonate with people. Everyone thought I
was being an alarmist. Nick and I talked
about that on the Vocal Minority podcast
for like the next week and it just
didn't seem to connect with the
audience. I sent that clip to a friend
of mine at a national news outlet and I
told him this needs to be covered and he
laughed it off as the comments of
somebody with an axe to grind. So, fast
forward back to this week. Lev was right
about the invasion and now Trump is
joking about cancing the midterm
elections and Democratic Congressman
from Massachusetts Seth Molton, he's not
laughing because he can see the
obviousness of the truth.
Okay. So, so Donald Trump yesterday
talking to um a lot of his Congress sort
of alluded to or made a joke that the
midterms might even get cancelled, the
midterms might not even go ahead. Do you
think this is sort of rhetoric and he's
just trying something out or do you
think that this is genuinely a
possibility? How how concerned would you
be?
Absolutely a possibility. Absolutely.
I mean, I would go further and say most
likely scenario that he tries to disrupt
the midterms, cancel them, delay them,
um whatever else. I mean I I mean this
is a guy who just uh took Maduro out of
Venezuela and said, you know, Maduro was
corrupt. He's not the he's not the
justified leader, right? This is what
he's technically on trial for in New
York, right? And then did Trump install
the person who actually won the
election? No. No. because the opposition
party, one of the big leaders of the
opposition, not actually the person who
was elected, um but a but but a but a
key ally won the Nobel Peace Prize that
he wanted himself. So out of personal
jealousy, he did not uh reflect the will
of the Venezuelan,
right, Christina,
right? And now he's saying, "Oh, well,
you know, we just need to be in charge
for a while. They shouldn't have
elections until things simmer down."
That sounds to me like a trial run of
what he can use. Oh, well, things are
too chaotic right now. There's a war
going on. Remember when Zalinsky came to
the office and he said, "Oh, you can't
have elections because of the war." And
and Zolinsky said, "Yeah, well, that's
what our Constitution says." Um, by the
way, that's not what our Constitution
says. Maybe this is part of why he's
starting so many wars.
Bingo. And just to refresh your memory
on what Trump said to Zalinski, here's
that clip that might hit you a little
bit differently now.
You say during during the war, you can't
have elections. So, let me just see.
Three and a half years from now. So, you
mean if we happen to be in a war with
somebody,
no more elections? Oh, that's good. I
wonder what the I wonder what the
future.
Do you see the look of glee on Trump's
face at the end there? Maybe this would
be a more accurate way to look at that
picture because that's the look of
somebody who just came up with an evil
idea. And it's not a complicated plan,
by the way. Trump can simply say, "We're
at war with naroterrorists, and I have
some intel that says they're going to
attack a major US city on election day.
So, out of concern for you people, I'm
going to postpone the elections until
they're safe to have. Might be a while."
And just like that, democracy dies. So,
I think we should take this deadly
seriously. And and if there's one lesson
I've learned from Donald Trump over two
terms is that when he says he's going to
do something bad, he almost always does
something worse.
And again, bingo. Are you starting to
see the obviousness of the truth or do
you need to hear it 29 more times? In my
interview with Lev Parnes, he said the
best way for us to stop this is to talk
about it. put a big spotlight on what
the real plan is and build up enough
public pressure that the sickopants
around Trump won't even dare to try and
get away with it. And we can't be quiet
about it. We need to get loud. We need
to get vocal.
Keep getting vocal. The more vocal you
are because trust me, it's working.
They're listening. And believe me, Trump
himself is listening. So that's the best
advice I would recommend is get vocal.
Yeah. So, please like this video, share
it worldwide, comment below, and yeah,
get vocal. From the vocal minority with
Nick and Steve podcast, I'm Steve
Harnesses for Really American Media.

[admin]

ICE Agents BOOED Out Of Target After Assaulting Teenager
Really American and U.S. Democratic Socialists
Jan 12, 2026 #ice #target #minnesota

Really American Host Kenny Hesse breaks down ICE Goons led by Greg Bovino getting BOOED And CURSED Out of a Target in St. Paul Minnesota by angry shoppers after ICE Agents kidnapped a 17 year old teenage Target worker, beat him, and ditched him at a walmart miles away.

It's not enough to FIGHT BACK AGAINST ICE, we also need to fight back and boycott the companies that ARE COMPLICIT!



Transcript

Oh, you bum.
What are we doing?
Bum you. You're a [ __ ] Get the [ __ ]
out of here. I'll [ __ ] [ __ ] You
[ __ ] You're a
That is viral footage of SS leader Greg
Bavino and his Ice Gestapo goons getting
hounded, booed, and cursed out by
activists and shoppers protesting their
presence at a Target in St. Paul,
Minnesota after they tried to use the
restroom. But as we showed recently on
the channel, there is no rest for the
wicked. And I promise I will play that
cathartic clip of Ice getting booed out
of that Target for you in just a moment.
But first, you need to see just how
complicit Target has been in the
horrific acts these ICE agents are
committing. This one is going incredibly
viral right now because it is a
17-year-old
Target worker that these ICE agents
grabbed, beat, and then dragged 10
minutes away to a completely different
location where they dropped him off at a
Walmart. This is extremely disturbing
and graphic footage, but I implore you
to watch and help us get the message
out.
[ __ ] you.
[ __ ] you.
You guys are all on video.
That is at least six Ice Gestapo losers
trying to hold down and beat a
17-year-old and one other person. And
not that it matters to them, but as
you'll see, that 17-year-old is a US
citizen.
No, listen. No, no, no, no. Don't take
my phone.
They got my phone.
Where is the paperwork for that?
Where's the
They do it on target. They do it on
Target. Minneapolis.
Hey,
stand up.
Where are their warranties?
Hey,
anybody else going to ask where the [ __ ]
are you guys?
Now, it is unclear if that person behind
them shouting asking where is the
warrant, where is the papers for this is
actually a Target employee, a manager.
That would be great, especially
considering all of the complicity that
Target has to answer for. Right. As far
back as December, you had community
organizers and civil rights leaders
gathering outside Targets in Lake
Street, Minnesota to boycott and protest
the retailer supporting ICE and allowing
them to set up in their parking lots.
And that was just a small part of
another mass organization movement that
we've covered on the channel, make
corporate complicity unprofitable, where
boycots are now targeting all of these
companies that work with ice. One by
one, hundreds picked up a 17 cent ice
scraper at the Monrovia Home Depot
Saturday, bought it, and then got back
in long lines to return it, clogging
customer service, shopping as a
political act to tell Home Depot to keep
ICE agents out of their stores.
This from a Gen Zled activist group that
we'll touch on at the end. And I cannot
stress the importance of holding not
only these agents but the companies that
support them accountable after watching
heinous heinous things like this.
Johnnyar Jonathan Garcia. I'm literally
a US citizen.
Get the [ __ ] out of here.
Why are you kidnapping our citizen?
Why are you
sir? Give us your phone number. We'll
call We'll call your family. The
desperation in not only that teenager's
voice, but the woman who asked them,
"Why? Why are you doing this?" while the
agents manhandle and curse at this
17-year-old boy, which I promise will
come right back to them. But just watch
the end of this. It is so heartbreaking.
Give your give us your phone number.
family.
Wait, you want your family or not?
I already have my passport.
What's your name? What's your name?
We'll find your family. Christian,
what's your last name?
Hey, get back there now.
Give us your what's the phone number we
should call.
He says I literally have my passport and
they don't even stop for a goddamn
second to let him get it to to to check
that he is even the person they're
looking for. Thank god those bystanders
are there documenting everything. It is
so important. And thankfully they were
also able to document Greg Bevino and
the rest of those [ __ ] goons getting
the exact type of treatment that they
deserve and that they should get for the
rest of their lives.
All these [ __ ] bums [ __ ] bum you.
You're a [ __ ] If your wife is a
[ __ ] too, you guys are all
[ __ ] You can't do [ __ ] to me. Can't
do a thing.
Get the [ __ ] out of here. Get the [ __ ]
out. Nobody [ __ ] wants you here,
right? Get the [ __ ] out. Walk the [ __ ]
out, you stupid [ __ ] Get the [ __ ]
out of here, you dumb the [ __ ] out of
here, you [ __ ] coward. You're a
[ __ ] coward, [ __ ] You're a [ __ ]
[ __ ]
Hold on, baby. I'm going to [ __ ] with
these [ __ ] ass [ __ ] Get the [ __ ] out
of here.
Get the [ __ ] out of here, you stupid
[ __ ] You're a [ __ ] coward piece
of [ __ ] [ __ ] you. And if you didn't
have a gun or a badge, I would beat the
[ __ ] out of you.
Take that [ __ ] badge off and that
[ __ ] gun and see what happened to
you. Shut the [ __ ] up.
Look at them look back as he is daring
them to do something, calling them
[ __ ] telling them he would beat them
if they didn't have a badge. And then
they do nothing about it and continue to
get bered.
Take that [ __ ] badge off that [ __ ]
gun and see what happened to you. You
shut the [ __ ] up.
You're a [ __ ] Get the [ __ ] out. You
[ __ ] [ __ ] You [ __ ] [ __ ] ass
white boys. I [ __ ] spill [ __ ] get
out of here. Get the [ __ ] out. Get the
[ __ ] out of here.
[ __ ] out. Stay back.
Stay back. [ __ ] off. Stay back. Easy.
Easy.
Back up. Get the [ __ ] off.
Get the [ __ ] out of here.
Get the [ __ ] out of here. [ __ ] your
[ __ ] You [ __ ]
Nobody want nobody want.
Get the [ __ ] out.
[ __ ]
And yes, that is incredibly cathartic to
watch. The woman in the shopping cart
saying, "Get out, ICE." And that is
exactly the kind of energy we need to
continue to level towards ICE agents in
2026. But I would argue it doesn't go
far enough and we need to stop the
complicit corporations working with
these agencies and there is no better
way to do that than to hit them where it
hurts in their finances like people have
done with Home Depot in the past.
We've seen countless immigration raids
at Southern California Home Depot and
immigrant groups are accusing the
company of being complicit in the
operation. And CBSLA's Lorie Perez live
outside the Monrovia Home Depot with an
ICE protest and a message that we
haven't seen before. Lori,
that's right. You know, we have seen a
lot of different protests over the last
few months centered on the ICE raids,
but none quite like the one that
happened this weekend at this Monrovia
Home Depot.
One by one, hundreds picked up a 17 cent
ice scraper at the Monrovia Home Depot
Saturday, bought it, and then got back
in long lines to return it, clogging
customer service, shopping as a
political act to tell Home Depot to keep
ICE agents out of their stores.
Definitely. Yeah, we want to we want to
scrape ice from our communities. And um
it's kind of symbolic, right, to use an
ice scraper by it and try to collapse
their system for a for a moment or for
for some time uh with the group of
people that are uh witnessing and are
willing to stay um to stand up for the
human rights of day laborers.
Palmira Figuroa is communications
director for the National Day Laborers
Organizing Network that organized the
act of consumer activism for nearly an
hour. The so-called buyin stalled the
store from operating as normal. And when
the crowd
of Home Depot
started marching through the aisles,
Home Depot closed the store down. A move
not lost on activists.
Is Oh, you actually can shut a store,
right? You can shut it for this, but you
cannot you have not shot them when an
ICE raid and abuse is happening. We
could not reach Home Depot for comment
tonight, but its communication team has
repeatedly told the media they do not
cooperate with ICE agents and are not
notified of raids beforehand. Still, the
stores are often the site of immigration
actions aimed at day laborers who
famously line up around the stores to
offer their services.
This was a more traditional protest in
August after ICE agents flooded the
Monrovia Home Depot parking lot,
handcuffing workers waiting for jobs.
One laborer who ran from the raid was
struck and killed by an SUV. Though DHS
told us agents were not pursuing him.
Figaroa and company don't buy it and
don't plan on letting Home Depot off the
hook.
None of them should be off the hook. Not
the agents, not the leaders in charge,
and not the companies supporting
domestic terrorism. We have seen in the
past year, year and a half alone, the
power that we have when we band
together, when we unionize and
collectivize and support our communities
and pull our support financially from
companies that are complicit in fascist
authoritarianism. Jimmy Kimmel is an
example. Home Depot is an example.
Target has already been an example and
now they are the next target for this.
Do not support them if you can and help
us fight back by subscribing here for
more reporting like this that you're not
going to see on the corporatebacked
mainstream media. For really American
and US democratic socialists, I am Kenny
Hess. I will see you all in the next
one.

*************************

Mark Ruffalo SMASHES Trump
Really American and Raw America
Jan 12, 2026

Really American host Steve Harness breaks down Mark Ruffalo and other Celebrities honoring Renee Good at the Golden Globes while dunking on Trump and ICE!



Transcript

That's my secret, Cat.
I'm always angry.
Yep. You know, the Hulk once famously
said, "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't
like me when I'm angry." Ah, but here's
the thing. I like it a whole bunch when
Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo is angry. When
he's a real life Avenger. And that is
exactly how Mark Ruffalo spent his
weekend in Hollywood raging against ICE
and the entire Trump regime. And
although he did come up empty-handed at
the Golden Globe Awards last night, he's
a winner to me, making headlines
worldwide for his heroic words. And I
have tracked down every clip of him
smashing Trump. So I need you to smash
the subscribe button right here for
Really American Media on YouTube. And
please go find our Substack page as
well. All right. So, as you know, most
celebrities on the red carpet talk about
their clothes and their hair, but Mark
Ruffalo went from reporter to reporter
to unload on Trump's America.
For Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered.
We have a vice president who's lying
about what's happening. We have a um
we're in the middle of a a war with
Venezuela that we illegally invaded. He
he's telling the world that
international law doesn't matter to him.
The only thing that matters to him is
his own morality. But the guy is a
convicted felon or convicted rapist.
He's a pedophile. He's the worst human
being in the If we're relying on this
guy's morality for the most powerful
country in the world, then we're all in
a lot of trouble. So, this is for her.
This is for the people in the United
States who are terrorized and scared
today. I know I'm one of them. I love
this country. And what I'm seeing here
happening is not America. It's not.
Mark, why do you feel that this platform
is still useful to spread a message like
this? Listen, I I I want to pretend like
this is I want to be here to celebrate
and I am here to celebrate and I'm proud
to have a Golden Globe nomination, but
also this is not normal anymore. And so
I don't know how I how I could be quiet
and I'm feeling a little sick. So it's
hard to BS right now.
Uh yeah, and based on how many protests
we saw this past weekend, most Americans
agree it's kind of hard to be quiet
right now and we shouldn't be now more
than ever. It's time to get vocal. And
the Hulk was nowhere near being done
sounding off.
The world's completely lost its mind. I
mean, I don't know what's happening in
the United States. I'm so sad. I can't
pretend like this is this isn't insane.
We have stormtroopers on the streets of
America terrorizing people, not making
people any safer. They're terrorizing
people. They're killing innocent people.
The rents are still high. There's no
food. Food's expensive. People can't
feed their kids. They can't send them to
school. they can't get sick or they're
going to end up dead because they can't
afford healthcare. Something's really
wrong here. And I don't know what the
answer is, but the world's not better
with this guy, this mad man in in office
who just told the world that there is no
international law concerning him. The
only thing that concerns him is his
morality.
Yeah. In case you missed it, Trump
actually had the balls to say that just
a few days ago.
Do you see any checks on your power on
the world stage? Is there anything that
could stop you if you wanted to? Yeah,
there's one thing. My own morality,
my own mind. It's the only thing that
can stop international law.
And that's very good.
I don't need international law.
The arrogance and narcissism it takes to
say something like that is off the
[ __ ] charts. The idea that we should
trust the morality of a felon, an
adulterer, a liar, a cheater, a pedop
protector, and a guy who has committed
outright murder is disgusting. And it's
statements like that from our president
that have left many people feeling so
helpless. So Mark Ruffalo was asked this
very important question. What can we do
as people? We have to get out and stop
it. There's more of us than there are
them and we have to be brave now. And we
have to come together. You know what?
This whole thing is about empathy.
This whole thing, this whole celebration
is about empathy. It's about people.
It's about people who care for people.
That's what our country is about. That's
what we want to see happen. And what's
happening is the opposite. But we have
to be together and we have to be
courageous and we have to be strong. And
now is the time.
I love you. Thank you for coming.
Mark is 100% correct. This whole thing
is about empathy. I am so [ __ ] sick
of people saying that the video of Renee
Good getting shot is a political roar
shack test. No, it's an empathy test and
millions of Americans have failed it.
but none more so than the people in the
Trump regime. And tens of millions of us
are at a breaking point.
Uh it's usually a lot of fun, but I I I
can't really I got to be honest with
you. I'm not feeling so great. Um we
have uh a woman um Renee Good was
murdered in our streets of America today
and we got literally stormtroopers
running around terrorizing. And as much
as I love all this, I can't I don't know
if I could pretend like this crazy stuff
isn't happening. We have a president who
says the laws of the of the of the world
don't apply to him and we could rely on
his morality, but he has no morality. So
where does that leave us? Where does
that leave the world? So I love these
people. I love being here. I love you. I
I but I also can't. It's so hard to
pretend anymore.
This is crazy what's happening. No lies
detected.
And and people can't pay their rent.
This isn't making us any safer. They
can't pay their rent. They can't buy
food. Insurance is impossible. They
can't take care of their families and
health. There's no education. I mean,
this is not making America better.
If it was, I'd be Yeah, great. Let's do
it. But that's not that's not what's
happening. And we have Americans being
shot, killed, a woman in her car.
Yeah. The frustration and exhaustion you
hear in his voice is the same thing that
I have heard from countless friends and
family members of mine. It's why I've
been calling for a tourism ban of
America. Foreigners, you should not come
here. It's not safe and we don't deserve
your money. We are truly a broken
country. And yet again, Mark Ruffalo has
asked the very important question.
So, I'm going to ask you this because
everybody we're talking about the
problems. What do you think we can do to
what are the solutions? Listen,
I think most Americans want the same
thing. They want a little sun on their
face. They want to know that their kids
are going to be okay. They want to know
their kids are going to be safe. They
want to be able to pay their rent. They
want to be able to know they're going to
send their kids to a good education.
But right now, the whole the whole
Senate, the whole the whole Congress has
been taken over by corporations. So,
who's there fighting for us now? Nobody.
But if somebody did, it's they got us at
each other's throats. The billionaires
got us at each other's throats, right?
We're out there killing each other. You
know what the solution is?
Is doing something for the working
people. Putting all your focus on that.
Mark truly is an avenger. And we need
more celebrities to speak out, to use
their huge platforms for good, just like
any superhero would do. And the night
before the Golden Globes, Mark was out
on the town and he still took time to
get vocal.
Uh, is this the America that that we
want to be living in? um where there's
mass agents on our streets terrorizing
people. They're supposed to be making us
safer and people are getting killed.
People, we don't even know what's
happening behind closed doors. We don't
know who any of these people are.
Yeah.
It's uh it's not America anymore. What
do you say to the the people that are
sort of hearing what Trump is saying and
and agreeing with him or
um
all I could say is
the guy is breaking the laws and he's
lying to us. Um and is do you want to
live in an America where you're being
chased down? They're not banging on your
door. You can't you don't know who the
people are. Put the foot on the other
shoe.
Yeah.
Put the shoe on the other foot. If it
was a Democrat doing any of this, if it
was Obama, which they were all so afraid
of,
having stormtroopers come into their
communities with masks on their faces
and kidnapping people illegally. They
wouldn't feel so great about it either.
And there's nothing going to stop them
from we see in the neighbor in the in
the cities where they've kidnapped
people that were beloved to those
communities even red communities.
Yeah.
Who said this is this is not we can't
have this here. Yeah.
So I would say use your humanity man.
America is the home of the free and land
of the uh home of the brave and the land
of the free. So if you want an America
that's free
this is not the way to do it. All solid
points. Although I am trying to break
out of the habit of saying what if Obama
did this because I don't think that
resonates with the mega types anymore
since Barack has you know come and gone.
Instead ask the maggots what if a
president AOC did this or president
Newsome or Buddha Judge did this because
those are real possibilities. Never
forget the political pendulum. It swings
both ways. Do you think there's any hope
of left to unite, you know, the two
sides,
you know,
a populist rhetoric where we're taking
care of all people in the United States,
you know, we're scapegoating um
immigrants, but what's really happening
is the billionaire class is like ripping
off all of us. And I do see a way to
unite um through programs that take care
of working-class people. you know,
people are suffering that. There's no
doubt about it. And there is a remedy
for that. Uh taking away people's
healthcare, um making sure that
groceries are more expensive or that
rents are higher. These are the things
that really matter to people. And I do
think there's a way to do that that's
would unite this country. But right now,
we're at each other's throats, and the
billionaires and giant corporations are
are are making off like bandits, and
we're out there like ready to kill each
other.
Yeah, Mark is absolutely correct to keep
bringing up the billionaire class. Never
forget, there are two types of Trump
supporters, billionaires and idiots.
Encourage the mega people in your life
to check their bank account and let you
know which one they are. And while the
idiots have nothing to gain other than
their attempts at owning the lives, the
billionaires, they've got a lot to gain.
And they could care less who they hurt
in the process. And that is why we have
to keep calling them out, shame them
into non-existence, and then freeze them
out in the midterm elections coming up
this year.
Your voice is so important. Thank you
for taking the time.
Thank you.
Have a good night.
Yeah, his voice is so important and so
is yours. So, please like this video,
comment below, and get vocal. From the
vocal minority with Nick and Steve
podcast, I'm Steve Harnesses for Really
American Media.

[admin]

ICE agents Shoot at Giraffe while he sings hit songs! Giraffe Arrested by ICE in Minnesota! - Robby Roadsteamer
Jan 12, 2026 MINNEAPOLIS

Robby Roadsteamer was arrested by ICE in Minnesota after dressing as a Giraffe and singing hit songs! This happened at the Whipple Federal building in Minneapolis Minnesota!



Transcript

Oh,
all right. They're not ready for prime
time players. You got your super soers.
You got your [ __ ] baloney. Where are
we going? We want us over here.

Oh, we got the power march. What are we doing
here?

Leave the giraffe alone.
Let him go.

[admin]

NPC Headliner: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
National Press Club Live
Streamed live 12 hours ago NATIONAL PRESS CLUB

Senator Elizabeth Warren will address the future of the Democratic Party and what it means to be a big tent party at a National Press Club Headliners Newsmaker on Monday, January 12th at 10:30 a.m.



Transcript

Good. Good morning and welcome to the National Press Club. Our formal program will begin in one minute, but before we
get started, I wanted to quickly review some housekeeping items.
Uh the event is being broadcast live on C-SPAN in the National Press Club website. So now would be an excellent
time to silence your cell phones. You'll also find cards on the seats. If you
have any questions for our speaker today, please write them on the cards and pass them to staff members
collecting them around the room. Please feel free to put your media outlet on the on there if you'd like. Uh, but it's
not necessary. I will ask as many questions as time permits, but I can't ask what I can't read. So, please print
as legibly as you legibly as you can and also please ask a question. If you write
an essay, I may not a be able to extract the question from it. So, please just write a question. Thanks again and we'll
get started in a few moments.
Exactly. Good morning and welcome to the National
Press Club, the place where news happens. I'm Mark Chef Jr., president-elect of the club and the
financial services reporter at CQ Roll Call. This morning, we are joined by Senator Elizabeth Warren for a
discussion of the future of the Democratic Party. Senator Warren is the ranking member of
the Senate Banking Committee, which means she is on my beat. I have covered Senate banking for many years. Whenever
Senate Senator Warren walked into a hearing, I would say say to myself, "This is about to get a lot more
interesting." And it always did with the tough questions she posed to regulators
and administration officials of both Republican and Democratic
administrations. Now that she is ranking member, the those questions come earlier in the
hearing. She also serves on the Senate Finance and Armed Services Committees.
Over her 13 years in Congress, Senator Warren has established herself as a leading Democrat Democratic voice on a
wide range of issues, including economic inequality, corporate regulation, and
consumer and investor protection. In 2020, Senator Warren ran for the
Democratic presidential nomination. Prior to serving as as senator, Senator Warren was a law professor specializing
in bankruptcy and commercial law. She helped create the fi consumer financial protection bureau which is now being
targeted by the Trump administration. Recent economic data show both rising
unemployment as well as economic growth. But surveys indicate that many Americans
remain concerned about their financial security and particularly what has become known as affordability. Senator
Warren has argued that workingclass families, working families are under strain. In
this economic context, we're entering an election year. Democrats continue to assess the outcome of the 2024 election
and consider their path forward. Today, Senator Warren will add her voice to the debate about the direction of the
Democratic Party and its and its electoral strategy. Senator Warren,
welcome to the National Press Club. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mark.
Thank you. And thank you all for inviting me here today. I'm delighted to be with you. U this is a dangerous
moment for America and for the world. A global contest is escalating between
democratic institutions governed by the rule of law and lawless dictators who
seek to enrich themselves and their cronies. Here at home, President Trump's
tariffs are driving up costs for families. Millions of Americans have lost their health insurance so that
Republicans could fund tax breaks for rich people. ICE is sewing chaos and
terror in our communities, resulting in the tragic killing of Renee Good in
Minnesota. And Donald Trump's view of the First Amendment is that he gets to say whatever he wants, and he gets to
use the power of government to silence, extort, bankrupt, or even prosecute
anyone who criticizes him. acting like a wannabe dictator uh that he is. Trump is
trying to push out the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and complete his
corrupt takeover of America's central bank so that it serves his interests
along with his billionaire friends. And he has invaded Venezuela to boost the
profits of oil companies and has announced that he will run the country.
Now, none of this would be happening if Democrats hadn't been wiped out in 2024.
And according to some self-described experts, Democrats lost power because we
were too progressive. For a lot of powerful people, wealthy people from
Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Washington. Too progressive is code used
to undermine any economic agenda that favors working people. Look, they put it
more politely, but these movers and shakers want the Democratic Party to respond to the 2024 losses by watering
down our economic agenda and sucking up to the rich and powerful, claiming that
a less progressive Democratic party will win more elections.
They are wrong. Americans are stretched to the breaking point financially and
they will vote for candidates who name what is wrong and who credibly demonstrate that they will take on a
rigged system in order to fix it. Revising our economic agenda to tiptoe
around that conclusion might appeal to the wealthy, but it will not help Democrats build a bigger tent. and it
definitely will not help Democrats win elections. A Democratic party that
worries more about offending big donors than delivering for working people is a
party doomed to fail in 2026, 2028, and beyond.
So, let's start with some basic math. By definition, the top onetenth of 1% of
the economic ladder doesn't have a lot of votes. So when the question is raised
whether Democrats should build our tent by sucking up to the rich, it's sure not about attracting their votes. It's about
attracting their money. There are, of course, extremely wealthy people who are
also deeply publicly minded. For some, it's about living their values. For
others, it's the recognition that massive economic instability is
ultimately bad for business. Either way, these very wealthy people advocate for
better health care and universal child care. They embrace sensible regulations
to stop corporate scammers. They press the government to raise taxes, including
on themselves and their businesses. Over and over they push for an economy that
works for everyone. But there is a different and frankly
much larger group of extremely wealthy people trying to influence policy. This
group might align with Democrats on some social issues. They certainly are not MAGA Republicans,
but they're also not interested in changing an economic game that is already rigged in their favor. And in
exchange for their financial support, they insist that the Democratic Party
turn its economic agenda in a direction that mostly benefits the wealthy and
further undermines the economic stability of tens of millions of families all across this country. These
people push Democrats to embrace candidates who will slowwalk popular
economic policies. They lobby for deregulation and special tax breaks that
will pad their own bottom lines. They promote making big-time corporate
lawyers federal judges. They pressure presidents to appoint tepid leaders at
regulatory agencies. People who once in office seem positively allergic to
enforcing the law when that might make life uncomfortable for big business
interests. In their effort to shape the democratic agenda, the ultra weealthy wield
outsized power. And we all know why. Rich people can fund super PACs to prop
up political campaigns for their chosen candidates. They can fund their own lobbying efforts. They can build or
simply buy whole media empires in order to bend the news to their liking. And as
we're seeing right now with AI and crypto, they can try to crush anyone who
gets in the way of their business interests. Over the past generation, the wealthy
have avoided accountability time and again. Regular Americans must
play by every rule or face real consequences. You don't need to read every news
article about Jeffrey Epstein and his good buddies like Larry Summers and Donald Trump to understand how
consistently rich and powerful insiders protect each other regardless of
politics and regardless of how obscene the situation has become.
The Epstein scandal is real and enormous. But the slew of white collar
pardons issued in recent months by President Trump reflects the same the
rules only apply to someone else mentality that pervades Washington.
So how does this affect winning elections? After the 2024 election, pundits sliced
and diced demographic groups across race, age, religion, and geography to
show how Democrats need to grow our coalition in order to win again. And
yes, we need support from rural voters, men, and voters without a college degree. And yes, in 2025, we won back
some of these folks, partly because Democratic candidates from every wing of
the party ran against Trump's betrayal of working people on affordability
issues. But in the long run, to build a strong Democratic party with a sturdy big tent,
it is not enough simply to attack Trump. Democrats need to earn trust, long-term,
durable trust across the electorate. Trust that we actually understand what's
broken and trust that we have the courage to fix it, even when that means
taking on the wealthy and the well-connected.
Democrats weren't always just the default option when the other guys were worse. Once we were trusted by working
people to fight for their interests and we delivered even against tough
Republican opposition. Social Security, strong unions, the 40hour work week, overtime, Medicare,
Medicaid, home ownership for veterans and firsttime home buyers, the Affordable Care Act. Over and over and
over, we showed that we could fight and we could deliver.
I understand the temptation in this moment of national crisis to sand down
our edges, to avoid offending anyone, especially the rich and powerful who
might finance our candidates. But we can't win unless we rebuild
trust. And we can't rebuild trust by excommunicating Biden administration law
enforcers who for the first time in decades actually fought to hold
corporations accountable for driving up prices. We can't rebuild trust by
calling up Elon Musk when he tussles with Trump and offering him whatever he
wants if he'll come back to our side and kick in a few nickels for our candidates.
We can't rebuild trust by staying silent about the abuses of corporate power and
tax fairness simply to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of the
already rich and powerful. I understand that because of our broken
campaign finance laws, Democrats need to raise a lot of money and I don't believe
in unilateral disarmament against the Republicans. But money is not the only ingredient for
a successful election. When Democrats water down their economic platform to
appeal to wealthy donors, whether the transaction is explicit or subtle, we
squander trust with working people. And the money just isn't worth it. Yes,
Democrats need a big tent. But there are two versions of what a big
tent means. One vision says that we should shape our
agenda and temper our rhetoric to flatter any fabulously rich person
looking for a political party that will entrench their own economic interests.
The other vision says we must acknowledge the economic failures of the current rigged system, aggressively
challenge the status quo, and chart a clear path for big structural change. If
we are going to pick up the broken pieces from the 2024 election and build a durable big p t tent, we must
acknowledge a hard truth. The Democratic Party cannot pursue both visions at the
same time. Either we politely nibble around the edges of change or we throw
ourselves into the fight. Either we carefully craft our policies to ensure
that the rich keep right on getting richer or we build a party that
ferociously and unapologetically serves the needs of working people.
Democrats have a choice to make and the first step in rebuilding trust is to
admit that we have to choose. Over the past year, I've often been
asked about the abundance agenda and how it fits into the conversation about the
future success of our party. When this agenda is about making
government more effective, count me in. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
was built in the spirit of abundance before abundance was hip. The agency
consolidated scattered authorities in streamline bureaucratic processes. And
best of all, it worked. Every year, the agency rooted out the fraudsters and
returned more than a billion dollars to people who had been cheated. The CFPB
should be a poster child for government efficiency. And sure, there are plenty of other
places where we can cut red tape, but we should make a clear diagnosis of the
problem. Where well-intentioned regulations have simply gone off the rails, we should fix them. But ongoing
inefficiencies that we cannot seem to fix often exist because powerful people
have captured the regulatory process and they use those regulations to block
improvements that would bite into their own profits.
Look around. For years, I fought for a simple, free government tax filing
system so nobody has to pay a couple hundred bucks just to file their taxes.
And every step of the way, the giant tax prep companies have thrown up roadblocks
to stop it. And when the IRS finally built a free and wildly popular filing
option for American taxpayers, the tax prep companies swooped in to kill it the
minute that Donald Trump took office. And heck, one of my favorite legislative
achievements in the Senate is a bipartisan law I got enacted to cut the price of hearing aids by thousands of
dollars by overriding a bunch of state level regulatory hurdles. But even after
we got it signed into law, it faced years of delay and nearly died because
hearing aid manufacturers mobilized to protect inefficient regulations that
kept consumer prices and corporate profits high.
And don't even get me started on the defense industry blocking legislation that would have guaranteed our military
the right to repair their own equipment. So yes, we need more government
efficiency, a lot more. But many in the abundance movement are
doing little to call out corporate culpability and billionaire influence in
creating and defending those very inefficiencies.
Instead, abundance has become a rallying cry, not just for a few policy nerds
worried about zoning, but for wealthy donors and other corporate aligned
Democrats who are putting big time muscle behind making Democrats more
favorable to big businesses. It looks like the corporate tycoons have found
one more way to stop the Democratic party from tackling a rigged system with
too much energy. Consider the case of Reed Hoffman, one
of the biggest donors in the Democratic Party, according to the New York Times. Now, he's the same billionaire who
donated $7 million to supporting Kla Harris and then spent much of the
campaign publicly pressuring her to fire Lena Khan as FTC chair. Now, remember
the central challenge confronting the Harris campaign was affordability. And
Chair Khan was doing more in that fight than pretty much anybody else in government. Polling showed that strong
majorities supported taking on powerful corporations and the FTC was leading the
charge. Democratic leaders including labor unions and civil rights groups and progressives like Bernie and me and
moderates like Jim Clyurn and John Hickinlooper all spoke up for Khan. And
there was Reed Hoffman, a man with close ties to two of the biggest corporations
under fire from the FTC, Microsoft and Facebook. Hectoring Harris to promise
that she would fire the FTC chair. Now, to her credit, the vice president
didn't promise to fire Lena Khan, but she didn't promise not to fire her
either. Now, it wasn't just corporate influence at the FTC. In August, Harris proclaimed
that she would address high costs facing families by putting in place tough
corporate price gouging laws. Later, according to the New York Times, she
quote narrowed those proposals after a quote corporate allies a of the campaign
badgered her into doing so. Now, keep in mind that story of retreat ran just
weeks before the Democrats lost an election to Donald Trump, who loudly,
day after day after day, promised he would lower costs for families on day
one. Now, we are in a new election cycle and
according to Axios, Reed Hoffman is sending everyone he knows a copy of Ezra
Klene and Derek Thompson's book on abundance and backing pro-abundance candidates. And on his podcast, Hoffman
has used the framework to argue against regulations that slow down data center
construction. That's right. When families are already getting crushed by rising costs and a data center boom
means even higher utility costs. When affordability is front and center in
voters minds, Hoffman wants Democratic candidates to stand with the
billionaires for higher costs. running on small vague ideas that may
also raise costs for families instead of on fullthroated economic populist ideas
is a terrible plan for winning elections. And that might not be the
opinion of all of the tech titans with histories of funding organizations that
are now tripping over each other to promote abundance. people like Dustin
Mosovitz, Mark Andre, and Pat Collison. But it is the conclusion of every
serious person who's looked at the data on what voters actually think. A recent
poll by Jeff Garin, the pollster for both Kla Harris and Chuck Schumer,
showed how much stronger a populist message performs among voters than an
abundance one. James Carville and I don't agree on everything, but I'm with
him when he says it's clear even to me that the Democratic Party must now run
on the most populist economic platform since the Great Depression.
And if you still have any doubts, look no further than Mitt Romney. You know, the corporations are people candidate.
In a recent New York Times op-ed, even he embraced raising taxes on the rich.
If Democrats want to win elections, they need to read the room. Or I should say,
they need to read literally any room anywhere in America that is not filled
with big donors. So what does it mean to focus our agenda
on an aggressive economic vision? At its core, the goal is simple and easy to
measure. It means boosting pay and making life more affordable for working
people. Building more affordable homes and cracking down on corporate
landlords, increasing the size of social security checks, providing universal
child care. passing price gouging laws with real teeth. Guaranteeing the right
to repair your own cars, machines, and business equipment, strengthening unions, building universal health care,
taxing the wealthy and giant corporations, increasing the minimum wage. Look, I could go on and on and in
fact I have uh with detailed plans and legislative proposals. We are not short
on good ideas and to win every Democrat
should be proposing concrete plans for lowering costs.
Sauron Mumani came from nowhere and took down a political dynasty. How he ran a
campaign tightly focused on the cost of living with easy to understand platform.
free buses, freeze the rent, and deliver nocost child care. Mikey Cheryl also
focused on cost of living with an easy to understand platform, including
affordable child care and a bold promise to freeze utility rates on day one. And
she won by 14 points. Ideas are great, but voters also need to
believe that we will fight and that we have the guts to enact an affordability
agenda even over the objections of other Democrats.
Many voters are rightly skeptical that we'll really make something happen.
After all, we didn't even take the extraordinarily obvious and simple step
of increasing the minimum wage the last time we had power. Why not? Well, ask
Kirsten Cinema, the former Democratic senator from Arizona, who curtsied on
the Senate floor while rejecting a minimum wage increase in 2021 to raise
wages for up to 27 million Americans. and then spent the rest of her time in
office protecting hedge fund managers from paying taxes and blocking filibuster reform. Cinema faced no
consequences from her president or her leaders in Washington. Eventually, it
was her own constituents back home who chased her out of the Senate. But today,
she is cashing in from the industry she protected. The Wall Street Journal
recently marveled at the sheer number of projects Cinema has taken on from
crypto, AI, and other wealthy corporate clients. And meanwhile,
millions of working Americans who have not seen a minimum wage increase in almost two decades are still waiting for
Democrats to deliver on one of our most basic promises.
Democrats win when we show we are willing to fight. And that means even
when we fail, we leave everything on the field. One moment in 2025 when voters
actually saw Democrats fighting for them was the government shutdown. We refused to rubber stamp Trump's budget unless he
rolled back his health care cuts. And we said so loudly and unapologetically
every single day. And yeah, a small group of moderate Democrats ended up
blinking. So we didn't get the healthc care wins we could have. But public polling shows that voters supported us
putting up a real fight to actually lower their costs.
We win when we run on big changes that it will take to build an economy for
everyone. We win when we call out corruption and bad actors. We win when
we stand against the avalanche of corporate money trying to bury our democracy. We win when we stop members
of Congress from buying and selling individual stocks and cryptocurrencies while they're writing the laws that
affect those various assets. Sure, a tepid nibble around the edges
approach earns praise from Jaime Diamond and other Wall Street and big tech CEOs.
And if we're being honest, that approach also has been a good way to appeal to
the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as they decide which primary candidates they will support.
But it doesn't take a political genius to conclude that in a democracy when the
choice is between make the rich richer and help everybody else, winning elections is about choosing everybody
else. I believe in markets and a market
economy. I've spent my entire career trying to make them work better so that our economy works for everyone. I
celebrate success. I don't think billionaires are bad people just because they're billionaires or that
corporations are evil because they pursue profit. And let me say it again.
There is a big difference between a billionaire who spends his fortune to advance the interests of working people
and a billionaire who uses his money to entrench a rigged economy.
Ideas are not better because they come from a rich person offering to open his
wallet and advance his own financial interests. And our leaders should stop
acting like they are. I'm deeply worried about the survival of
our democracy. Democrats need to win elections across this country, and I will do everything I can to help. Just
last week, I donated over $400,000 to 23 state parties that will be fighting some
of the most competitive Senate, House, and Governor seats in November. We must
must must win up and down the ballot in these critical midterm elections. And I
will keep doing my part. And every chance I get, I will also stand up and
say that Democrats cannot build a durable governing majority that actually
makes life better for people and rebuilds trust in the Democratic party by watering down our economic vision.
Democrats must build a big tent based on big ideas that help working people. And
now is our time to do exactly that. Thank you all.
[Applause]
Uh as as I mentioned at the beginning of the program, we've received some questions uh in advance and and we've
collected some even while the senator was speaking. You'll find question cards on your seat. If you have a question
during the program, just fill out a card and pass it to one of our staff members here in the room, Cesaly and others. uh
she's waving her hand back there are circulating. We'll try to get it to as many of them as time allows. For those
of you watching on our live stream or C-SPAN, uh you can send your questions
to headliners at press.org, headlinerspress.org, and please put Warren in capital letters
in the subject line. Well, let's start with uh your your
analysis of where the Democratic Party is. what you uh just gave us uh sounded
uh certainly like an perhaps a uh an examination, medical examination, if not
an autopsy. And there actually was an autopsy conducted uh last month. The DNC
announced it would not be that it would not be releasing the autopsy despite
Chair Kin Martin's public pledge to do so. How do you how this is a question uh
from the uh a question from the audience. How do you expect the DNC to implement the findings of the autopsy
and maintain and maintain trust with voters without sharing the autopsy with the public? So, look, I'm a big fan of transparency.
I like seeing everything out there where everyone can take a look at it. But for me, right now at this moment in January
of 2026, we're putting together the foundations of how Democrats are going
to run in the 2026 election. And so the point I want to keep driving toward is
our economic agenda and how important it is that our economic agenda is about
working people and not about pulling back on the agenda in order to attract
more wealthy donors. In 2024, President Trump uh received a
lot of support from the the working class. He he convinced them that he was the person rather than Kla Harris who
would answer their be the answer for their economic concerns.
I know you are not a Trump fan, but is there something Democrats can learn from Donald Trump when it comes to
communicating to the very people you're trying to communicate with? You bet. I mean, look, Donald Trump
stood up pretty much every single day for a solid year and promised that on
day one he would lower costs for American families. That was his phrase. Used it over and over and over. And when
he got elected and the very first interview he gave, he was asked, "Why do you think you won?" And he said,
"Because I promised on day one to lower costs for American families." So, here
we are nearly a year into the Trump administration and the cost of groceries is up, the
cost of housing is up, the cost of utilities is up, the cost of health care
is up, and all of those are up because of policies driven by Donald Trump and
the Republicans in Congress. They have actually pushed up costs for American
families. So this is the moment for Democrats to stand up and first call
Trump to account for his betrayal of the American people, but secondly to lay out
our own agenda and say this is it. This is what we will do, what we can do to
lower cost for American families. And what's so important about that is our
agenda needs to be strong. It needs to be bold. We need to be unapologetic
about it. We need not to shade it at the edges because we're worried about
talking about raising taxes on billionaires may cause some of our richest donors to fade away.
You you've heard this from from uh many
witnesses at banking hearings. Uh regulations in big government add to
cost. they make it more costly to to serve their customers and investors. How
do you respond to that? Well, you know, that's just plain wrong. And it's not to say that there aren't
regulations that have gone off the rails, that there aren't regulations that are a problem. But look at both
halves of it. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau delivers delivered
until Russ Vote got a hold of it over a billion dollars a year to people who got
cheated. And yeah, that's about regulations. Regulations that say you
don't get to build your profit model around lying to people. You don't get to build your profit model around tricking
them about what they signed on to. You don't get to build your profit model around adding a bunch of hidden costs at
the end. It says instead level playing field. People have an opportunity to
take out a mortgage or a credit card or student loan and know there's a cop on
the beat. That's regulation that makes markets work better. And the efficient
enforcement of that regulation. Wow. It works for American families. It works
for our economy. The only people it doesn't work for are the CEOs of the giant financial institutions who don't
get to scoop up every bit of profit they would like to make, including profits
from cheating people. And that's true across the board. It's it's the CFPB is
the perfect example, but there are multiple examples that we have to take
another look. What are you calling an inefficiency? An inefficiency because
people don't get to cheat other people. Gee, I kind of think that's an efficiency because it means the market
works. It means people are competing straight up on the quality of their goods, on the price of their goods, on
their good consumer service. But this is the fight we've got to be
willing to wade into. It's a fight about monopolies. It's a fight about who has
corporate power. It's a fight about who lobbies in Washington to hang on to
those inefficiencies that help drive up costs for families and drive up profits
for the corporations that figure out how to exploit them. your talk today uh I I was all about uh
economics essentially. I didn't hear much if anything at all about social issues. Uh there's a uh a
question from the Huffington Post. Uh should the Democratic Party be willing to compromise on social issues like
guns, abortion rights, and immigration? Look, the I want to be where the
American people are right now. And what they're telling us across the spectrum
is that they are under enormous financial pressure. And and the data
bear them out. I don't know if anybody's seen this. Uh home mortgage foreclosures are up 21% since Donald Trump took
office. Um, uh, survey after survey talks about the majority of Americans
saying, "I worry every day about money. I worry about making it to the end of the week. I worry about making it to the
end of the month. I worry about how I'm going to pay off my debts. I worry about how I'm going to educate my children. I
worry if I'm ever going to be able to retire." It is our economic message that has to
be the tip of the spear for Democrats. It is the thing that American people are
telling us they want us to talk about. And this is the history of the Democratic Party. This is who we are.
This is our fight from the Great Depression on through the 50s and 60s.
This is our fight and we have to be willing to lay out here are the things
we will fight for and we will deliver. So for me, that's what I'm trying to do
here is I'm trying to lay the foundation for how Democrats run in 2026.
And I think we do that on a solid foundation that is based on our economics. And this is the place where
we are most at risk for the billionaires swooping in and saying, "Dial that down.
Move back just a little." Uh not that one. Not universal child care because damn that could drive up taxes on
billionaires. Oh, not that other thing because it doesn't fit with our business
model. Don't talk about putting somebody tough back at the FTC again. Somebody who will go after non-compete clauses
and and uh click to cancel. Somebody who actually will be there to make this
whole system work better for working families. That's where we are most at
risk and that's why I'm in this fight and that's why I'm here today. Well, not only did President Trump try
to and and presume and successfully talk to uh these uh people on these issues in
2024, he's he's trying to do it again now in the last few month uh weeks. Uh he's very much focused on populism and
uh we have a couple questions about populism. Uh what are your current what are your thoughts on the current
administration's latest attempts at populism for instance limiting credit card interest and and wait there was
another question about that uh what do you think about Trump's idea which he got from you I think this was a member a
member of the audience to cap credit card rates at 10%. Yeah. So where's he been since then? He
said that during the election right said to people that's going to be one of the things he's going to do. he's going to
put a cap on credit card interest rates. And I said, "Let's go. I'm ready." You
know, I have that one written out. We are ready to move that one in Congress on the Democratic side. And where's
President Trump been? Missing an action. He's just not there anymore. He has no
interest in that anymore. Instead, he is worried about profitability. Oh,
for the people who are making the big contributions to his ballroom, the people who make the big contributions to
his campaign. Donald Trump is doing his best to run America to work even better
for a handful of billionaires, a handful of oil executives, a handful of people
who've already made it big. And we can't be fooled by the fact that he promised
to do otherwise. He has not delivered. And and I want to pick up on your point, Mark, because I think you're right. All
of a sudden, Trump is starting to wake up to the fact that people across this
country are more alarmed about their economic circumstances than they were a
year ago when Donald Trump was sworn in. And he realizes that there are going to
be a lot of Americans across the country come November 2026 who are saying, "The buck stops with you, bud. What did you
do to lower our costs?" And that's why he's scrambling around. But notice, at least so far, he hasn't delivered
anything that would take a dollar out of the pockets of a billionaire in America.
Uh just real quick on the credit cards, Senator Marshall uh
posted on X the other day uh praising uh President Trump's vow to cap credit
cards at 10%. Do you think the Marshall Durban bill is going to gain momentum from this? Well, the the Marshall Durban is
actually on a slightly different point. I know you know that. Sorry, that's right. Holly's
Holly. Listen, I'm all in to do it. Yeah, but one Republican and all of the
Democrats does not get the job done. Just do the math. The only way we're actually going to deliver for working
people is to put Democrats back in the majority in the House and the Senate. That's what it's going to take.
and uh on affordability. What are your thoughts on the uh various proposals that the president has floated in the
last few days about housing affordability? So, let's start with whether or not
anybody in this room thinks that Donald Trump is serious about lowering the cost of housing. Keep in mind,
we worked hard, and I know you covered this, um to get a housing bill that
really addresses the core of the problem, and that is supply. Uh we're not going to bring down the cost of
housing until we build more housing. Um most estimates are that we're about
three million housing units short of what we need in America. And that's
housing for firsttime home buyers, housing for seniors, apartments for
renters, uh housing for people with disabilities, housing in urban areas,
housing in suburban areas, housing in rural areas. What do we need more of?
Housing. Housing. Housing. So, I worked with uh Chairman Scott uh
the head of the banking committee and we put together a housing bill, road to
housing that has 40 proposals in it. You want to know the main thing about those proposals? Every one of them is
basically screened for will you get more housing out of it? Will we get more homes built, more apartments built, more
people? more manufactured housing. Everyone, they come from different places. Can you drive down the cost of
buildings so that we get more housing supply and that bill passed the United
States Senate unanimously. Just everyone pause for a minute to absorb what that means in the United
States Senate today. Passed it unanimously. And now the House is just hung up. The
Republicans are saying in the House, "No, they can't do that. They don't want to do that. And where is Donald Trump?
Has he lifted a finger to move that bill forward in the House of Representatives?
He sure as knows how to get on the phone when he doesn't like what they're doing over the Epstein files. He knows how to
get on the phone when he doesn't like what somebody's trying to do over Venezuela. But is he on the phone to say
move that housing bill so that we can start right now today on expanding more
housing in America? Nope. Donald Trump has just sat back and thrown out one
idea and thrown out another. Then what's the other thing Donald Trump did last week? The Trump administration just
signed off on the biggest merger in the real estate industry in history. the two
biggest outfits in real estate just merged with each other. You know what the consequence of that will be? Just
like it is with any of these giant mergers. It will drive up costs. It will drive up costs for sellers. It will
drive up costs for buyers. And the consequence is it just makes housing
more expensive and more out of reach. So look, Donald Trump identifies this piece
or that piece he'd like to do. He claims that he would get corporations out of home ownership. Heck, sign me up because
I've been working on that since 2018. I have proposals on that. I am ready to
go. But I have to say, he has a real credibility problem here. He's just
shooting out one idea after another and doing not one damn thing to actually
lower the cost of housing for the American people. And he needs to be called out for it. And that's what we're
going to do come November 2026. Well, uh, as of, uh, last night, he's
he's, uh, trying to do something at the Federal Reserve. And, uh, I want to ask you about the, uh, the subpoena of, uh,
of Fed officials regarding Chair Powell's testimony on the renovation at
the, uh, Fed. Chair Powell said out loud what I'm sure all of us believe he was
thinking in in his mind. uh over the last few months and that is that uh the
the the administration is trying to pressure the Fed into uh interest rate decisions that the administration
favors. So I wanted to ask you about that and a related question from Xi Jing
Media uh from China. Do you recall anything from the Powell hearing last June that sounded like perjury to you?
Let me start there. No. Uh but let's let's do just a little backup on what's
going on right now with the Fed. Uh decades and decades and decades ago,
policy makers made a decision and this was not Republicans or Democrats, it's everybody. They said, "We need a Fed
that is largely independent of the political process." And we need that because there's an underlying tension on
monetary policy. Every president who's facing an election or his party is
facing an election, which is every president, right? Uh every two years is
going to want to juice the economy. And the way they're going to want to juice the economy is they're going to want to
dial down those interest rates and throw a little sugar into the economy. So,
it's a lot cheaper now to make investments because borrowing money is a lot cheaper and a lot of loans will get
made and it'll boost up the economy short term. Long term, the consequences
can be disastrous for the economy if you do too much of that uh because it just
inflates the economy in ways that are damaging for American families, for employment, for investment overall. So
the whole idea behind it was to build an independent Fed and uh to insulate it.
That's why its budget along with the other uh uh banking regulators budget is
insulated from Congress, insulated from the president. Donald Trump has made clear since right
at the beginning of his presidency that he wants to be the decision maker on
where interest rates should be set. And he's made that clear repeatedly. He's made it clear by threatening to fire
Jerome Pal. He's made it clear by threatening to fire Lisa Cook, another Federal Reserve governor. He's made it
clear uh by picking a fight over the the renovation of the uh historic Fed
building. Uh he's made it clear by issuing a statement that says he's not
going to nominate anybody to the Fed uh as chair who doesn't agree with him all
of the time. That's that's what Donald Trump wants. He's saying, "I want to put my hand on the dials on monetary
policy." And Jerome Pal and some of the Fed have
resisted him and said very calmly that they are going to continue to look at
the economic data and that they are going to make decisions based on what the economic data say. And that's just
not only not good enough for Donald Trump, it's a challenge to who Donald Trump is, it's a challenge to somebody
who thinks he's supposed to run everything. And so Donald Trump just
stays after it. And now this is a question about weaponizing the
Department of Justice right out in plain view in order for Donald Trump to try to
have a chance to take over the Fed as quickly as possible so that he can make
political decisions that he thinks will help him rolling into the 2026 election,
even if it has disastrous long-term consequences for our economy and also
for our economic structure. And you know, I just want to add one more point to this. What Trump is trying to do is
terrible for our economy, but it undermines America all around the
world. People rely on the American economic
system, and I'm saying this at a writ large, that it's a Fed that's independent. It's making decisions based
on data. You may like them, you may not like them. I've often not liked them and disagreed on the data, but that it's
making its decisions based on its best understanding of the data. The the Fed
has been the gold standard for that kind of monetary policy decisionmaking and
Donald Trump is just burning that to the ground. And that's going to be costly
for the United States in all of our global markets. Uh it's going to be
costly for the United States over a very long arc if Trump gets away with this.
We uh turning to uh immigration. We're coming near the end of our Q&A uh time
here, but we do have a couple questions about immigration and some ICE incidents, tragic incidents, incidences
in the last uh couple of weeks. Uh let me just combine two questions. What kind
of ICE backlash do you anticipate for midterms when compared to economic
angst? And uh should another government shutdown be on the table uh right now to
force substantive changes at ICE? If not, what can Democrats be doing now to channel voter anger about ICE overreach?
That's from the Guardian. Okay. So, let me describe what I hear as a senator
and that is how deeply disturbed people are across this country about an
outofc control ICE. Look, I get it. We need to enforce our immigration laws. I
believe that we need uh a lot of revision to those laws and restructuring
of how we do it. But what's happening right now
feels like an ice that is just out of control. And so I hear from people who
are alarmed for themselves, for their neighbors, it from a elementary school
principal uh who talks about what it means
that they don't know whether to advise parents to bring the children to school or not. and trying to set up contingency
plans if parents parents who are here legally get scooped up by ICE and can't
be there in time to pick up a child at 3:00 when school lets out
families that are torn apart. People who are in school and all of a sudden other
students are missing. It's true in Massachusetts. I'm hearing from people all around the country about this. So
this is a moment when this horrific shooting in Minnesota
has taken a a lot of a lot of anxiety, a lot of worry, a lot of concern about
what does it mean that people wearing masks are coming out on our streets and
scooping people up and that then nobody can find them. And I think it's bringing it forward in
a way that a lot of people who who may not have focused on this issue are
getting more and more engaged in it. I worry about Donald Trump sending even
more agents, federal agents into Minnesota. I worry about the idea of
just trying to provoke more violence because this is the part I know for sure. Donald Trump, Christine Nome, and
ICE are not making America safer. And the two things that I think Americans
care a whole lot about is that Donald Trump promised that he was going to make
Americans safer economically and safer physically. and he not only has failed
in both of those, he has actually made life worse. And I think he'll be held to
account for that. All right. And we'll we'll wrap up here. One more uh question. Okay. Uh this uh
well, two more. This one and then the final question. You must you must work in the news business real quick.
Source once told me I sort of like Columbbo. One more thing. Uh the um uh
going back to your speech to wrap up here. Uh question from uh CNN. You've already made key endorsements in 2026
races and as you noted have donated to over 20 state parties. What else should we expect to see from you in 2026 on the
trail and where are you going where are you going to be boots on the ground? So I appreciate the question. I'm going
to do anything I can to help. I am allin in this fight. Um I've endorsed Peggy
Flanigan in Democratic primary out in Minnesota uh for two reasons. because
Peggy Flanigan is a ferocious fighter on behalf of working people and because she
doesn't take any corporate pack money and both of those matter a lot to me. I'm hoping there will be other places
where I'll be able to get involved on exactly those same ideas. Um,
I just I never thought we'd be here, but I understand how important this election
is in 2026. And whether it's ICE or economic issues
or other issues that drive you, Donald Trump has made clear he just wants to be
a guy with no no constraints, no constraints from law. and a Republican
Congress has just bowed down to him and said, "Yes, Mr. President, you can do
whatever you want." And that is a threat to families across this country and a
threat to our democracy. So, I'm in this fight all the way. Before I ask the
final question, let me take a moment to thank our headliners team leader Jyn Judson and Emily Wilkins of our
headliners team who helped organize today's discussion as well as club executive director DDA Saoi and all of
the club staff for making this event possible. Thank you all.
Thank you to our audience for being here with us today. Uh now let me present you Senator Warren with our with the coveted
National Press Club mug which which we give to all all guests uh at events like this one and you can add
that to your collection. I will add it to my collection. Yes. Thank you for uh joining us this afternoon this morning. And uh final
question. Last year, your golden gold golden retriever Bailey dressed as Steven Colbear for Halloween
to support him after CBS announced in July that it would end the Late Show in May of this year. Are there any early
front runners for who Bailey will be dressing as uh for Halloween in 2026?
Not yet, but keep those cards and letters coming in. Uh uh I love hearing
uh the good ideas and so does Bailey. He likes he likes dressing up. So, uh um
you know, we all need a little golden retriever in our lives. Absolutely. Well, Senator, thank you for
being with us here today. Appreciate it. Thank you.