Important Sunday Night Update: Europe Reaches Breaking Point with Trump, Army Prepares for Possible Minnesota Deployment, and more
By Aaron Parnas•January 18, 2026•6 min read•Trump AdministrationForeign Policy
Good evening everyone—I hope you had an amazing Sunday and an even better weekend. There’s a lot of news to cover today, and I want you to scroll down and dive in. But before you do, I want to pause on something that matters deeply to me.
We are not living through normal times. Yesterday, a high school student asked me how I manage to report the news “neutrally” in a moment like this. My answer was simple: neutrality does not mean normalizing the moment we’re in. And this moment is anything but normal.
It’s not normal to live in a constant flood of breaking news designed to exhaust and overwhelm us. It’s not normal for Americans to feel this divided, this distrustful, this burned out. It’s not normal for the news to consume us instead of inform us.
And the moment we accept this as normal is the moment we fail—civically, collectively, and personally. That’s where my work comes in.
My form of advocacy is not partisanship. It’s clarity. It’s sharing accurate, verified information with households across the country so you don’t have to wade through chaos to understand what’s actually happening. It’s helping bridge the gap left by the absence of civics and media literacy in so many classrooms. It’s giving you context, not noise—facts, not fear.
Europe reaches breaking point with Trump: European leaders unite in rare public defiance after President Trump threatens escalating tariffs on key allies unless Denmark cedes Greenland, exposing the collapse of Europe’s appeasement strategy, deepening strains within NATO, and accelerating doubts about the U.S. as a reliable security and trade partner.
It has officially been one month since the Trump Administration violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act. 30 days ago, the Trump Administration was required to release all of the Epstein files. They have failed.
The Pentagon directed roughly 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a potential deployment to Minnesota after President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act amid protests, a step city leaders said risked escalating tensions, with Minneapolis’s mayor warning the administration was attempting to “bait protesters” in order to justify sending in federal troops.
The two Army battalions the United States is preparing to possibly deploy in Minnesota consist of 1,500 paratroopers from one of the Army's most elite units, per ABC. This unit is traditionally used to protect America from Chinese aggression in the Pacific.
Bruce Springsteen told ICE to get out of Minneapolis: “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis”:
Hundreds of counterprotesters shut down a far-right, pro-ICE rally in Minneapolis, chasing off activist Jake Lang after he promoted anti-Muslim rhetoric and threatened to “burn a Quran,” as residents protested aggressive federal immigration enforcement; one demonstrator summed up the mood: “You are not welcome in Minneapolis… stay out of our city, stay out of our state.”
According to Bloomberg, the Trump administration announced plans for a new Gaza Board of Peace and set a $1 billion price tag for countries seeking permanent seats, telling potential members they could bypass term limits by contributing at least $1 billion in the board’s first year—an approach diplomats described as creating a “mini-UN” shaped by financial buy-in rather than consensus. This has caused major corruption concerns around the world. I broke it down here:
The Trump White House intensified pressure on the press when press secretary Karoline Leavitt was recorded warning CBS News to air a Trump interview “in full” or “we’ll sue your ass off,” a threat that underscored growing concerns about legal intimidation, editorial independence, and the chilling effect on journalistic freedom.
NBC News has confirmed that President Trump privately intensified his focus on Canada, complaining to aides that the country was vulnerable to Russia and China in the Arctic and pushing for expanded U.S.-Canadian military cooperation, as part of a broader effort to “solidify” American dominance in the Western Hemisphere alongside his push to acquire Greenland.
European leaders weighed deploying the EU’s never-before-used “trade bazooka,” the Anti-Coercion Instrument, after Trump threatened escalating tariffs on Denmark and seven other European allies unless the U.S. was allowed to buy Greenland, prompting an emergency EU meeting and a united statement warning the tariff threats were “blackmail” that could trigger a dangerous spiral and damage transatlantic relations.
Thousands of Danes protested in Copenhagen against the Trump administration’s push to acquire Greenland, donning “Make America Go Away” hats and warning that Trump’s rhetoric and new tariffs on Denmark riskand its allies were straining alliances, fueling public fear, and threatening NATO, with one Greenlandic lawmaker stating plainly: “Greenland is not for sale.”
An Army Reserve helicopter pilot said his wife, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with no criminal record, was detained by ICE during a routine check-in days after their wedding and denied bond, highlighting how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has ensnared legally present migrants and torn apart families despite pending asylum cases and military service ties.
President Trump’s pardon of former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced initially failed to cover a separate criminal docket tied to her guilty plea in a campaign finance case, leaving part of the prosecution technically active and prompting the White House to prepare an additional pardon document, a lapse critics said reflected repeated procedural breakdowns that undermined confidence in the rule of law.
According to the Guardian, Fifa officials privately expressed growing embarrassment over awarding Donald Trump its peace prize, with senior sources saying the decision had become “deeply embarrassing” amid U.S. airstrikes abroad, the jailing of Venezuela’s president, and Trump’s threats toward Greenland, even as Fifa publicly stood by the award and defended its close relationship with the White House ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Senator Elissa Slotkin warned that the Trump administration was using authoritarian-style intimidation—legal threats, investigations, and public vilification—to silence critics, chill free speech, and divert attention from unresolved domestic crises like housing affordability and the cost of living.
President Trump called for “new leadership in Iran,” in a new interview with Politico, declaring Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responsible for the “complete destruction” of the country after weeks of deadly protests and mass killings, escalating a war of words with Tehran even as the administration abruptly stepped back from earlier threats of U.S. military intervention.
