It feels as though we are living in a split-screen reality: Trump is moving largely unchecked in a foreign policy campaign based on blowing things up to help Pete Hegseth overcome his well-deserved inferiority complex. Trump has attacked or is threatening Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, Greenland, and NATO. On the domestic front, Trump is on a historic losing streak.

He is losing in the courts, in Congress, at the ballot box, and in the streets. Worse, his uncanny ability to ferret out winning issues based on grievance and bias is failing him, big time. The public sentiment is against ICE and on the side of Renee Nicole Good, immigrants, and peaceful protesters in the streets. Trump’s response is to double down by slandering and investigating Renee Good’s political affiliations while refusing to investigate her killer.

The split screen is deliberate: As Trump’s political fortunes nosedive in the US, he is attempting to divert attention to an arena where the US military advantage is obscene. (The US spends more on defense that the next nine largest militaries in the world, combined.) Sadly, it is easy to remotely destroy targets with missiles and generate video-game quality images that satisfy the blood lust of some in the MAGA base. As Trump’s domestic political fortunes decline, he will likely ratchet up the belligerence and recklessness of his foreign policy.

The strategy of blowing things up is not working. Trump is bumping up against the limits of his political power in the US and is on the defensive everywhere.

For example, he is becoming increasingly agitated because it appears he is preparing for a Supreme Court loss on the legality of his “global reciprocal tariffs.” Indeed, if the past is prologue, Trump has been tipped off by a conservative justice (or their clerks) to prepare for a loss. He posted on Monday that the US is “screwed” if he loses the challenge to his tariffs. See USA Today, Trump says ‘WE’RE SCREWED’ if Supreme Court overturns his tariffs.

While it appears that the FBI is investigating Renee Nicole Good’s political affiliations, the DOJ has apparently refused to investigate the ICE officer who killed Good, Jonathan Ross. The refusal to investigate Ross led at least four senior DOJ attorneys to resign on Monday evening. See MSNOW, Top DOJ officials quit after their division refused to probe Minnesota ICE shooting. Rumors of additional resignations are swirling, pointing to a crisis of credibility and confidence in a DOJ that has already been decimated by Trump.

In a similar development, an assistant US Attorney brought in to prosecute James Comey in the Eastern District of Virginia was fired for refusing to oversee the Comey investigation while remaining the US Attorney in Kentucky. See MSNBC, Trump DOJ fires prosecutor who declined to pursue James Comey case. The fired prosecutor was brought in after a federal judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan was illegally appointed as Acting US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

The state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis sued the Trump administration to withdraw ICE from that state—suits that have broad support in Minnesota and America. See, e.g., massive protests over the weekend. See also, NPR, Minnesota sues to block Trump’s immigration crackdown as enforcement intensifies.

Mark Kelly sued Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, seeking an order terminating Hegseth’s administrative proceeding to retroactively demote Kelly from his rank of Captain at the time of his discharge from the Navy. See NBC News, Mark Kelly sues Pete Hegseth over efforts to reduce his military retirement rank. A cursory analysis suggests that Kelly will kick Hegseth’s *** in court. A federal judge has ordered Hegseth to file a response by Thursday of this week to show cause why the court should not issue a temporary restraining order. It is possible that a federal judge will shut down Hegseth’s administrative proceeding against Mark Kelly this week.

As congressional Republicans desperately search for a way to extend healthcare subsidies without looking like they caved to Democratic pressure, Trump is threatening a veto of any bill that extends subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums. At a time when affordability is dominating domestic politics, Trump is doing everything to remind people that he is rich and they are not. See Newsweek, Donald Trump Threatens To Veto Obamacare Subsidies Bill.

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Trump administration from cutting off day care subsidies to five states (California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York). The administration did so because it said it “had reason to believe” that some of the payments to day care centers were fraudulent. Of course, the federal government has an entire agency that exists to identify and prosecute fraud—the DOJ. Trump’s decision was based on political retribution and will be overturned. See The Guardian, Federal judge blocks White House freeze of childcare subsidies in Democratic states.

The scandal over the US military’s killing of two survivors clinging to an alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela has become disturbingly worse. The killing of the two survivors seems like a clear violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and international criminal laws banning war crimes. But on Monday, the media reported that the aircraft that fired the missiles was disguised as a civilian plane. Such tactics are war crimes. See NYTimes, U.S. Attacked Boat With Aircraft That Looked Like a Civilian Plane. (Gift article, accessible to all.)

Per the NYTimes,

The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs . . . . [¶]

The nonmilitary appearance is significant, according to legal specialists, because the administration has argued its lethal boat attacks are lawful — not murders — because President Trump “determined” the United States is in an armed conflict with drug cartels. [¶]

But the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, then attacking and killing them. That is a war crime called “perfidy.”

And, of course, the DOJ is lagging seriously behind in complying with the obligations imposed by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Indeed, the DOJ has “gone quiet” in its production efforts, hoping that the media and the people have forgotten about the ongoing efforts by the administration to conceal Epstein’s crimes and the identity of the co-conspirators. The failure to produce the Epstein files is a political liability that will not age well for Trump. He thinks that time (and delay) is his friend; it is, instead, his enemy. The documents will eventually be disclosed, and the long delay is seen as evidence of guilt.

And for all Pam Bondi’s corrupt loyalty to Trump, he is getting ready to dump his private attorney masquerading as Attorney General. See WSJ, Trump Has Complained About Pam Bondi Repeatedly to Aides. (Gift article, accessible to all.)

Per the WSJ, Trump has increasingly complained to aids about Bondi’s inability to quickly prosecute and lock up his political enemies:

Chief among his grievances is what he sees as Bondi’s failure to quickly and effectively prosecute the investigators who had pursued him for years, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, the officials and others familiar with his complaints said. [¶]

Trump has also complained frequently that Bondi’s handling of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has created months of political and personal headaches for him . . . .

Finally, Trump’s obsessive focus on immigration is turning his supporters away in droves, including young men in the 16-to-29 year-old range. See MSNow, New poll finds key group behind Trump’s 2024 victory is souring on the president. (“The new poll showed that 25% of young men who voted for Trump in 2024 now say that if they had to do it over again, they wouldn’t cast their ballot for him.”)

There is more, but you get the point . . . . Trump can proclaim himself “Acting President of Venezuela,” (that is NOT a joke), but it won’t do anything to repair his cratering favorability ratings in the US.

So, should we ease up? Absolutely not!!! Indeed, the Trump administration’s response to the killing of Renee Good has been to ramp up the Gestapo-like tactics employed by ICE agents, who have begun “house-to-house searches” that violate the most basic precepts of the Fourth Amendment. More in Concluding Thoughts.

Opportunity for Reader Engagement.

I will be moderating a special livestream conversation with Latino Victory and Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa — Democratic candidate for Governor of Texas — on Tuesday, January 13 at 12:00 PM ET.

We’ll introduce Gina Hinojosa as a candidate and as a governing leader — why she’s running, what she believes Texas needs right now, and what it looks like to make the case for a new direction in a state that sits at the center of national fights over immigration, civil rights, and democratic norms.

I hope you’ll tune in. As always, you can subscribe to Latino Victory’s substack here. If you’d like to learn more about Gina or support her campaign, you can do so HERE.

Quick plea for help from an audio technician.

Well, this is embarrassing, but I need to ask for 30 minutes of advice from an audio technician. Long story short, I disconnected my soundboard to transport it to a rally. When I reconnected it, it “drops” the volume every 10 seconds or so. I have spent several hours trying every recommendation on the internet, with no luck.

I use a RÖDE Class A Servo Biased pre-amp. I use Audacity to record the audio, which I then upload using Substack’s native audio platform.

If you think you can help me without telling me I am a complete idiot, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Please write to me at rbhubbell@gmail.com with the subject line “Audio help” or “I don’t think you are a complete idiot.” Thanks!

Concluding Thoughts

Last weekend’s protests must be a baseline for future demonstrations. And “mass actions” should not be restricted to weekends. As noted above, ICE agents have begun door-to-door searches in Minneapolis that violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable search and seizures and the requirement of a warrant based on probable cause.

As videos emerge of ICE agents with guns drawn entering homes with children, they will offend nearly every American with a home, children, or a desire not to be shot by out-of-control ICE officers. As with the killing of Renee Good, the risk of another tragedy is a near certainty.

ICE learned the wrong lesson from the killing of Renee Good, so we must not relent in telling our political leaders that it is time to rein in ICE. Our presence in the streets is the clearest signal we can send to our elected representatives.

We face another opportunity to revise the Big Ugly Bill when the current continuing resolution expires on January 30. Funding for ICE and DHS must be on the table. And Democrats in Congress must be prepared to stand for something other than continuing to fund the lawless regime of Donald Trump.

Our voices matter! That is why they are trying to intimidate us into silence. They will fail—and we will succeed. It is just a matter of time, so long as we do not give up!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Pro-democracy protest photos.

Hi Robert—I love that you post protest photos every day. They often bring tears to my eyes and give me hope.

Here’s one I took in El Cerrito, CA, of the altar for Renee and all who have died at the hands of ICE over the last year. The person who organized the vigil read each name, and we all responded, “Taken too soon.”

Berlin, MD, yesterday. We had over 70 people! Not bad for a historically red county on the far eastern shore of MD (Andy Harris is our representative- hopefully that changes in 2026!).

Our town, Winchester, MA, had not planned any demonstrations and referred us to local towns. I organized this group, and we protested. The number of honks was gratifying. As we are not likely to show up in any official report of national participation, to whatever numbers get published, add 7!

Here’s a picture I took of my partner at a Renee Good Vigil/Anti Ice Rally in Needham, MA, yesterday, where we gave out 60 of our Resistance Bracelets

Hopewell, NJ, where we have been holding Democracy on the Corner every week since April. Our usual attendance is around 30, although we’ve had as many as 80 (our official Borough population is under 2000). For Saturday’s ICE OUT demonstration, I learned there were over 150 people.

I somehow wanted our protest to be included in the taliie

Manhattan, NY

Borrego Springs CA

Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, January 10. About 50 people showed up and stood in the rain for an hour. Consistently positive support from passing motorists.

We can see and hear the tide turning.

We had many new people at our 3 bridge standouts this weekend - people needing to stand up together and been seen. And they were rewarded with msny people needing to be heard, honking their horns and flashing their lights. We had more 20-somethings with us this weekend than ever before.

We had over 400 people in Dallas for our Visibility Brigade, backing up traffic in both directions. Lots of honks and waves of support.

Newtown, PA.

Pittsfield, MA, protest organized by Stand Up, Berkshires, local Indivisible groups, and Greyrock Together. Organizers said that more than 400 attended on a clear but chilly day in the heart of the Berkshires. I wasn’t able to get a picture of the best sign I saw, which said, “What crimes get you deported and which crimes get you elected president? I’m so confused.”

Thanks to the five Indivisible groups in Delaware, more than a dozen ICE Out for Good actions took place all over Delaware this past weekend. These photos are from Indivisible Highland and Beyond’s Honk and Wave on Sunday in Wilmington that turned out more than 600 community members - and generated thousands of enthusiastic honks.

January 10 and 11 protests at Eastville, Virginia, traffic light, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Saturday, we had 415 honks of encouragement in an hour. Thank you for continuing to motivate me and others.

Interstate 80 overpass in downtown Reno

An estimated 1,200 people at this ICE Out for Good protest / vigil in Carson City, NV

Berkeley, CA

There were two days of pop of overpass actions on a pedestrian overpass over Highway 80. On Saturday, there were over 300 people, which is huge considering there are usually about 10! The Sunday action was also in the 100s.

A small but mighty crowd protested in Los Feliz yesterday. The percentage of supportive honking cars has always been solid at our protests, but it was definitely at its peak yesterday.

On 2 days’ notice in Rio Vista, CA (pop. 10K), over 100 people showed up for the ICE Out For Good protest. A brief vigil was held prior to the protest.

There were about 12 people at a small but mighty Ice Out for Good protest in 30-degree weather in Mammoth, CA. I was honored to be there and be part of the group.

State College, Pa.,the state that sent the second largest contingent to the January 6 th insurrection. I joined this overpass group yesterday. We had many horn honks and thumbs up but a significantly large number of middle fingers, many hoisted by women leaning out of the passenger windows of vehicles driven by “their men,” and with both hands! It’s good to see the posting of the photos that you’ve done, as it helps grasp the overall effort that is being made. Thank you, as always,

We had a good turnout for the Ice Out for Good rally in Pittsburgh, Pa. Themarch past the DHS/ICE office was done in silence in memory of Renee Good.

Here are a few Robert Dominy photos from our large ICE Out For Good protest - we had well over 3X the usual weekly protest folks. Very energetic and determined.

Pasadena, CA (Civic Sundays)

Julian Indivisible with our 200 members had a record turnout of 40 people yesterday for our weekly rally. Even though we had 45 mile an hour gusts of wind to stand in, we were there!

Seattle, WA

Here is a photo of a few members of our Bay Area MVP Hub out at a protest in honor of Renee Good at Lake Merritt in Oakland. The Hub that protests together, stays together! We are laughing at something silly because if you don’t laugh…the urge to cry is too strong.

Here are photos from our street ICE Out For Good Santa Barbara (CA) protest last Saturday morning, January 10.

Attached are more photos from Freeport, Maine, Visibility Brigade: Ice Out For Good:

Eugene, Oregon.I recruited a new friend to help on the bike bridge this evening rush hour. People are hungry for this, and some honk even before the banners are unfurled. Never again…is now!

Jamestown, RI

Boulder, CO

Below are two photos from the large ICE out protest and march held in Minneapolis on Saturday. The police unofficially estimated the crowd at tens of thousands of people. I have included two photos to better show the size of the crowd… There were people in costumes, a large inflatable heart in the distance, and people carrying renderings of Renee Good (orange signs). The temperature was in the low 20s.

Daily Dose of Perspective

The Orion Nebula is a “stellar nursery” located about 1,340 light-years from Earth. It is one of the brightest deep-sky objects visible from Earth and can be seen through a good pair of binoculars with 8x or 10x magnification. It is high in the sky on Orion’s belt in mid-January, so try to catch a glimpse while you can.

The Orion Nebula is surrounded by hundreds of stars, which sit between the observer and the nebula. To present the beauty of the nebula, I have “removed” the stars from the photo below. There are other flaws in the photo (overexposure), but the photo is what I can accomplish while also writing the newsletter. I enjoy the image, I hope you do, too!

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