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Thursday, January 29, 2026
Trump’s Revenge Tour
Trump’s Revenge Tour: FBI Raids, War Threats, and Mocking Disabled Veterans
In 24 hours, the administration showed us exactly who they are: vindictive, reckless, and without a plan beyond settling scores.
If anyone wants to understand what Donald Trump’s second term is really about, look no further than the last 24 hours. Three stories. Three perfect examples of an administration that has abandoned any pretense of governing in favor of pure, unfiltered revenge against anyone who dared to hold them accountable after 2020. Thom Hartmann breaks it all down for us.
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The FBI Raids Georgia
On Wednesday, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Fulton County election center in Georgia, seizing every ballot from the 2020 election. An election that happened more than four years ago. An election that has been counted, recounted, audited, investigated, and certified dozens of times over. An election where every single claim of fraud has been thoroughly debunked by Republican election officials, courts, and independent experts.
But Donald Trump has never gotten over losing Georgia. And now that he’s back in power, he’s using the FBI to investigate his own conspiracy theories.
The search warrant authorized agents to seize all physical ballots, ballot images, voter rolls, and tabulator tapes from 2020 as part of an investigation into violations of federal election laws. There is no evidence of any violations. This is the Justice Department treating the fever dreams of a defeated candidate as legitimate grounds for criminal investigation.
Here’s where it gets even more suspicious: the prosecutor listed on the warrant isn’t from Georgia. It’s the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri. What does Missouri have to do with Georgia’s 2020 election? Absolutely nothing. Unless the administration is shopping for prosecutors willing to do Trump’s bidding.
This comes just one month after the Trump administration filed a civil lawsuit against Fulton County. Now they’ve escalated to a criminal investigation. This is what revenge looks like when it’s backed by federal power.
Trump Threatens War With Iran (Without a Plan)
While FBI agents were boxing up ballots in Georgia, Donald Trump was on Truth Social threatening war with Iran. “A massive Armada is heading toward Iran,” Trump posted, demanding the country make a deal or face an attack “with speed and violence.”
What deal? What are the specific terms? Trump didn’t say. But U.S. officials report the administration has made three sweeping demands: Iran must permanently end all uranium enrichment, accept limits on ballistic missiles, and cut off all support for proxy groups. These are maximalist demands that Iran has rejected for decades.
The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, along with bombers and fighter jets, is now positioning within striking distance of Iran. Trump explicitly compared this buildup to the forces he amassed before seizing Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
But here’s what’s missing: any mention of the Iranian protesters who took to the streets in December. Trump promised to support them. He’s barely mentioned them since. Because this isn’t about human rights. This is about projecting strength and changing the subject from domestic scandals.
Trump is an erratic president playing with military force like it’s a prop for his reality show.
JD Vance Mocks a Disabled War Hero
Senator Tammy Duckworth was doing her job as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioning Secretary of State Marco Rubio about U.S. military action in Venezuela.
Senator Duckworth is a Purple Heart recipient who lost both legs and partial use of her right arm when a rocket-propelled grenade tore through her Black Hawk helicopter over Iraq in 2004. Despite her catastrophic injuries, she served another decade in the Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
For asking tough questions, JD Vance compared her to Forrest Gump. “Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,” Vance wrote on X.
The Vice President of the United States mocked a disabled combat veteran for exercising congressional oversight.
Senator Duckworth’s response was devastating: “Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs.” She was referring to Trump’s multiple draft deferments, including a questionable medical exemption for bone spurs.
Duckworth continued: “Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price. It’s my job to hold you accountable.”
And that’s the point. Senator Duckworth was questioning the administration’s military adventurism. For that, she was mocked for her disabilities by the second-highest elected official in the country.
This Is About Revenge, Not Governance
These three stories aren’t isolated incidents. They’re part of a clear pattern of an administration that has abandoned governing in favor of settling scores.
The FBI raiding an election office to investigate debunked conspiracy theories. The President threatening war without diplomatic strategy. The Vice President mocking a disabled war veteran for asking legitimate questions.
Donald Trump spent four years after 2020 claiming the election was stolen. He was investigated. He was indicted. And now that he’s back in power, he’s using every lever of the federal government to exact revenge on everyone who held him accountable.
Fulton County wouldn’t “find” his votes? Send in the FBI. Need to change the news cycle? Threaten war with Iran. A senator asks tough questions? Mock her disabilities.
There’s no governing philosophy here. No coherent policy agenda. No strategy beyond punishing enemies and rewarding loyalists. Just an erratic president with unchecked power, a compliant Justice Department, and a very long enemies list.
Today it’s Fulton County. Tomorrow it could be any county where election results don’t favor the president. Today it’s threatening Iran. Tomorrow it’s another military adventure started on a whim. Today it’s mocking Senator Duckworth. Tomorrow it’s any member of Congress who dares to fulfill their constitutional duty.
This is not normal. This is the systematic dismantling of checks and balances, the weaponization of federal power against political enemies, and the use of military threats to distract from domestic abuses.
The only thing that stops an authoritarian with unchecked power is a citizenry that refuses to accept it. Trump is showing everyone who he is. The question is: what will Americans do about it?
REED GALEN
Historians can debate whether President Donald Trump was the cause, or the accelerant of American decline. He’s some of both, but more akin to the pneumonia a chronically or terminally ill patient contracts when all other immune defenses have failed.
The American body politic was already sick when Trump came on the scene a decade ago. Like any good virus, he recognized weakness and has taken (so far) an unshakable hold on us. His infecting presence has sped up our collective descent - and we, the American people, will pay the price.
He and those around him, toyed with Pandora’s Box one too many times. The forces they’ve unleashed, here at home and abroad are now beyond their control. More frightening, they are beyond our collective control as well.
Definitions: Weakness
We must end the parlor game of discussing “Trump’s weakness” when discuss public opinion surveys. Too many people on this platform see 35% approval and take heart that the majority of the country opposes the administration. Trump sees that number and knows his core base is still, after all this time, still with him.
What’s more, HE’S NOT GOING ANYWHERE. Please stop with the clickbait headlines of his health and mental derangement. Of course he’s nuts, he always has been. Of course he’s unhealthy, he always has been. Until and unless the Almighty intervenes, he is our reality.
His actions in the face of broad dissatisfaction again prove that he, of all people, has broken free of the normal bonds of political gravity. He is the unstable, teetering fulcrum around which the world spins, and for that, he’s spinning off bolts of chaos like so many tornadoes in a thunderstorm.
We must act accordingly.
At Home
If the death of two American citizens in Minneapolis this month isn’t enough to bring the country to a screeching halt, what will? ICE will continue its predatory actions, now expanded, per Tom “Where’s My Cutty Sark” Homan, to not just immigration enforcement, but to ‘national security threats’ as well.
Despite everything being more expensive (see more below) Trump announced he wants to spend even more money on military hardware, to the tune of $1.5 trillion. This, while Americans had to go without SNAP benefits last fall when the government shut down. This, while the national debt sits north of $38.5 trillion. This, while the American Dream is either dead, or according to many Americans, was never real to begin with.
As of this writing, the eastern half of the country is being blitzed by a second massive winter storm. In some places, such as Texas and Mississippi, the infrastructure is neither built for, nor capable of handling, such events. Given the cost of a single F-35 fighter is $80-$100, the government’s actions are not just chaotic, but in immediate need of a priority-reset.
Abroad
America as Post-World War 2 hegemon allowed us to dominate the largest and smallest of issues abroad. As citizens of the Empire, we enjoyed power, prestige, competitive wages, low prices, big cars, houses, and vacations in places we helped rebuild 80 years ago.
That order is at an end, even if the doctors haven’t called the time of death. At the World Economic Forum last week, leaders from Europe and Canada made clear they’re headed in a different direction. If Trump and the US don’t want the job of running the world, someone (read: China) will step into the vacuum.
Trump’s pining for Greenland, even after backing off, has appeared to convince other leaders and their citizens, it’s time to move away from the chaos agents in Washington, DC.
In Venezuela, we pulled a bad guy out of bed only to have his replacement be ‘good enough’ for now. Oil from Caracas has already stashed $500 million in a Qatari bank for…what purpose? And to whose benefit?
As I write this, Trump is planning to attack Iran, again. The stated reason is Tehran’s unwillingness to discuss its nuclear program. The subtext appears to be airborne regime change, which has never worked.
Surprise! Trump was a neocon in isolationist clothing all this time.
Americans will be less welcome. Our products and services will be less welcome. Instead of deep breaths and rolled eyes, we’ll stand in long lines at passport control and have our bags scrutinized at customs because, why not?
A Note on TACO
TACO, Trump Always Chickens Out, is a favorite barb of the online commentariat to needle the president for backing off when he gets into trouble. Running up to the line only to stop short is nothing new for Trump. What’s more, we should see TACO moments not as defeats but as tactical retreats.
If DHS moves Greg Bovino out of Minneapolis does that equate to a 180 degree change in their immigration policy? No. If Trump backs away from invading Greenland, does that mean he’s done with the ice pack? No, he just decided he didn’t want the fight right then.
When he backs away, we can take a cautionary breath, but understand TACO for what it is: A fleeting moment of reason that does not alter the course of the Trump Administration for long.
Downward Dollar
Maybe all those idiots hocking gold on Fox News every night were onto something. In the four weeks since the beginning of the year, the price of gold has jumped 18% $5,500/ounce. I’m no goldbug, but history teaches us that chaotic times push some people into ‘safe’ assets.
The dollar is at its weakest point since 2022. Trump said he didn’t care, which he doesn’t. The real-world impact is that a lot of things become more expensive, especially things that come from overseas. Add tariffs to the mix and the cost of living for average Americans remains high, to say nothing of putting money away for a home, retirement, or a kid’s college.
(Un) Certainty
When we wake up in the morning, we expect the light switch to work. We know that water will flow from the tap when we brush our teeth. The heater will click on, and the dogs will bark for their breakfast. Certainty allows us to make sense of our little world and the bigger world outside our walls.
But what happens when the lights don’t come on? Or mom doesn’t come home? Or the pink slip shows up? What then? We’ve taken our place in the world for granted and now Karma is taking her due.
We have been set on a path from which we won’t know the answer for some time.
JOYCE VANCE
Minnesota and Elsewhere
Today, more from Judge Schlitz in Minnesota. Last night, we read about his order in Juan, T.R. v Noem that the acting Director of ICE, Todd Lyons, would have to appear in court on Friday, in person, unless ICE complied with his order to either hold a bond hearing for or release the petitioner in the case, Juan. Subsequently, ICE released him. But that wasn’t the last word in the matter.
This morning, Judge Schiltz canceled the contempt hearing he had set for Friday, as he said he would if ICE complied with his earlier order. But he had more to say. He savaged ICE, justifiably, for how the agency has conducted itself, just in the last month and just in his court. The full passage is worth reading:
“Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated. This list is confined to orders issued since January 1, 2026, and the list was hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges. Undoubtedly, mistakes were made, and orders that should have appeared on this list were omitted. This list should give pause to anyone—no matter his or her political beliefs—who cares about the rule of law. ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence…ICE is not a law unto itself. ICE has every right to challenge the orders of this Court, but, like any litigant, ICE must follow those orders unless and until they are overturned or vacated.”
We have been, and with good reason, far more focused on ICE’s behavior on the streets of Minneapolis than its egregious, confrontational stance with the rule of law in the city’s federal courts. But both have reached a boiling point. Judge Schlitz wrote that additional violations would likely be met with additional contempt proceedings and orders for agency personnel to appear. The courts appear to have hit their stride.
Yesterday, Donald Trump whined about his unfair treatment: “If we get one person a little bit wrong, headlines,” Donald Trump said, in reference to the murder of Alex Pretti. Yes, Mr. President, that’s exactly how federal law enforcement works. Welcome to the serious responsibility of protecting people on the streets of America, where their lives and liberty take priority, and not just the people that you want in your tribe—everyone who is here, citizen or not. That’s how our Constitution and our rule of law work. If you violate court orders, there are consequences. If you trample on people’s rights, if your militarized agents kill American citizens, there are consequences. That’s something this president has only rarely had to deal with in the past, and it showed in the childish way he complained about being held to account when people have been killed.
Greg Sargent wrote last night that Trump doesn’t want to de-escalate tension on Minneapolis streets; he wants to “defuse anger among congressional Democrats,” but he has no intention of changing his policy objectives. “An administration official gave away the game to Punchbowl News, admitting that these “de-escalatory measures” are about placating Senate Democrats so they don’t seize this moment to demand restrictions on ICE as part of any government funding package.” As the clock ticks toward the Friday deadline, Trump is trying to use his stable of tried and true tactics to keep the Democrats from gaining the upper hand.
Today, Bruce Springsteen gave us an anthem. “We'll remember the names of those who died. On the streets of Minneapolis,” he sings.
As Trump continues to push his mass deportation agenda, it’s increasingly clear he’s not fulfilling campaign promises to remove violent criminals from American cities. Trump and Stephen Miller have been confronted with the fact that those cases were already being prosecuted by the Justice Department; they’ve always been a priority. The idea that there were plenty of cases lying around, undone in sufficient numbers to permit ICE to meet the massive arrest quotas they’ve established, has now been thoroughly debunked. In fact, the local outlet MPR News reported that DHS was overstating its accomplishments in Minnesota. Most of the people identified on a “worst of the worst” list released by DHS earlier this month, which they used to boast about ICE arrests in the state, had been transferred to ICE custody before Operation Metro Surge started in December 2025.
Civil deportation, the place where they’re trying to make up the numbers, is an entirely different matter. It doesn’t involve violent criminals—they’re already in custody and under prosecution for the most part. The civil proceedings ICE is largely using to detain people in Minnesota, and also in Maine, involve five-year-olds and grandfathers. It’s the “low hanging fruit cases,” people who are here without legal status but who are visible because they work in our communities and care for their families. It involves terrorizing school children. It does not make our communities safer; if anything, it leaves them worse off with absent workers, school kids, and community members.
ICE has become a parody, a stereotype of bad law enforcement. With each day bringing fresh outrages from an agency that is undisciplined in the field and receives no discipline from the top.
At this point, the predominant emotion so many of us are feeling is anger. Anger that people are being treated like this. Anger that our government is doing it. Anger that it’s doing it with our tax dollars.
Last night, Heather Cox Richardson wrote about one of those stories that just does you in, a five-year-old U.S. citizen who was deported with her mother to Honduras, a country she had never been to. They were denied due process before they were deported. They did not have a hearing before a judge or even access to a lawyer. ICE appears to have made efforts to conceal their presence from an immigration attorney who was looking for them prior to their removal from the U.S.
In Maine, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported that more than 200 people have been arrested since ICE came to Maine just over a week ago. Agents’ presence in two cities, Lewiston and Portland, has led “to fear among immigrant communities and the region broadly. The impact on public schools has been stark: districts in some of the cities targeted by enforcement say they’ve seen notable drops in attendance and widespread fear among immigrant families about sending their children to school.”
One of those children is Keyli Camila Espin Vaca. The Boston Globe reported that she “expected her mother to come pick her up after school on Friday, just as she always did. But her mother never came. Mayra Vaca Latacunga, 25, had dropped Camila off at the Biddeford Primary School that morning, then went to get groceries. Soon after, ICE agents stopped her car and requested her documentation, her brother said. She didn’t have it. The agents handcuffed her and transferred her to Massachusetts.”
Vaca Latacunga is a single mother from Ecuador, her daughter’s sole caretaker. The Globe reported that she did not appear to have any criminal history.
Vaca Latacunga isn’t the only one. Maine Governor Janet Mills said on “Morning Joe” on Monday, “They arrested a civil engineer who is working here in Maine. They arrested a mother of four children in front of her kids. What the heck, what does that prove? . . . These are people who are contributing to our society.”
Thank you for being here with me at Civil Discourse and for supporting independent journalism with your paid subscriptions. Hopefully, Civil Discourse gives you the opportunity to learn, to understand, to think for yourself, and to decide what the right course of action is. That’s civics education at work, and I’m grateful to be part of a community that believes it’s essential.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
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