Weekend Report: What’s going on?

A dangerous week ends in a big loss for Trump. Europe and NATO push back. Minnesota stands tall, provides blueprint for resistance even as brutally and horror continues.

Donald Trump humiliated himself—and all Americans—on the world stage at Davos after threatening to seize Greenland by force. Yet he not only backed down from that military threat; the “framework” he later announced that he negotiated to get Greenland amounts to nothing. There were no talks for the US to take Greenland, but instead discussion of what the US has always been able to do under a 1951 treaty with Denmark: build more US bases for security purposes. Trump got nothing, and certainly not the landmass he surely wanted to rename Trumpland.

That happened in part because Canada and Europe pushed back, making their own threats. Yes, Trump was freaked out by the market plummet and the GOP pressure, but Europe had its own powerful weapons. The positive outcome for the moment, however, doesn’t mean all ended fine. Trump, in this reckless threat, created a rift with Europe and NATO that has changed the world order. They can no longer trust him and the US. And who could blame them?

At home Trump faced the enormous resilience of the people of Minnesota, who organized massive protests and work strikes on Friday in temperatures of 10 below zero. Thousands came out. Schools closed, as did factories, plants, museums, restuarants, shops and many other businesses. Unions backed the work strike as people in cities across America joined in. Even as the violence continues today, Trump and the White House, according to reports, are worried that they have lost the narrative as public opinion has dramatically shifted and as Minneapolis offers another blueprint for the resistance to Trump.