The Daily Wrap Up

5 Jan, 2026

[Transcript edited for clarity, flow and length ]

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Happy New Year. It is very good to be back. We spent New Year’s in London, which is a beautiful place to be this time of year. They truly know how to do holiday lights. It was a great trip, flight delay notwithstanding. I spent time with wonderful people, stayed in a lovely place, and had some genuinely fascinating experiences. The only real mistake I made was accidentally checking the news one day. Apparently, while we were gone, we took over Venezuela.

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As part of this development, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken into custody. I am guessing illegally. The two appeared in federal court today in Manhattan, where both pleaded not guilty to charges including narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Maduro told the judge that he had been kidnapped and described himself as a “prisoner of war.” I am not sure about the latter, but “kidnapped” has a certain ring of accuracy. His lawyer said the defense would challenge what he called a military abduction.

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, part-time Secretary of State given the number of roles he apparently occupies, denied that the Trump regime’s actions in Venezuela mirror the Bush administration’s failed tactics in the Middle East, specifically Iraq. This is the same Marco Rubio who is also, reportedly, full-time in charge of the Diet Coke button in the Oval Office. He is a busy man. In response, Representative Pat Ryan appeared on CNN and directly rebutted Rubio’s claims. He had this to say.

Pat Ryan: The same things were said. I remember it was a cadet at West Point in the lead-up to the war in Iraq. The same things were said about Vietnam when comparisons were made in a similar way. It is such chicken hawk BS from Rubio, who has not served a single day in uniform, to dismiss that as a phobia. You want to tell that to my friends on this bracelet that I lost in combat? You want to tell that to the innocent Iraqis who were killed? You want to tell that to the Venezuelan people who are saying, ‘We’re glad Maduro’s gone, as am I, but what the heck is the plan afterwards? And are we just going to hand this to another dictator who is going to do the will of our increasingly authoritarian president in Donald Trump?

There is no plan. That is the interesting part. Donald Trump did not even bother to lie to the American people ahead of time about why he was doing this. Typically, the process goes like this: you lie to Congress, convince them to go along, then lie to the American people, creating a sheen of legitimacy. I am not saying that is good. It is terrible. The invasion of Iraq was a crime against humanity, and the blood on the hands of the architects of that horror can never be erased.

This time, Trump did not even notify Congress. In fact, he likely informed the CEOs of major oil companies before anyone else. We know for a fact that he did not consult the Gang of Eight, the bipartisan group of congressional leaders who are supposed to be briefed on matters like this. This is not really about regime change. In fact, I doubt it is about regime change at all. Trump does not care about Maduro’s crimes. Trump does not care what Maduro does or does not do, past or present. After all, he just pardoned the former president of Honduras, a man who was tried and convicted of crimes far worse than anything Maduro is currently charged with.

So why pardon one and kidnap the other?

I am not entirely sure, but Trump clearly has personal grievances with Maduro. Perhaps it is because Maduro succeeded where Trump failed. Maduro refused to concede an election he lost and stayed in power, whereas Trump had to wait four years before his coup finally succeeded. Incidentally, that anniversary is coming up tomorrow. Let’s start taking bets on how long it takes before January 6 becomes a national holiday.

It is also possible that pardoning the Honduran president was simply another signal from Trump that he does not appreciate it when justice prevails. This is part of a larger strategy. It is obviously about oil, yes, but it started with the bombing of boats in the Caribbean and the declaration that Tren de Aragua was a terrorist organization. That designation effectively gave Trump free rein to do whatever he wanted under the guise of justification.

At least 110 people have been murdered in the Caribbean Sea. Were they guilty of something? We do not know. Were they guilty of something that warranted the death penalty? We do not know. What we do know is that they were not tried, they were not convicted, and they were not sentenced. Dozens of people in Venezuela are now dead. They were killed as part of another egregious misuse of the United States military. The question, then, is when, if ever, Congress will stand up. Republicans will not. Will the American people finally look at this continuing lawlessness and the willful abdication of constitutional responsibility by Republicans in Congress and decide that these people must be replaced?

The Trump regime has now launched a massive federal law enforcement surge in Minnesota, and that is no accident. Nearly 2,000 Department of Homeland Security agents are being deployed to Minneapolis and St. Paul. The operation includes heavy involvement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This crackdown has fueled fear and protests, particularly within Minnesota’s Somali American community. That may be because Trump has repeatedly used grotesquely racist rhetoric about Somali immigrants. He has called them garbage. He has claimed Somalia is not a real country. He has deliberately softened the ground for hate crimes against Somali Americans.

This operation is being framed as both an immigration crackdown and a fraud investigation, as Minnesota faces intense scrutiny over long-running fraud schemes involving federally funded programs. Prosecutors have charged more than 90 people and estimate losses in the billions. Consequently, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has announced that he will not seek a third term. That outcome is appropriate if Walz played a role, knowingly or not. However, the scandal is also being used as an excuse for Trump to terrorize yet another vulnerable community, because under his leadership, racism is once again socially acceptable in America.

One of the most devastating things Trump has done to this country is give people permission to be their worst selves. He has made cruelty, racism, misogyny, anti-trans bigotry, homophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-immigrant hatred something people no longer feel compelled to hide. Instead, they are encouraged to be open about it and even proud of it. That degrades all of us.

How many days has it been since 2026 began? Five. That seems impossible, doesn’t it?

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