If there was any question over whether Donald Trump was changing course and backing down in the face of public fury, that question has been answered quite clearly. He absolutely is not. Here’s a roundup of the most unhinged moments from the last 24 hours
15:33, 28 Jan 2026Updated 19:59, 28 Jan 2026
Trump is not backing down(Image: AP)
If there was any question over whether Donald Trump was changing course and backing down in the face of public fury over the killing of Alex Pretti, that question has been answered quite clearly. He absolutely is not.
Maybe it was a case of mass wishful thinking, but there seemed to be a real desire to believe in the early part of this week that Trump was somehow in listening mode, and that the wave of protests, hecklers and historically low poll numbers would lead to some kind of de-escalation in his shock and awful approach to his second presidency. It gives me no pleasure to tell you that there is no actual evidence this is the case. Perhaps the two-hour meeting with Kristi Noem and her top aide Corey Lewandowski after the Pretti shooting wasn’t to reformulate strategy, it was to pick a fall guy – Greg Bovino. The “productive phone calls” with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were stalling tactics.
Today, Trump is threatening Iran and posting on Truth Social warning Frey he is “playing with fire”. Last night he blamed Pretti for his own death, suggested he mainly felt bad about Renee Good’s death because her parents were Trump fans. He launched a racist attack on a congresswoman, who two hours later was attacked by a MAGA supporter who sprayed an unknown substance on her at point blank range. And he was joking – again – about holding on to the White House beyond his legal limits.
Trump isn’t making a u-turn, it’s barely a diversion.
Meanwhile, in Trumpworld
Watch out IranICE keep doing ICE things in MinnesotaSomething weird is going on with TikTokStephen Miller blamed for “domestic terrorist” lieHe blames Alex Pretti for his own deathA roundup of the Amendments Trump is tearing upIlhan Omar attacked
Here’s what you need to know
1. Well, that didn’t last long
Rumours of Donald Trump’s ‘de-escalation’ of the situation in Minnesota may have been greatly exaggerated.
Already this morning, he’s posted a warning to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, saying he is “playing with fire.”
“Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that, “Minneapolis does not, and will not, enforce Federal Immigration Laws,”” he wrote.
“This is after having had a very good conversation with him. Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!”
So much for turning down the temperature.
2. Watch out, Iran. An armada is coming
Trump says a “massive armada” is on its way to Iran.
“It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela,” he wrote.
“Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfil its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”
The big difference with Venezuela, of course, is that Trump didn’t do a big ol’ post on social media to tell Venezuela they were coming.
“Hopefully Iran will quickly “Come to the Table” and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties,” he continued. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
I expect the “armada” will arrive at its destination, I dunno, in about two weeks.
3. ICE tried to get into the Consulate of Ecuador in Minneapolis
ICE agents tried to force their way into Ecuador’s consulate in Minneapolis yesterday, in the latest example of “de-escalation” in Minnesota.
Staff prevented officers from entering the premises, pointing out they had no jurisdiction and were barred from entering without permission.
A note of protest was immediately sent to the US Embassy in Ecuador, warning them to quit it.
Content cannot be displayed without consent4. Giving TikTok to Trump’s golf buddies? What on earth could go wrong
Not nearly enough has been written about how consequential Trump’s power grab over TikTok could prove to be. As soon as he took office, he unilaterally delayed a court-ordered ban on the previously Chinese-owned social network on national security grounds. Now, whether or not you agree with the court’s decision to ban TikTok, Trump had absolutely no authority to overrule the decision with an executive order.
It took quite some time for a deal to be reached to hand control of the app and its data in the US over to a bunch of Trump’s golf buddies, but it finally came to pass last week.
And this week we’re seeing the consequences – with TikTok users finding themselves suddenly unable to find any content related to ICE raids around the country.
TikTok has blamed the “multiple bugs, slower load times or timed-out requests” on a “major infrastructure issue triggered by a power outage”.
5. Stephen Miller blamed for false ‘massacre’ claim
One of the weird things that happened within hours of the shooting of Alex Pretti was not just that Greg Bovino and Kristi Noem came out and branded him a “domestic terrorist” who indented to massacre police officers, but that they used almost exactly the same language to do so. Almost word for word.
Well, it’s possible there was a reason for that. Six people with knowledge of the situation told Axios it was Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller who came up with at least the narrative, if not the language.
One source said Miller had “heard ‘gun’ and knew what the narrative would be: Pretti came to ‘massacre’ cops.” The Department for Homeland Security posted a press statement at 12.31, and minutes later Miller posed on Twitter calling Pretti an “assassin”.
Miller, of course, has sought to lay the blame at the former desk of Himmler cosplaying fall-guy Greg Bovino, who was relieved of his job in charge of the Customs and Border Protection agency yesterday and reassigned back to the border.
“Any early comments made were based on information sent to the White House through CBP,” Miller told Axios.
While the blame game, reassignment and “investigation” have been taken as signs that a “de-escalation” is happening, it’s worth noting Miller has not deleted his tweet. Neither has JD Vance deleted his retweet of it. Nothing has really changed, and both the Deputy Prince of Darkness and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem live to fight another day.
6. A reporter asked Trump about Alex Pretti, he immediately went on the attack
A reporter for ABC News tried to ask Trump about Pretti being branded a “domestic terrorist” by members of his administration. His immediate response was to label her “fake news” and complain to those around him that she “hasn’t asked me a good question in years. I think a nice woman, but I don’t like her too much.”
Content cannot be displayed without consent7. Trump blames Pretti for his own death
When he did eventually answer the question, Trump stopped short of calling Pretti an assassin or terrorist. But he did almost entirely blame him for his own death, saying he “certainly he shouldn’t have been carrying a gun.”
“I don’t like that he had a gun, I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines, that’s a lot of bad stuff. And despite that, I’d say it’s very unfortunate,” Trump said while visiting a restaurant in Iowa.
Earlier in the day, Trump said: “You can’t have guns, you can’t walk in with guns.”
These remarks will come to some surprise to anyone who thinks he’s backing down or de-escalating. It will also come as a surprise to the National Rifle Association, the Republican Party and more or less anyone who has ever voted for Donald Trump. Not least of all to everyone who supported Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who attended a 2020 protest in Kenosha Wisconsin with an AR-15, shot three people, killing two of them – and was acquitted by a jury on all counts of homicide and attempted homicide. Rittenhouse was carrying the weapon illegally, having borrowed it from someone and carried it across state lines.
Pretti, on the other hand, was carrying his weapon legally, with a permit to carry, in a concealed-carry state and never drew his weapon.
8. Let’s count up the amendments Trump has ignored, broken or tried to get rid of so farFirst Amendment – Freedom of speech. There are many, many examples of people facing unconstitutional consequences for protected speech. They include targeting student protesters, who have faced deportation, his legal threats against lawyers who worked on cases relating to him during his period out of power, and his threats to media companies over personalities and articles he didn’t like.Second Amendment – Right to bear arms. See aboveFourth Amendment – Protection from unlawful search ad seizure. ICE has repeatedly been accused of stopping and detaining people without reasonable suspicion. They’ve admitted going “door to door” to try to smoke out undocumented migrants.Tenth Amendment – States Rights. A Minneappolis court is currently deciding whether the unprecedented invasion of Minnesota by about 3,000 ICE agents has become so intrusive and dangerous that it breaks the 10th, amounting to an illegal occupation of the stateFourteenth Amendment – Birthright Citizenship. Trump has been trying to get rid of this one since day one, and Republicans for decades. This is the part of the constitution that means anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. Republicans have argued this leads to what they horrifically call “anchor babies”, claiming women coming to the US illegally have children in order to protect themselves from deportation.9. Trump says he feels worse about Renee Good’s killing because her parents were fans
Donald Trump gave a pretty clear indication that he is only interested in what happens to people who like him in his interview in Iowa last night.
In an appearance on (where else?) Fox News, Trump said both the shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti were “terrible”, but that Good’s death made him feel “even worse” because his parents were “big Trump fans”.
He said: “Bottom line, it was terrible. Both of them were terrible; the other was terrible too. And I’m not sure about his parents, but I know her parents were big Trump fans, makes me feel bad anyway. But I guess you could say even worse, they were tremendous Trump people, Trump fans.”
He also speculated about Good: “I don’t know that you could say radicalised, maybe radicalised, maybe not. I don’t know, but I hate to see it.”
10. Definitely, definitely not a secret police force
If you were thinking those suggesting ICE were being set up as the Trump administration’s private, unaccountable secret police – a modern day Gestapo answerable only to Trump – were scaremongering, here’s something to chew on.
ICE will be deployed at the Winter Olympics later this month. In Italy.
The agency, which has been accused of welcoming poorly trained hot-heads into its ranks, not to mention former members of the Proud Boys, will be “supporting US Diplomats…to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations.”
Reports suggest they will primarily be operating as bodyguards for JD Vance and Marco Rubio while they are in Italy. Which is usually a job for the US Secret Service.
11. Ilhan Omar attacked at Town Hall event
Democrat congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who has been the target of repeated and viciously racist attacks from Donald Trump, was attacked by a man at a Town Hall event in Minneapolis last night.
As she was delivering remarks, a man stood up and sprayed an unknown substance on her from a syringe, before being tackled and arrested. He’s been charged with third degree assault.
It should definitely be noted that after she worked out what had happened, her immediate response was to charge at the guy with her fists up.
The man has been named locally, and appears to be a pretty hardline MAGA supporter.
Ms Omar insisted on finishing her remarks and continuing the town hall, saying: “We will continue. These f***ing a**holes are not going to get away with this.”
Note: This video contains strong language
Content cannot be displayed without consent12. A couple of hours earlier, this is what Trump said about Ilhan Omar
During a tear about immigrants in his speech in Iowa, Trump said: “They have to show that they can love our country. They have to be proud. Not like Ilhan Omar. Did you see that wiseguy? She is always talking about the ‘constitution the provides me with the following…’.”
He was doing some kind of impression of her voice.
“The constitution. She comes from a country that is a disaster. It is not even a country, ok? It barely has a government. I don’t think it does. They’re good at one thing: pirates.”
Content cannot be displayed without consent13. DHS tries to gaslight about the white supremacist song they keep posting
The New York Times asked Deputy DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin about the phrase “We’ll have our home again” being used in the department’s social media memes.
As regular readers will know, the phrase is the title of a song popular with white supremacist groups.
McLaughlin initially denied the phrase was related to the song, saying: “There are plenty of references to those words in books and poems.”
The reporter then pointed out that when you open the post on Instagram, it literally plays the song. McLaughlin doubled down, claiming it was a “left-wing conspiracy theory” and was “not there”.
Less than 40 minutes later, the Instagram post was deleted. The posts on Twitter and Facebook are still up.
Donald Trump’s unhinged latest as he blames ICE victim Alex Pretti for his own death