Did President Trump chicken out in Davos? We’re still waiting for details on his “framework” for a deal that so far looks much like the deal the US has had with Greenland and Denmark since 1951. [Scroll down for •Ukraine-US-Russia talks •Jack Smith’s House Judiciary testimony]
FRIDAY 1/23/26
Finally, Trilateral Peace Talks …? — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with US and Russian officials in the United Arab Emirates Friday for two-day, first-ever trilateral negotiations over the war in Ukraine as it nears its fourth year, per multiple reports. But even this meeting is in dispute, as Newsweek reports that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refused to confirm Kremlin participation.
The meeting between Zelenskyy, US envoy Steve Witkoff and (maybe?) Kremlin representatives in the UAE centers on one issue regarding the Russian-Ukraine war: Control of Ukraine’s Donbas Region.
Trilateral talks were scheduled after Zelenskyy’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he cited the movie Groundhog Day in criticizing the European Union for failing to take decisive defensive action and imposing economic sanctions on Russia.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech by saying Europe needs to know how to defend itself,” Zelenskyy said, per The Kyiv Independent. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed. I am forced to say the same words again.”
Zelenskyy met with President Trump on the sidelines after his speech, to set up the trilateral meeting.
Meanwhile… European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU and US are close to an agreement for a five-part, $800-billion postwar “prosperity plan,” Ukrainska Pravda reports.
The five parts of the plan are:
- Productivity
- Ukraine’s integration into the EU market
- Investment
- Strengthening European Integration
- Reforms
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Jack Smith Goes to House Judiciary – Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) began the House Judiciary Committee hearing with former special counsel Jack Smith by repeating a familiar complaint (per USA Today).
“It was always about politics,” Jordan said of Smith’s investigation of the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. “And to get President Trump they were willing to do just about anything.”
Smith, who concurrently had also investigated Trump’s possession of confidential government files at Mar-a-Lago after his first term, said; “When people told him things that conflicted with his staying in power, he rejected them, or he chose not even to contact people like that.” –TL
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Trump's World Order -- THURSDAY 1/22/26
Gitmo North? – “Owning” rather than “leasing” some portion of the world’s largest island for the purpose of permanent US Military operations including the north end of a Golden Dome for defense is not quit the same as holding 45 square miles on the southeast end of Cuba. But the deal President Trump indicated hours after his 70-minute+ speech Wednesday to the World Economic Forum in Davos does have that ring to it.
That framework for the deal, or compromise, comes after North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials separately discussed the possibility of the US acquiring sovereign land for its military bases, three senior officials told The New York Times.
“It’s a really long-term deal,” Trump told reporters Thursday (per BBC) … “Infinite.”
The Market … The stock market arguably is more important to Trump than US gross domestic product or inflation or employment numbers. Analysts and pundits are pointing to the market’s reaction Tuesday to anticipation Trump would claim Greenland at Davos and end NATO as we know it for his apparently softened deal. The European Union had threatened its “trade bazooka” to retaliate for Trump’s latest tariff threat on Euro nations that refused to give in to his desire to take over Greenland.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Averages plunged by 871 points. On Wednesday, with a US Military attack on Greenland and the EU "bazooka" off the board, the Dow roller-coastered to finish the day up 589 points.
•••
Fed Governors Safe? – The Supreme Court “seemed likely” to block President Trump’s attempt to immediately fire Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud, according to NPR’s Nina Totenberg. All nine justices expressed doubts in their questioning of Trump’s claims of absolute power, Totenberg reported on All Things Considered Wednesday.
The president Truth Socialed on his social media outlet last August he could fire Cook over the allegation of mortgage fraud floated by the administration’s director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte and is widely seen as part of Trump’s attempt to take control of the Fed’s interest rates authority.
•••
Board of Peace Signs 21 – President Trump held a signing ceremony for his United Nations-challenging Board of Peace in which 21 countries signed on for a deal in which the first three years will be free.
“Everybody wants to be part of it,” Trump said Thursday, according to the BBC.
Not quite true. Leaders of five countries say they will not sign on.
Countries that have joined (so far), according to The Associated Press:
•Argentina
•Albania
•Armenia
•Azerbaijan
•Bahrain
•Belarus
•Bulgaria
•Egypt
•Hungary
•Indonesia
•Jordan
•Kazakhstan
•Kosovo
•Morocco
•Pakistan
•Qatar
•Saudi Arabia
•Turkey
•United Arab Emirates
•Uzbekistan
•Vietnam
The Upshot … If all these countries choose to re-up after three free years, after the end of Trump’s current presidential term at $1 billion, that’s $21 billion to the board. Unclear right now where that $21 billion would go.
Countries that have said “no” to the Board of Peace (so far), according to the AP:
•France
•Norway
•Slovenia
•Sweden
•The United Kingdom
--TL
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Owning Greenland -- WEDNESDAY 1/21/26
Taking Back Greenland – The US should never have given Greenland back to Denmark after saving both from the Germans in World War II, President Trump said in 70+ minutes of rambling MAGA-rally style remarks made to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday. It will be a key part of the president’s plan for a “golden dome” over North America that will be much like the strategic military defense dome the US put together over Israel, he said.
But …
“I won’t use force,” Trump said.
The US pays for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and until Trump became president and pushed European nations to kick in 5% of their gross domestic product, has never gotten anything in return, he said. [The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact notes that the only time NATO’s Article 5 was invoked came after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US – NATO troops, including troops from Denmark, fought with the US in Afghanistan.]
“All we’re asking for is Greenland,” Trump said, adding that the US needs pride of ownership and not just a lease.
“Who wants to defend a lease agreement?” said the president who loves to build things. “All we want from Denmark is this land on which we’re going to build the greatest Golden Dome ever built.”
At that Trump took a swipe at Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying the Golden Dome would be a “freebie” for Canada’s defense.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said.
“Remember that Mark, next time for your statements.”
In his address to the Economic Forum Tuesday delivered in both French and English, Prime Minister Mark Carney said “middle countries” like Canada must move on from “economic integration” with global leaders such as the US.
With references to a 1978 speech by then-Czech dissident Václav Havel, who went on to lead the Velvet Revolution and become Czech president after breakup of the USSR, Carney said: “You cannot “live within the lie” of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination. … As a result, many countries are drawing the same conclusions. They must develop greater strategic autonomy: in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance, and supply chains.” (Per Canada’s National Post.)
Citing an inflation rate of 1.6% (the Consumer Price Index was +2.7% in December), gross domestic product growth of 5.4% (it was +4.3% in the last quarter) and a 77% slash in the federal deficit, much of Trump’s speech centered on his oft-repeated claim that “Just over one year ago under radical left Democrats, we were a dead country. Now we’re the hottest country.”
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Hot Year for Trump Family – Donald J. Trump and his family made $1,408,500 off his presidency in 2025, The New York Timeseditorial board estimated Tuesday. That’s equal to 16,822 times median US household income.
It consists of “at least” $23 million from licensing the Trump name overseas, more than $28 million from Amazon for a documentary on Melania Trump, $90.5 million from X-Twitter, ABC News, Meta, YouTube and Paramount for lawsuit settlements and at least $867 million off various cryptocurrency companies. It also includes the $400 million Boeing 747 Qatar has gifted Trump, which he personally will use after he leaves office in 2029.
How much Trump and his family might make for $1 billion payments by countries wishing to extend their membership in the Board of Peace after three free years is TBD. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa