It took three days. Three days into 2026 for Trump to do something absolutely batshit crazy. Welcome to the first full week of 2026, and I’m already sorry about the news you’re about to read.
Political scientists today
— Melissa Baker (@melissabaker.bsky.social) January 3, 2026 at 9:18 AM
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Let’s start with the news that you’ve surely already heard. Late Friday night, President Donald Trump ordered the US military to disable the country’s air defense and capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. At least 80 people were killed, including a large part of the president’s security team. Shortly after the attack, Trump posted a photo of Maduro being transported, cuffed and blindfolded, to New York, and Trump announced that he now “runs” Venezuela.
Can we just… kidnap a president? Good question. Theoretically, Trump brought Maduro to New York to face drug trafficking charges: narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Marco Rubio claims that this was a law enforcement action, not a military one, which means it would require a smidge less congressional oversight. Meanwhile, Trump told Fox & Friends that everyone should stop their whining. “They should say, ‘Great job,’” he said. “They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh, gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’” The UN Security Council was called to emergency session on Monday morning to discuss the attack after UN chief António Guterres told ambassadors that the US had set a “dangerous precedent” for global order.
So why did Trump really do it? Oil. Venezuela has about 17 percent of the world’s untapped oil reserves, and Trump wants them. In a speech on Saturday from Mar-a-Lago, he told reporters: “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies—the biggest anywhere in the world—go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure.” Since the attack, he’s casually threatened Colombia, Cuba, and Greenland with a similar fate.
Don’t mistake this for a madman’s whim. This strike has been in the works for months. A team of CIA agents started tracking Maduro’s movements in August, and offered a $50 million reward for information that led to his capture, which paid off.
What about Venezuela? Secretary of State Marco Rubio keeps trying to claw back Trump’s claim that he now “runs” Venezuela, but Rubio is Charlie Brown, Trump is Lucy, and he’s not gonna let Marco kick that football. Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, has tried to offer to work with the US “on a cooperative agenda,” but Trump just reiterated that he’s “in charge” of the country.
What’s next? Maduro and his wife were reportedly brought to the federal courts in downtown New York to be arraigned on Monday morning. The New York Times has live updates here.
Walz Is Out: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced on Monday morning that he’s dropping his reelection bid, blaming the current political climate. “I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” he said. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota.” The MAGA-sphere has been obsessed with Minnesota for a few weeks now, after a video from right-wing influencer Nick Shirley went viral, claiming that there was widespread fraud in the state’s childcare facilities. This all seems to stem from an old 2022 indictment, during the Biden administration, in an alleged $250 million fraud scheme. And because some of those defendants were of Somali descent, it’s been catnip for Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric.
Hammer Time: A 26-year-old man brought a hammer to JD Vance’s home in Cincinnati and broke his windows. Vance and his family were in DC at the time, so the house was empty. But after Vance spent a news cycle mocking the Pelosis for the attack in their home, the internet is having a field day.
as I learned from our discourse, the responsible thing to do is to mock JD Vance and theorize this guy was his lover
— jesse (@jesseltaylor.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 7:12 AM
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Your Least Favorite Initiative Man Is Back: Tech millionaire Brian Heywood’s org, Let’s Go Washington, filed signatures for two anti-LGBTQ initiatives. One continues his obsession with the Parents Bill of Rights, restoring parts of the bill that were undone by the state legislature last year because they were illegal in Washington state. The other would bar trans girls from sports. Let’s Go Washington says they collected over 400,000 signatures for both initiatives, which, if certified, would be enough to put the initiatives in front of the state legislature when the session starts on January 12. No one’s asleep at the wheel, though. The Gender Justice League, SEIU 775, the ACLU-WA, and the state’s teachers union are all backing WA Families for Freedom, which is lobbying against the initiatives.
More Ferries Sidelined: Good luck getting to Kitsap this week. The Seattle-Bremerton and Seattle-Bainbridge ferry routes are both down to one boat. The Tacoma, one of the state’s biggest boats, was taken out of service over the weekend because of an issue with an oil tube. And last Thursday, the Walla Walla had to be benched because of a damaged propeller. Has anyone told the orcas that these aren’t yachts?
New Year, New Government: In case you missed it, Katie Wilson was sworn in as Mayor of Seattle on Friday in a packed ceremony at City Hall. But that’s not all! Today at noon, Erika Evans will take her oath of office. And tomorrow at 2 p.m., Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster will be sworn in.
The Seattle Times Has a New Blethen: On January 1, Ryan Blethen took over as publisher for the Times, following his father Frank’s retirement. He’s the fifth Blethen generation to run the paper. Frank famously shot his neighbor’s 11-month-old yellow lab with a pellet gun, so here’s hoping Ryan’s a different breed.
The End of an Era: There are only five Sears stores left in the country, and none of them are long for this world. The store that once sold the American Dream in the form of mail-order houses is expected to be sold off for parts as soon as possible.
A Song for Your Morning: This was a lot, so here’s a little groove out of PDX to help shake it off.
