Suddenly concerned about ICE

Republicans in tough races are suddenly concerned about ICE, too

Analysis by Aaron Blake

One of the surest signs that Republicans are quite concerned about the 2026 midterm elections is the sudden onslaught of them distancing themselves from President Donald Trump and his unpopular policies. They’ve called for an end to the Iran war, criticized his tariffs and removed Trump references from their website.

And now we can add another one to the list: They’re suddenly taking issue with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

And that includes some of the agency’s strongest allies.

An ICE enforcement operation in Kansas drew some concerned statements from both of the state’s GOP senators on Wednesday. And in Maine, congressional candidate Paul LePage is crying foul over what he said was the wrongful deportation of a family member.

The situation is Kansas is still fluid, but ICE appears to be targeting cities in the southwestern portion of the state with large populations working in the meatpacking industry. The enforcement actions drew statements urging care from both Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall – the latter of whom is perhaps the most surprisingly vulnerable GOP senator right now.

After local officials cried foul over the lack of coordination, and both businesses and schools struggled to deal with the upheaval, Moran and Marshall each issued statements urging ICE to coordinate better.

“When ICE operates in Kansas, it needs to coordinate with our local law enforcement,” Marshall posted on X. “Our sheriffs and police know these communities better than anyone, and working together keeps officers and residents safe.”

He added that he was “closely following what’s happening in SW Kansas” and has been in touch with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Marshall’s comments are particularly notable given his past commentary about ICE.

While Moran raised concerns about the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, Marshall went in a very different direction.

A week after Good was killed, Marshall told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “sometimes there’s collateral damage” and that “we could be just as easily talking about the death of ICE agents.”

Two days later, he told Fox Business Network that “we’re grateful for all the ICE officers in there risking their lives.”

He continued praising ICE in the months that followed and, in March, authored an op-ed defending how ICE carries out apprehensions.

The story is similar with LePage in Maine.

The former governor has a long history of strident immigration views, including criticizing asylum-seekers in his state as liabilities who bring disease and drain public resources.

And after an ICE agent shot and killed a man in Biddeford, Maine, in July, LePage cautioned that law enforcement are “often in situations where they have to make split-second decisions.” He also accused the other side of trying “to politicize this incident to try and perpetuate illegal immigration.”

But this week, LePage held a press conference where he accused ICE of wrongfully moving to deport his son’s father-in-law, despite his having a work permit.

LePage said the man is “being deported because he came from a country that’s not liked by certain people in Washington.”

“That’s not right,” LePage said.

He also called for ICE to focus more on “people in the gangs and criminals.”

The comments from Marshall and LePage come after some Republicans from heavily Hispanic congressional districts recently distanced themselves from Trump’s deportation policies.

That made sense for Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Monica De La Cruz of Texas, given polls showing Hispanics have swung hard against Trump over the past two years.

But it’s perhaps more telling to see this dynamic stretch into Kansas, which Trump won by 16 points in 2024, and Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which Trump won by nine points. And that’s especially given the prior rhetoric of some of the GOP lawmakers who are suddenly expressing concern.

Of course, as with the long-unpopular Iran war, the writing has been on the wall when it comes to Americans’ concerns about ICE and Trump’s deportations for a while now.

A July CNN poll showed three-quarters of Americans said ICE uses force inappropriately at least “sometimes,” including 54% who said it happens “often.” A Quinnipiac University poll at the time showed registered voters disapproved of ICE 60%-37%.

But elections have a tendency to make people suddenly notice problems from which they might have previously averted their gaze.

Evading preservation law

Trump admin to end key part of arch review, effectively evading preservation law

By Sunlen Serfaty

The Trump administration has said it will end a key part of a review assessing the impact of the president’s proposed triumphal arch, effectively evading the federal historical preservation law that has been in place since 1966.

The analysis, known as a Section 106 review, usually requires independent groups that have an interest or expertise in historical preservation matters related to a project to sign off.

However, on Thursday, the Advisory Council on Historical Preservation, the federal agency charged with overseeing the review, said it would terminate the consulting process, essentially giving up on reaching an agreement.

In a letter to the Interior department announcing the move, it said it would instead invite the consulting parties to “participate in a meeting with the ACHP to verbally provide their comment” before asking the Interior secretary for “a final decision on the undertaking.”

The change allows President Donald Trump’s arch to bypass a significant hurdle in the approval process for getting built, but is almost certain to launch lawsuits over the legality of ending the review.

It also lays bare the administration’s desire to fast track the project, blowing past objections from experts, legal questions and criticism from the public. The ACHP’s move creates a glidepath to position the arch for final approval in early November.

The letter drew immediate criticism from multiple consulting parties, who told CNN they had not been given sufficient time to evaluate and give input.

“This truly is boundary busting, said Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a DC-based nonprofit which is among the parties. The administration’s position that “somehow there has been a process is an outright lie,” he said.

The consulting parties – a group of experts, state preservation officers and municipal authorities – were only given two meetings for the Section 106 review, a process that typically plays out over many months for projects of the size and scope of the arch. The most recent meeting, in early September, ended without an agreement as the parties said they needed more information.

Moreover, Trump’s announcement this week that he intends for the arch to double as a “military complex,” represents a significant change in the overall plan for the arch and necessitates more review, Birnbaum added.

Greg Werkheiser, attorney with Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC, which has been involved in other lawsuits concerning proposed Trump projects, agreed.

“If we believe the president that he is turning his memorial arch into a military installation that stores ammunition and explosives, the Secretary of Interior will be permitting an entirely different project than the one the agencies and the public have been reviewing,” he said. “That’s a clear legal vulnerability.”

Questions over compliance with Section 106 of the National Historical Preservation Act have been at the heart of legal challenges concerning numerous projects Trump has sought to push through, including his proposed construction of a “triumphal arch,” putting his name on the Kennedy Center, the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and his proposal to take over the public golf course at East Potomac Park.

The administration has tried to reshape the process by seeking to rewrite its requirements and stacking the ACHP with Trump-aligned members, CNN previously reported.

CNN has asked ACHP and the National Parks Service, to which the letter was addressed, for comment.

The next step now rests with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who is expected to receive a request for his approval from the ACHP by October 7. And with his anticipated greenlight, the arch would be up for a final approval before the National Capital Planning Commission, the last step before breaking ground.

OpenAI’s agents

OpenAI’s agents breached Australian government data. Its human response may do more damage.

The company took weeks to notify officials. Canberra could now set another tech policy precedent — around liability for rogue agents. 

By Ryan Heath

OpenAI faces a reputational crisis in Australia that it is yet to grapple with and may not fully understand.

What happens in the aftermath of its agents breaching Australian government data will set the tone — and potentially provide a legal framework — for jurisdictions around the world as they determine what human guardrails are needed for increasingly powerful and autonomous AI.

The first publicly acknowledged breach of government systems by rogue AI agents will not be the last. Here are the company’s major missteps and what they mean both in Australia and across other major markets.

POLITICO sent a list of detailed questions to OpenAI and received a brief statement in reply acknowledging “misaligned model activity during training,” rather than direct answers.

OpenAI didn’t catch the problem for two months

The agents broke into a Services Australia system that contains Australian Medicare data on June 18 and attempted the same at three other Australian government sites, including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on June 20, and sites run by state governments in Australia’s two largest states.

The outcome was benign but the category of threat is not. “Time is really important in these situations: You don’t want these incidents to cascade,” Olivia Shen, director of the Strategic Technologies Program with the United States Studies Centre, told POLITICO. “This could have become like the Hugging Face incident where agents were colluding.”

Dominic Meagher, an economist at Australian National University, said that industrial safety legislation is a relevant reference point, because it not only includes a “duty to notify” as soon as a company becomes aware of an incident, it requires appointed safety officers and “places an obligation on every person at facility to ensure sufficient safety standards are implemented.”

OpenAI’s inability to see the problem and move quickly when it did has created a reputation cascade.

When OpenAI caught the problem, it failed to escalate appropriately

The company took around three weeks to tell the Australian government what happened, and missed multiple opportunities to inform ministers face-to-face about the incidents.

OpenAI chose to email a generic inbox of Services Australia as its notification method.

While OpenAI has not broken any laws in its notification approach, that email took the place of informing the public servants leading Services Australia and Katy Gallagher, the minister responsible for it.

OpenAI did not respond to POLITICO’s questions about how and why it shared information with the Australian government in this way.

OpenAI either knew who to call and didn’t; or it did not know who to call.

“They know exactly who to call,” Shen said, asking: “how did they think emailing a generic inbox was a way to build social license [for their services in Australia]?”

Shen said the debacle emphasized the need for more tabletop exercises — within AI companies, and in partnership with government — so that future serious incidents are handled better.

In between OpenAI learning about the breach and informing Services Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and the assistant minister in charge of AI policy, Andrew Charlton, visited OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco. They were not informed of the breach.

“What we would expect is that the government be notified in the most timely manner possible,” Marles told reporters in Sydney.

Ann O’Leary, OpenAI’s vice president for global policy, then conducted a lobbying tour of Australia between Sept. 13-15. She did not inform Australian ministers and other audiences of the incident.

The company may argue that O’Leary was unaware of the incident: ministers, MPs, senators and experts told POLITICO that line of argument would fuel their frustration.

O’Leary spoke at an event hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Sept. 14, where other speakers included Charlton, and Abi Bradshaw, the head of the Australian Signals Directorate — Australia’s equivalent of the NSA — who warned about the need for an AI “early warning system,” for prompt notification of the sort of incident that unfolded in June.

NSW Premier Chris Minns learned about the incident this week, from Australian officials, not OpenAI, he said.

“By all accounts, there has been no attempt by OpenAI to notify the NSW Government of the potential breaches of our state systems and databases,” said NSW Greens industry spokesperson Abigail Boyd.

Lack of public presence, lack of private penance

“After the NSW Government made such a huge song and dance about welcoming OpenAI to open an office in Sydney, you would have thought that someone in that Sydney office could have picked up the phone, or even walked just a few blocks and let someone know what had happened,” Boyd said.

When the news broke Thursday, Australian ministers conducted dozens of interviews with Australia TV, radio and print publications, with no response or public-facing spokesperson offered by OpenAI’s San Francisco, New York or local teams.

The timing was a disaster for OpenAI.

The Albanese government is increasingly framing its legacy as global digital policy leadership, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made AI guardrails and protecting children online the centerpiece of his involvement in the U.N. General Assembly.

The decision to announce the incident alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s U.N. Security Council testimony inflicted maximum exposure and damage on the company. Its flat-footed response recalls a litany of examples of big tech companies failing to take the concerns of governments and markets outside of the U.S. seriously. The examples range from the mundane, in this case, to the expensive (Apple bombed its response to a €13 billion tax bill issued by the European Commission in 2015), to the deadly: when Facebook fluffed its handling of its users spreading hatred in Myanmar, leading to accusations of genocide.

“It is breathtaking in what it says about an industry devoid of accountability and in urgent need of strong and enforceable laws to keep us all safe,” said a senior Labor adviser, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

What’s next for OpenAI?

Australia has gained a reputation for innovative digital policy — including teen social media restrictions and legislation to give platform users the choice to opt out of algorithmic feeds.

Now, via the taskforce set up to rapidly react to the OpenAI breach, loopholes that today may allow OpenAI to escape prosecution will be under close examination. That sets up the prospect of Australia setting a further global precedent: determining which humans are liable when a rogue agent causes harm.

“If a physical robot entered a Medicare office and broke into a safe, that would be a crime. Why is it that [when] a digital agent does this in a digital environment we treat that differently?” asked Shen, from the United States Studies Centre.

The longer-term risk is that trust in advanced AI is damaged, well beyond OpenAI’s own services.

Rebecca Skinner, former CEO of Services Australia told POLITICO: “Building confidence in the performance and activities of AI is important if the benefits of AI are to be capitalized upon — we need companies to work with the relevant authorities and have ongoing relationships to maintain confidence in the system.”

This combination of failures poses an uncomfortable question for the AI industry and its regulators: If an AI company can’t reliably know what its agents are doing, stop them when they cross a boundary, and promptly tell the affected party when they discover it — what does human control over autonomous AI mean?

Altman said at the U.N. Security Council that “we will all be better off … if we can agree on what good oversight looks like.”

He may be getting the answer quicker than expected, via government interference in the frictionless and low-regulation business model they prize.

Spaghetti Nebula

 The ghosts of five supernovas haunt this extraordinary image. It was acquired at Oukaïmeden Observatory in Morocco with approximately 200 hours of observations and shows a large patch of the sky, equivalent to the area of one thousand full moons tiled together, in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer). From left to right, the five supernova remnants visible across the field are G181.1+9.5, G182.4+4.3, G179.0+2.6, G180.0−1.7 (Sh2-240, the Spaghetti Nebula), and G178.2−4.2. They are highlighted in the annotated image, together with open cluster M37 and the Tadpole Nebula. As each explosion expanded into space, it created a growing shell of shocked gas and delicate filamentary structures shown in red (hydrogen) and blue (oxygen), respectively. These ancient stellar explosions happened independently; they are at various distances up to about several thousands of light-years away from Earth and have estimated ages up to tens of thousands of years old. Early humans may have witnessed them as bright new stars, fading over weeks or months.

A humpback whale falling onto a planet and going splat. Where have I heard that before????

A once-in-a-lifetime crater has appeared on the Moon! A comet or asteroid roughly the size of a humpback whale (approximately 10-20 meters, 30-60 feet) crashed into the Moon sometime between April and May of 2024. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), with its monthly monitoring of the Moon, captured today’s images of the lunar surface before and after the event. The resulting crater, named after Apollo-era lunar scientist McGetchin, is two soccer fields across. Craters of this size are only expected once every 132 years! Follow up thermal imaging revealed a large cold spot that surrounds the warm crater. Surface impacts will puff up the loose lunar sediment, or regolith, making it less dense and harder to retain heat. This event affected an area much larger than the visible crater, which will inform humanity’s understanding of surface impacts and the evolution of the Moon’s surface. It also reminds us all to be thankful for Earth's atmosphere.

Catch-all excuse............

‘National security’ is Trump’s catchall excuse as he tries to turn DC into a fortress

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf

The Trump administration is leaning into national security arguments to remake parts of Washington in line with the president’s fancy and to create a buffer around him.

Either the administration is legitimately worried about armed invasion, nervous about an attack at a time when the president has started one war and ordered the kidnapping of another country’s president, or it’s looking for justifications to spend taxpayer money on President Donald Trump’s pet projects.

The concept of national security is a catchall for presidential power. Trump has tried to use it to justify tariffs; deportations; extrajudicial attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats; and his expansionist designs on Greenland, among many other things.

Now, national security is turning the capital into fortress DC.

The ballroom is now a military complex

First, the East Wing demolition was rebranded from ballroom preparation to massive underground military installation. Security needs were meant to justify the approximately $400 million in taxpayer dollars requested for the project despite Trump’s previous promise it would be privately funded.

Troops will be in the streets for the rest of his term

The deployment of National Guard troops who mill around tourist areas has been extended through the end of Trump’s term, which will cost another $1.4 billion, according to one estimate the Pentagon provided to lawmakers. That’s on top of the hundreds of millions the move has already cost.

The triumphal arch will feature snipers and drones

Now the triumphal arch Trump wants erected will do double duty as a sniper’s nest, weapons cache and drone port, according to the president’s social media post.

The press corps is now a national security threat

The Justice Department is defending the president’s decision to expel reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House by arguing in court that stories about his ballroom project and the Iran war could amount to a national security risk. A court hearing is expected Wednesday.

There’s already a buffer around Trump and his White House

The executive mansion is one of the most secure locations on Earth, and it has had a fallout shelter and command center since the 1940s.

Presidents have long invoked national security to justify their actions and to expand their powers, in large part because the courts are reluctant to stand in their way on that subject.

And conservative Supreme Court justices bought in to the idea that a new East Wing must be built immediately for security reasons. A historically minded citizen has no cause to sue, they reasoned, in part because of the threat of attack.

From the court’s decision:

“The Secretary of the Army, for example, represents that ‘[t]he height and mass’ of the planned above-ground ballroom are ‘crucial’ to shield the planned underground military installation ‘from kinetic impacts,’ and that, without such height and mass, ‘engineers would need to dig impractically deep.’”

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s liberals in arguing the construction was likely unlawful. Without mentioning national security, he noted that Congress has not authorized the construction or authorized appropriations to pay for it, as required by law.

Fences to the north. Fences to the south

In addition to the military complex under the East Wing, the buffer around the building has grown, at least for the moment. The Ellipse to the south of the building has been closed since the UFC match over the summer, apparently to regrow grass destroyed at the event and also to construct a helipad. Down the street from the Ellipse, a large portion of the National Mall has also been closed until 2027 for turf and tree repair, according to the National Park Service.

Lafayette Square to the north of the building has been fenced off for fountain repair. But the Secret Service has kept the area closed as it proposes plans to permanently install fencing around the park, which free speech advocates argue should be maintained as a place for gathering and protest.

The park would reopen, according to Secret Service plans presented to the Commission on Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, but gates would make it easier to close again. Most recently, the Secret Service said the Ellipse and Lafayette Square should remain closed through the end of the month during a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

A sniper’s nest between a cemetery and a river

Rebranding the triumphal arch as a national security priority is the strangest riff on Trump’s frequent citation of national security to get things he wants.

Never mind that the site planned for the arch sits in the middle of a traffic circle in the middle of a highway between the Potomac River and Arlington National Cemetery with ample military sites, including the Pentagon and Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, nearby.

When plans were presented to the National Capital Planning Commission, which has been stuffed with Trump supporters, there were descriptions of public spaces rather than a military site. Apparently, the plans are changing, at least according to Trump’s social media post.

Trump on Sunday described the arch as “a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.”

That sounds like the kind of defensive capability needed to repel an attack rather than to maintain law and order.

Trojan horse or triumphal arch?

CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, noted that US law precludes the use of the military against US citizens, so who exactly are these snipers protecting the city against?

The DC police, the FBI and multiple other agencies have SWAT teams in the city, he said, which makes the need for a triumphal arch full of military gear confusing.

“It’s not much of a Trojan horse in that the cat’s out of the bag,” Miller told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Monday. “Anybody who would target Washington, who was a foreign adversary, would know what it was, what was in it, and where to hit.”

The arch would be 250 feet high, still safe for air traffic going into nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which recently gave approval for the arch, although its green light said nothing about military drones or snipers.

Let’s all hope the US is never at the point where military snipers are taking aim across the river from the top of a triumphal arch.

Pentagon spending is a priority

The administration has prioritized national security spending; Trump has promised a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield to protect the US from a potential missile attack. It is modeled on Israel’s Iron Dome, although the difference in scale between the US and Israel is making things difficult and the cost astronomical.

That defense shield is one reason Trump also wants to drastically increase military spending, ramping up to about $1.5 trillion, an increase of about 40%, although Congress has not yet approved the jump.

Washington has been attacked before

The British sacked the city in 1814. Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked commercial planes and flew one into the Pentagon in 2001. But the size and geography of the US make any type of siege against the city unthinkable. It was heavily fortified and encircled by military forts during the Civil War, when it was a main target of the Confederate army. President Abraham Lincoln even came under fire during a visit to Fort Stevens in the northern part of the city. Some of those forts have been turned into parks today.

The former estate of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, directly across the Potomac, which had been seized by the Union during the war, was bought by Congress and converted into Arlington National Cemetery, outside of which Trump wants to install the arch/sniper/drone complex.

Trump and some of his supporters have described the influx of immigrants to the US as an invasion, but there’s no evidence to suggest DC is in danger of attack. The question over whether the administration can use the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected gang members without a court hearing has been left unresolved as the people in question were ultimately deported under different authority.

But dangers faced by presidents frequently come from within

Trump has been the subject of assassination attempts, and in 2020, during his first term, he was rushed into the White House bunker during tense protests in Lafayette Square.

The fact of those threats is helping Trump to use the necessity of national security to get what he wants now, even if he didn’t make the argument until planning for his ballroom and arch were well underway.

It is to easy to make fun of stupid fat trump...

Trump’s been lobbing insults at Canada’s leader for more than a year. Now Carney is hitting back

Analysis by Lex Harvey

In May 2025, when President Donald Trump raised his well-worn threat of making Canada the 51st state to the country’s then-newly elected leader, Prime Minister Mark Carney replied calmly with a smile.

“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” he said, prompting a laugh from Trump, as the two leaders addressed reporters in the Oval Office.

The conciliatory tone Carney exhibited during that first meeting at the White House has largely defined his approach to dealing with Trump, even as the trade war between the long-time allies has deepened and the US leader’s attacks on Canada have intensified.

While Trump has lobbed insult after insult at the man he often calls “governor,” Carney has maintained a good-natured posture toward his US counterpart while advocating for Canada in trade negotiations and on the world stage.

But 18 months into Carney’s tenure, with trade talks once-again stalled and a flashy new alliance blooming with the European Union, the Canadian leader appears to be done taking the high road.

In a now-viral moment, Carney mocked Trump’s signature “accordion-style” hand gestures during a speech Friday to members of his Liberal Party in Ottawa.

Speaking about a major new clean energy deal, which Carney said was the “functional equivalent of 18 Hoover Dams,” he outstretched his hands, mimicking the Trump-style gesture.

“18 Hoover Dams,” Carney repeated with a knowing smile, prompting roucous laughter from the room.

The speech is a stark example of a broader tone shift by Carney, who in recent months appears to have become more comfortable poking fun at the US leader.

The change in tack, which comes as Canada has introduced retaliatory tariffs on the US following the collapse of trade talks in August, is a sign Carney may be moving away from a strategy of diplomacy and, at times, appeasement, which has not paid off.

“Carney has taken his fair share of insults from the President of the United States, and he’s now swapping his central banker caution for increasingly subtle but pointed shots at Trump,” said Fen Hampson, chancellor’s professor and co-chair of the Expert Group on Canada-US Relations at Ottawa’s Carleton University.

“I wouldn’t say the gloves are exactly off, but he’s loosening them.”

Carney, a career technocrat who was first elected to public office in 2025, is “developing a bit of a taste for the political punchline,” Hampson added.

From placating the president to poking fun

Carney first came to power with the goal of smoothing over the relationship with Washington, which had become fractious under his predecessor Justin Trudeau as Trump began threatening to annex Canada early into his second term.

Carney maintained this approach even as US-Canada relations deteriorated and the economic rift between the neighbors grew.

During a meeting in October 2025, Carney flattered Trump, calling him a “transformative president” and commending his efforts as a global peace broker, while Trump praised the prime minister as a tough negotiator and “world class leader.”

In seeking tariff relief for Canada, Carney capitulated to Trump by boosting efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking to the US — despite Canada making up just 0.2% of US border seizures of the drug — and dropping a planned digital services tax that would target US tech companies. He apologized to Trump for an anti-tariff ad that angered the US leader so much he ended trade talks.

Carney often appeared chummy with Trump, swapping seats with him at the G7 in France earlier this year when the president complained about having the “lowest chair.” He also publicly backed Trump on thorny foreign policy issues such as the US war in Iran.

And in May, Carney continued to preach the benefits of cooperation with the US, adopting Trump’s own language when telling business leader in New York that a stronger Canada will “make America great again.”

Meanwhile, Trump, known for lambasting his political opponents, intensified his attacks on Canada and its leader, repeatedly referring to Carney as “governor” or just “Mark”; calling him “nasty” and “ungrateful”; and even posting an AI-generated hockey meme of Trump standing over an injured-looking Carney on the ice yelling at him to “get up.”

Carney has remained mostly tight-lipped through Trump’s personal attacks. But in recent months, he’s shown he can dish it back.

Carney insists closer Canada-EU ties aren’t meant to create a US rival with ‘better manners’

He reacted sharply when Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth mocked members of Canada’s youth cadet program in a post to X, sparking backlash on both sides of the border.

“Stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough,” Carney told reporters, in a message directed at the Trump administration.

Carney exhibited this looser, blunter tone during his speech to European Parliament last week, after the trading bloc invited Canada to become its first “associate member,” prompting a fresh tariff threat from Trump.

“I’m not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival, only with better manners,” Carney said in Strasbourg, France.

Carney made another thinly veiled jab at the president in August, when his teleprompter conked out during a news briefing, saying “unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy.” (When Trump’s teleprompter failed at the United Nations General Assembly last year, he claimed it was “sabotage.”)

Getting under Trump’s skin

Eric Van Rythoven, a professor of political science at Carleton University, said Carney has introduced some “gentle mockery” into his diplomatic posture towards Trump.

“He did all that conciliatory diplomatic work, and it didn’t get him anywhere. So that calls for a new strategy,” said Van Rythoven, who researches the role of mockery in international relations.

“Trump is notoriously thin-skinned and extremely sensitive to any kind of disrespect,” said Van Rythoven — particularly from someone like Carney who is popular both at home and abroad.

Beyond irking Trump, mocking the US leader plays well for Carney domestically, said Imran Bayoumi, a deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

“The Canadian population is supportive of his approach to stand up for Canadian interests, even if that means breaking with the United States, its long-time partner and close neighbor,” he said.

In a recent poll by Canadian analytics firm Leger, 41% of Canadians said they now consider the US an enemy country, up 15 points from June 2025. Most (64%) said their opinion would change if Trump was no longer in office.

While it may get laughs, Carney’s new strategy toward Trump could signal an even icier era for relations, Van Rythoven said.

“The fact that you have a sitting prime minister who is openly mocking the US president marks a dramatic low point in the relationship,” he said.

Some analysts, however, say the words may not do lasting damage.

As a “reality show figure,” Trump is no stranger to personal dustups, which could make it easier for him and Carney to make amends, said Asa McKercher, Hudson Chair in Canada-US Relations at St. Francis Xavier University in Canada’s Nova Scotia province.

“He’s used to rough and tumble relations with other people,” McKercher said, citing how Trump has elevated people to his cabinet who once mocked him.

“Bygones could be bygones, a deal could be struck, and things could be patched up.”

I’m a fucking US citizen

‘I’m a fucking US citizen’: Man left injured after ICE mistakenly detained him, officials say

By Julianna Bragg

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents mistakenly detained a US citizen in a Chicago suburb Sunday morning, leaving him on the ground with various injuries, according to local authorities.

The man was found on the ground by police in Evanston, Illinois, after officers were dispatched around 9:49 a.m. over reports of two men arguing, Evanston Police Department said in a statement.

Several bystanders were helping the man, police said, and an ambulance was called after he reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth. Witnesses told officers they believed ICE agents were attempting to detain the man, who police identified only as an Evanston resident.

In cellphone video from a witness, a man can be heard saying “I’m a fucking US citizen.”

The incident marks the latest instance of a US citizen swept up in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown, which has seen federal agents use highly visible, aggressive tactics that have sparked nationwide protests, legal battles, and political backlash.

One year after “Operation Midway Blitz” – the immigration crackdown by ICE officers in Chicago and surrounding areas – legal challenges against the agents’ aggressive tactics are still underway.

While responding to the scene in Evanston, one officer encountered two SUVs near an intersection and spoke with an individual in one of the vehicles, who identified himself as a federal agent conducting a “fugitive investigation,” police said. The person was wearing plain clothes and a vest marked “POLICE” with federal law enforcement markings, according to police.

The individual told the officer that agents had attempted to identify a person who resembled someone they were seeking, but the person refused to provide identification and “resisted detention,” Evanston police said.

The agents later determined the man was not the person they were seeking and learned that he was a US citizen, after which he was released, police said.

The Department of Homeland Security told CNN that ICE agents conducting a targeted enforcement operation encountered a person who resembled their target and “immediately identified themselves as law enforcement.”

“The individual was given lawful commands but was not cooperative and refused to identify himself,” a DHS spokesperson told CNN. “ICE officers relied on their training and later left the scene without further incident once the individual finally identified himself.”

Evanston police said it is investigating the incident, and that officers are preserving available body camera footage and interviewing witnesses.

Video shows struggle with agents

Surveillance video obtained by CNN appears to show two agents and the man in an upright struggle before federal officials pull him to the ground.

Moments later, at least three drivers pull into the nearby parking lot and exit their vehicles, joining other bystanders, some recording.

Cellphone video shot by a witness, which begins in the middle of the confrontation, shows the man being held on the ground.

Two agents are seen standing behind a black SUV, with one appearing to hold the man down, in the video obtained by CNN. A man’s voice is heard saying, “I’m a f**king US citizen.” The officers, one of whom was masked and wore a hood, then appear to release him and step away from the man.

The man, who police have only identified as an Evanston resident, can be heard telling the officers not to touch him as they move away from him.

Moments after releasing the man, the two agents return to their vehicles and leave the scene, while the man continues to lie face down on the ground in the street. A man wearing a cap kneels beside the man, gently touching his back and appearing to call for help, while several others are also heard trying to help.

Evanston’s police chief met with the man at a local hospital, and an evidence technician photographed and documented his injuries.

DHS said the man refused assistance from ICE agents, but did not address the man’s injuries in its statement.

Evanston police said its officer noticed blood on hands of the agent in the SUV, which the federal official said resulted from an injury he received while trying to detain the man. The agent declined medical treatment.

‘He was shooken up’

At the time of the incident, five federal agents were operating in separate vehicles to search the area for their target, the agent in the SUV told the Evanston officer.

Miguel Olivares told CNN affiliate WLS he was taking a break while helping out at a Mexican restaurant on Howard Street when he noticed vehicles parked outside and a confrontation unfolding.

“It looked like police vehicles until I started hearing, ‘I’m a US citizen. I’m a US citizen,’” Olivares said, at which point he began filming.

“They were being rough with him; they had him pinned against the floor, and it looked like one of the agents hit him in the face,” Olivares said.

He and others tried to comfort the man after agents released him.

“He was shooken up. He wasn’t really able to talk much. All he said was that he was a US citizen, that he doesn’t know why they targeted him,” Olivares told WLS.

The federal agents later left the area after protesters began to gather, fearing they would be attacked, according to local police.

“ICE has authority for lawful arrests where authorized under 8 USC 1357. Law enforcement officers use ‘reasonable suspicion’ to investigate immigration status and probable cause to make arrests consistent with the statute and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” a DHS spokesperson said.

This is just funny... What a stupid fucker.....

“YOU SHOULDN’T BE COVERING ME!” Trump FLIPS OUT after his nemesis Kaitlan Collins reminds him that he can’t ban her from the United Nations and is going to cover him anyway!

You tell him, lady!

The president was surprised and infuriated to see CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on his way to give a terrible speech to the United Nations.

“2/3rds of Americans don’t think we’re winning the war with Iran. When will the war end?” demanded Collins.

“I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me,” said an angry Trump.

“The United Nations allowed us in,” reminded Collins.

“You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. Shouldn't be covering me!” whined Trump.

Collins was unfazed, and pressed on, repeating : “two-thirds of Americans don't think that the U.S. is winning the war with Iran!”

Trump, having no real answer, blabbered: “We're making a lot of progress. Our country is doing really, really well. Thank you very much,” and then ran away.

It is very obvious that Trump was under the assumption that banning CNN from the White House – which has backfired bigliestly since now NOBODY will cover Trump at the White House – would also mean banning CNN from covering him everywhere.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. We hope that Collins gets another chance to hold the president accountable before he gets to flee back to the burger mansion.

We call it "giving the finger..."

Ohio stations ignore Max Miller’s legal threat, run Democratic challenger’s ad

A lawyer for the Republican incumbent called the ad from Brian Poindexter “defamatory.”

Riley Rogerson

Ohio television stations are so far choosing to ignore a legal threat from GOP Rep. Max Miller and broadcast an ad from his Democratic challenger centered on the allegations of domestic abuse Miller faces from his ex-wife.

A lawyer for Miller demanded that Cleveland-area television station WKYC not publish “false, malicious, and defamatory statements” in a Thursday cease-and-desist letter first reported by POLITICO.

WKYC ran the ad Tuesday morning, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact, as did three other Cleveland stations, WEWS, WJW and WOIO.

The 30-second ad from the Poindexter campaign and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee depicts a local sheriff listing the accusations levied against Miller levied by Emily Moreno, his ex-wife and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Miller has repeatedly denied the abuse allegations.

“The ad mentioned is filled with lies,” Miller spokesperson Abigail Angelos said in a statement. “Each of the statements in the advertisement are entirely unsubstantiated and contradicted by evidence.”

Representatives for the four TV stations did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Poindexter responded to the legal threat by tearing up the cease-and-desist letter in a campaign video.

WEWS said in a Monday article that the station received a cease-and-desist letter.

“The WEWS-TV legal team evaluated the ad as we always do,” the article said. “Federal Communications Commission rules prohibit stations from censoring ads purchased by candidates like Poindexter. Therefore, the ad will air.”

DCCC spokesperson Riya Vashi said Miller had “resorted to the same playbook he’s used his whole life — deploying his money and fancy lawyers to make his problems go away.”

Before the ad, Poindexter had focused his campaign on his working-class background and cost-of-living issues. Now the campaign has gotten intensely personal: The Democrat is on air publicizing Miller’s family dispute, while Miller’s campaign is lobbing accusations about Poindexter’s past run-ins with law enforcement in an ad paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon said in a statement that Poindexter is “completely out of touch with Northeast Ohio” and is a “life-long criminal” who is “fully embracing the radical far-left socialist agenda.”