What if...
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(Photo that I took of President Donald Trump on stage at a rally in Clive, Iowa, on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.)
Over the past week, I have often found myself wondering what if…
What if…federal and local/state authorities in Minnesota worked together to deport violent criminals unlawfully living in the United States?
What if…federal agents were required to have warrants and show legal identification if they wanted to enter a residence or business?
What if…U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and top White House adviser Stephen Miller waited until federal and state investigations provided them with evidence before labeling Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and a would be “assassin after ICE agents shot him in Minneapolis?”
What if…those top White Office officials who appear to have defamed Pretti faced accountability for failing the taxpayers who pay their salaries?
What if…all elected officials waited like Iowa’s Republican congressional delegation did before passing judgement publicly about Pretti’s death?
(This week’s “Inside Iowa Politics” featured two of those Republicans on their responses to Pretti’s death along with why they aren’t calling for President Donald Trump to fire Noem and Miller.)
What if…Americans who show up to protest ICE’s aggressive actions do it without throwing objects at agents or physically blocking them?
What if…federal and state authorities had coordinated enforcement to apprehend violent criminals living in the country illegally in cities other than just those led by Democrats?
What if…everyone actually did listen to those leaders calling for everyone to “tone down the rhetoric?”
What if…all elected officials condemned threats, violence, and vandalism against any other elected official instead of just the ones involving their own party?
There are things happening in this country that are hard to process. I hope and pray that the week ahead is better for our country than the previous one that we just endured.
The Lawsuit
Question: Should taxpayers give $10 billion to President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization as part of their lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for the unauthorized disclosure of Trump’s tax information?
The leak came in 2019/2020 and a former IRS contractor plead guilty to it in 2023. The Trumps are now filing the suit in 2026…six or seven years after that private information went public.
The Rally
Speaking of the president…He traveled to Iowa on Tuesday for the first of what his administration said will be many campaign-style rallies across the country leading up to the mid-term elections, a crucial check by voters of what they think of his return to office.
Covering a Trump rally is like nothing else. Paid subscribers can keep reading what I experienced at the event in Clive on Tuesday afternoon.
(Hint…if you’re not yet a paid subscriber, this would be a good time to become one:)
