FREDONIA PROJECT – SITREP 23: US DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY

DATE-TIME GROUP: 261800ZJANUARY26

FROM: EMBASSY OF FREDONIA, WASHINGTON, D.C.

TO: MFA NAGADOCHES

CLASSIFICATION: CONEOFSILENCE // FREDONIAN EYES ONLY

SUBJECT: SITREP 023 “THE FREDONIA PROJECT” – OBSERVATIONAL DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA IN CRISIS 17 JANUARY 2026

SUMMARY:

IN ACCORDANCE WITH MFA DIRECTIVE 1826-APRIL-1, THIS EMBASSY HAS INITIATED A REGULAR SERIES OF ANALYTICAL DISPATCHES REGARDING THE INTERNAL DYNAMICS OF THE UNITED STATES. THE SERIES, DESIGNATED “THE FREDONIA PROJECT,” WILL BE CIRCULATED UNDER STANDARD SITREP PROTOCOL. PRESUMED LEAK. NO ACTION REQUIRED.

It seems likely that there has been a change in the attitudes of the citizens of the United States and Europe toward U.S. President Trump. Since the beginning of the year 2026, and especially since the first of Trump’s “immigration fraud” terrorist raids on Minnesota and its citizens, more Americans have seen Trump’s paramilitary troops, disguised as ICE Enforcement and Deportation officers, as they really are: there’s no romanticizing what saviors they are; there’s no widespread admiration for whatever they have accomplished. Even previously wholly Trump-admiring members of the US media, Joe Rogan comes to mind, have seen and remarked upon the Gestapo-esque tactics, goals, and even attire of Kristi Noem’s goon squad. American audiences can see, in real time and recorded by real people, the work of a whole lot of men, and it appears they are mostly or all men and mostly or all White, carrying out the Trump/Noem ethnic cleansing of a state that did not ever vote for Trump. Despite Trump’s saying that, “I feel that I won Minnesota. I think I won it all three times,” he never won Minnesota. Not ever.

Additionally, it seems that Trump’s nonsensical Greenland Grab may have worked to convince Europeans and other DAVOS attendees, most notably the always-kind and understated Canadians, that the best, if not only, way to deal with Trump is to stand up to him and clap back at his ridiculous threats and toddler-modeled behaviors.

The key events in Minnesota:

On or about 6 January 2026, the Trump administration “surged” a large number, up to 2,000 ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) agents to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The stated reason for that was to “investigate allegations of fraud” against Somali Minnesotans. Not surprisingly, after only a short while, no one in Minnesota, neighboring states, or the rest of the United States now believes that fraud has anything to do with what’s going on in Minneapolis/St. Paul. (Some three-quarters of the ICE personnel deployed to Minnesota are from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which “carries out immigration arrests and deportations,” according to the Public Broadcasting Service, quoting a person “with knowledge of the operation.”). (Ambassador Comments: It seems unreasonable for so many of the ICE participants to be part of Enforcement and Removal Operations if the surge is to support fraud investigations.)

Since the “fraud investigation/s” began, two ICE “observers,” people who watch the ICE officials and document (with their cellphones) actions that the ICE and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials on the ground are actually carrying out, have been killed and at least two small children, one five years old and one 2 years old, have been “deported” from their homes in Minnesota. One is in a detention center in Texas, after ICE officials ignored a ruling from a Federal Judge against continuing to detain and deport. Each of the two people killed were peaceful observers: one, a 37 year old White woman, a nurse, who had just dropped her 6 year old child at school, and was talking with the ICE officials from inside her car as she attempted to leave; and the other, a 37 year old White man, also a nurse and a poet, who was also a peaceful observer, filming the ICE officials with his cell phone. He approached the ICE/CBP officials and was carrying a concealed firearm. Open and concealed-carry of weapons is legal in Minnesota, and given that Trump’s Republican Party is so approving of open and concealed gun carry, Trump’s paramilitary troops ought to know what to do should an armed person approach. (Ambassador Comment: There is so much here to which to respond: 1). Neither of the children was likely involved in fraud and yet Homeland Security Secretary Noem continues to assert, as recently as afternoon of 24 January, that her officials are investigating fraud; 2) Neither of the adults seems to have any connection to a “Somali fraud ring,” at least no connection that is ever explained by anyone officially connected to ICE or CBP; 3) Each of the individuals mentioned above, the two US citizens who were killed and the children and their parents was White; and 4) ICE/CBP and their Secretary have refused to conduct a thorough, independent investigation of what happened, instead, closing any such effort down by refusing to share their information with local police and issuing a “statement” “explaining” details of each “incident,” long before they could possibly have known all of the relevant details. Our reading of these official statements leads to the conclusion that ICE/CBP and their Secretary are providing inflated, sensationalist, far-fetched, sophistry. More bluntly, they are liars.)

The ICE officials do not appear to have been trained or educated about their mission objectives. Those objectives appear only to be the removal of people who do not comport with senior Trump administration officials’ efforts to make the entire US population White, Christian, Straight, and as male as possible.

ICE, CBP, DHS, and Administration officials are violating the laws of Blue states. Historically, the Federal government has waited for states to request help and has pulled its federal officers out when the governors request that they leave. (Ambassador Comment: In standard cowardly fashion, Trump is only going into Blue States that have not supported him, justifying these Federal invasions by noting that they have large populations of people who Trump claims have committed some sort of crime.)

Trump’s untrained, masked, armored, and armed troops in Minnesota have, by virtue of their presence, their appearance and their actions, been deadly for too many Minnesotans and appalling to many more regular citizens watching these behaviors. (Ambassador Comment: The spectacle has had a negative impact on many, many Americans. And, no part of this behavior seems more appalling than Gregory Bongino in his Inglorious Basterds movie set, Nazi coat. Bongino, his “soldiers,” Noem, and Trump have not bristled at or objected to being characterized as Nazis.)

The American and foreign/European reaction to Trump and his first year actions and statements has been, until now, disturbingly muted. International reaction to Trump’s Minnesota Madness, his inane and childish attempts to “acquire” Greenland and rearrange the international liberal order seem, now, to be much more closely aligned to what we have been hearing in back channels for pretty much Trump’s whole first year. Some of that change became more obvious after Trump’s DAVOS nuttiness.

The key events of DAVOS were:

Negotiations, which centered on Greenland, began with Trump’s threatening 39% tariffs on countries that didn’t support Trump’s plans, and ended after a keynote address during which Trump said he “won’t use force” to obtain Greenland.

A Greenland Framework Deal, which Trump announced and which would enhance Arctic security.

A domestic economic report, in which Trump touted a series of complete and total lies about his American economy, which he claimed was a remarkable turnaround from President Joe Biden’s so-called bad economy. (Ambassador Comment: Joe Biden’s economy was one in which economic growth surpassed expectations, according to the Center for American Progress. Trump has trampled all over that progress and weakened the US economy, in part by insisting on tariffs.)

Geopolitical shifts, which included Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy, arriving in DAVOS for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump met with him, but Dmitriev did not attend the official Forum.

Mark Carney, Canada’s Prime Minister, gave a strongly worded speech which, in no uncertain terms, warned that the international order, established after WWII, was falling apart, and that the United States can no longer be viewed as a stabilizing force. Emmanuel Macron criticized the “law of the strongest,” describing US trade that undermines international law as “fundamentally” unacceptable. Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his frustration over U.S. “distraction” and European inaction and met Trump later to discuss trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi. And, Ursula von der Leyen (President of the EU Commission) noted that the threat of additional US tariffs on European allies was a “mistake” between partners. (Ambassador Comment: These were some of the strongest rebukes of Trump during any part of his two terms, and we Fredonians welcome them. It’s taken most of the international community, including the population of the United States, much too long to treat Trump with the disdain he deserves. Mark Carney, in particular, gave an exceedingly strong, very accurate, and quite unusual, in tone for a Canadian official. There was no doubt as to exactly how Canada’s government officials feel and what they are and are not willing to continue to hear. )

(Ambassador Comment: Finally, on Friday, 23 January 2026, the now-retired, formerly very, very senior, serious, and extremely knowledgeable US Intelligence officer, Sue Gordon, during a U.S. television interview, made a statement with which we wholeheartedly agree. She commented that even when Trump is gone, all of the allies that the United States has always, until Trump had, will likely continue to be very cautious about engaging with the United States. She pointed out that even when Trump is gone, they will remember that the American population elected him. Twice.

This is a thought that we have kicked around out here in the Fredonia Embassy to the US time and time again. How can anyone trust a country that elected such an aggressively ignorant, proudly bullying blowhard, who was never a successful anything until he hosted a SCRIPTED reality television show, that allowed people to think he was an extremely successful businessman, when he was not? We continually remind ourselves that Americans no longer study civics, the building blocks, history, and theory of their own government and elected officials. We know that, on occasion, some American rises to try to fix that problem, and that no one has yet succeeded. The topic is certainly not one we can really explore in the age of Trump, but we remain hopeful that the Americans will figure it out and fix it.)

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 360 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.

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