What drove Trump to retreat in Minneapolis

Plus, FBI searches Fulton County election office |

VIEW IN BROWSER MS NOW DAILY Understand today's news Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026   THE LATEST Trump didn't de-escalate in Minneapolis on his own. He was forced to retreat. By Zeeshan Aleem Trump didn't de-escalate in Minneapolis on his own. He was forced to retreat. By Zeeshan Aleem President Donald Trump's apparent decision to de-escalate in Minneapolis was not driven by some kind of realization that he had caused too much harm. He was compelled to retreat because Minneapolis residents' confrontations with his de facto secret police laid bare for the nation — and even his own party — how extreme his immigration agents' behavior had become. Minneapolis activists' highly organized efforts forced Trump to incur political costs for his behavior and, in the process, illustrated the importance of resisting Trump's authoritarian maneuvers instead of trying to passively ride them out. Every time a city shrugs and allows Trump to fabricate a reason for sending the military or militarized federal officers to a city, he succeeds in another trial run for more extreme political suppression in the future. But when Americans draw lines in the sand, they thwart his tests of our limits and lay out a path for how to protect our freedom.   People in Minneapolis could've taken this lying down. They didn't. Robert Worth's excellent report in The Atlantic sketched out how, while the movement was leaderless, it still produced in sum "a meticulous urban choreography of civic protest."   This is a preview of Zeeshan Aleem's latest column. Read the full column here. TOP STORIES SEN. JACKY ROSEN Why my House colleagues should impeach Kristi Noem Instead of making sure ICE and CBP follow the Constitution and don't violate anyone's rights, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been asleep at the wheel. Read more. JULIANNE MCSHANE 'We're going to disrupt this country': Pardoned anti-abortion activists plot mass clinic protests A group of longtime abortion opponents, emboldened by Trump's pardons, regrouped in Washington to plan a new wave of demonstrations at abortion clinics. Read more. ROSA FLORES AND ERUM SALAM Castro, Crockett visit 5-year-old in ICE detention center in Texas The Democratic members of Congress met with Liam Conejo Ramos, a child detained in Minnesota last week. Read more. KEITH REED Bill Belichick's exclusion from the Hall of Fame ballot is petty and disgraceful Belichick didn't leave much of a cheering section in the NFL, but the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach should have been elected on the first ballot to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Read more. TOP VIDEOS CHRIS JANSING REPORTS FBI executes search warrant at elections office in Fulton County, Georgia WATCH NOW ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 'I know who I'm dealing with': Walz on why Trump called him amid escalating DHS tension WATCH NOW ANA CABRERA REPORTS 'Of course it would be an act of war': GOP senator grills Rubio over capture of Maduro WATCH NOW CHRIS JANSING REPORTS Sen. Warnock: 'Alex Pretti's blood cries out to us' WATCH NOW MORE FROM MS NOW In a new episode of "Main Justice," MS NOW Legal Analysts Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord discuss the Trump administration's intensified immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota that culminated in the tragic killing of Alex Pretti. Listen now, and subscribe to MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for ad-free listening and bonus content. Get a daily digest of D.C. politics, foreign policy, and pop culture with "The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe" newsletter. Each weekday, read takes about what's driving the day, and get a direct line to the "Morning Joe" family of roundtable guests sent straight to your inbox. Sign up now. 229 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 PRIVACY | CONTACT | UNSUBSCRIBE