TOM & SCARY

Is Donald Trump really pulling back in Minneapolis? Protestors and lawmakers don’t think so.

• President Donald Trump spent the past few days trying to show Americans his softer, fuzzier, Mr. Nice Guy side — after dire polls showed the public souring on his brutal occupation of Minneapolis. He boasted about upbeat calls with local officials. He banished Colonel Lockjaw (err… I mean Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino). He sidelined DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Now, border czar Tom Homan — aka, Mr. $50,000 Cava Bag — is trying to convince the public that things are going to be alright.

• Trump’s team plans to “draw down” the number of agents in the city, Homan told reporters this morning. “I don’t want to see anybody die,” he said. “What we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book.”

• But the border czar added some massive caveats. “We are not surrendering our mission at all,” Homan said. Anyone who attacks ICE “will be held accountable,” he growled. “Justice is coming.”

• So far there’s little sign that Trump and Homan’s attempts to placate critics is matched by a serious drawdown on the ground. “My neighborhood had ICE kidnap a community member from the streets this morning,” a Minneapolis resident told What A Day. “I don’t think we care about them drawing down some agents. We care about every single ICE agent leaving.”

• Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey quipped: “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Homan’s arrival in Minneapolis won’t necessarily resolve the crisis, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told What a Day.

• More than 3,000 federal agents remain in Minneapolis, and Homan offered no details on how many could be sent away. ICE may be taking steps to minimize incidents with protestors, however. Reuters reports that a new memo instructs agents: “DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS.”

• “I think pulling out the agents is a good step,” Warner said. “But it’s not like Homan being there has had ICE cut back all of their tactics.”

• Senate Democrats are still working to secure ICE reforms, unanimously voting to block a spending package that would’ve approved funding for the agency. Warner told me the White House “wants a deal,” but there will “probably” be a government shutdown anyway, maybe lasting only one or two days.

Any deal with Trump to avert a shutdown could blow up again, Warner said. “I, frankly, wouldn’t even be surprised.”

WHAT ELSE? 👀

Why did Tulsi Gabbard, America’s spy chief, tag along on the FBI’s raid on an election hub in Fulton County, Georgia yesterday? She’s investigating the results of the 2020 election, naturally. Trump has never given up trying to prove his bizarre, debunked, false claim that he really won the 2020 election. Gabbard’s involvement, though, is bizarre. American spy chiefs don’t usually investigate long-past elections!

What A Day exclusive: Top Hill Democrats want Gabbard to explain herself. “The Intelligence Community should be focused on foreign threats,” they wrote to her. “Your recent actions raise foundational questions about the current mission of your office.”

The Trump administration is considering new strikes on Iran to inspire fresh protests against the regime, according to Reuters. Striking Iran comes with big risks: The country still has thousands of missiles that can reach Israel, as well as U.S. bases in the region. Is there any problem Trump thinks can’t be solved with either a missile strike or a kidnapping?

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tapped vaccine skeptics to serve on a federal panel that advises the government on autism. It’s just the latest disturbing example of the roadkill enthusiast attempting to promote his false assertion that vaccines cause autism.

New York authorities arrested a Minnesota man who allegedly impersonated an FBI agent in an attempt to break Luigi Mangione, the suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter, out of prison.

The FBI’s involvement in the arrest of an alleged cocaine trafficker, who was also a Canadian Olympic snowboarder, was supposed to be a secret. But FBI Director Kash Patel couldn’t help himself from tweeting the news — even though the FBI isn’t allowed to make arrests in Mexico. Now, Mexico is pissed at Patel. And he looks incredibly stupid, once again.

Can’t afford a home? I have a suggestion: Try being filthy rich! Sales are booming for properties that cost over $10 million, while the rest of the housing market craters. Is this why Trump literally said he wants housing costs to go up? (Answer: Yes, it is.)

Want a terrible date night idea? Go watch the Melania Trump documentary, which debuts in theaters tonight! The film is expected to gross only a few million dollars on its opening weekend, despite Amazon shelling out $40 million to acquire it last year, and another $35 million for marketing. Jeff Bezos must really like it.

LIGHT AT THE END… ☀️

Scores of Americans are expected to participate in a nationwide strike tomorrow in protest of federal agents’ tactics across the country. “Every day, ICE, Border Patrol and other enforcers of Trump’s racist agenda are going into our communities to kidnap our neighbors and sow fear,” the website reads. “It is time for us to all stand up together in a nationwide shutdown and say enough is enough!”

ICE stopped its “enhanced” operations in Maine after Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) called Kristi Noem, the senator claimed. “There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,” Collins added. Would the senator perhaps like to make such a call on behalf of any other states?

A man dressed as Batman berated Santa Clara city council members for allowing ICE to operate at the upcoming Super Bowl in the city. “I’m not begging you,” Batman said. “I’m fucking demanding that you act with some semblance of a fucking spine. Do something.” The video is so good.

The Trump administration is delaying its attempt to eliminate the “endangerment finding” — a landmark ruling that allows the government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions — because it’s afraid the proposal won’t hold up in court. “Most of what EPA is doing will not stand up in a court of law,” Gina McCarthy, Obama’s EPA chief, told What A Day earlier this month.

The Coast Guard used its only active heavy icebreaker (a specialized ship to clear ice) to rescue a luxury cruise ship that had been stuck in Antarctic ice. “On a danger scale of 1 to Endurance, the Scenic Eclipse II’s predicament was low-risk,” the Washington Post writes. Yeah… have you read about the Endurance expedition? You couldn’t pay me to take a boat to Antarctica!

Are UFO’s real? Michael Shermer, a journalist who has been writing about the phenomenon for years has made up his mind: Nope. “What I think is actually going on is a deep, religious-like impulse to believe that there is a godlike, omnipotent intelligence out there who 1. knows we’re here, 2. is monitoring us and is concerned for our well-being and 3. will save us if we’re good,” Shermer writes in the Washington Post. And no, China and Russia probably haven’t developed a futuristic spy plane that is being mistaken for aliens, he writes.

“Everybody Is Suddenly Obsessed With 2016,” reads a Wall Street Journal headline today, weeks after the trend peaked. But I digress; the article is a great explainer on why you probably saw people on social media sharing pictures of themselves from a decade ago, for no obvious reason. “There’s a yearning for what many people remember as a slower pace,” one youth consumer expert said. Gee, I wonder what happened at the end of 2016 that has made this decade feel really fucking long.

A 91-year-old Nebraska woman planned to sell a 30-gallon stoneware crock that had been collecting dust for $20. The crock, which dates back to the 19th century and has a rare salt glaze, ended up selling for $32,000 at auction. “I just couldn’t believe it,” said the woman, whose birthday coincided with the sale. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever gotten on my birthday.”