CBS News insiders are expressing deep embarrassment over the performance of fledgling evening anchor Tony Dokoupil, whom News chief Bari Weiss hand-selected, with critics arguing that his debut proves Weiss lacks the experience to lead a major news division.

According to Oliver Darcy's "Status" newsletter, staff morale at CBS has deteriorated significantly as Dokoupil caters to the Trump administration while occupying the anchor chair once held by Walter Cronkite.

Dokoupil's Monday broadcast revealed uncertainty about story selection. His Tuesday evening segment profiling Secretary of State Marco Rubio featured whimsical AI-generated images depicting Rubio in his various roles, concluding with Dokoupil declaring, "Marco Rubio, we salute you. You are the ultimate Florida man!"

Darcy noted that under typical circumstances, such lighthearted praise from an ostensibly objective journalist would have seemed inappropriate. The context of recent days made the segment particularly jarring......

A Variety review described Dokoupil as lacking "the charisma and aptitude to turn the 'Evening News' into whatever it is she [Weiss] may want." Critic Daniel D'Addario wrote, "In his official first broadcast on Jan. 5, Dokoupil betrayed a Weissian willingness to bulldoze past that which might seem too untidy for whatever hypothetical viewer he and his editor have in mind."

The list has continued to grow. In March, the president appointed Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo to the Kennedy Center board. A month later, he appointed Bo Dietl, another Fox vet, to serve on a Department of Homeland Security advisory council. The month after that, Trump tapped Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro to serve as a U.S. attorney.

As 2026 gets underway, the list is growing once again. Politico reported:

The Senate confirmed journalist Sara Carter to oversee federal drug policy by a 52-48 vote Tuesday.

A former Fox News contributor who has reported on drug trafficking, Carter will lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy as President Donald Trump’s top drug policy adviser.

.....Every previous head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy — the position generally known as the nation’s “drug czar” — had served in some kind of public office before taking the job, usually having worked in law enforcement, the military, public health agencies or some combination thereof.

Carter, however, covered the drug trade for Fox News for many years — and for Trump and 52 Senate Republicans, that was enough. (I’ve covered health care policy for many years, though I suspect GOP senators might balk if someone nominated me to serve as the secretary of health and human services.)

The president’s Team of Amateurs was a problem for the administration last year. There’s no reason to believe things will get any better this year.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported, and MS NOW confirmed, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a classified briefing this week that the White House is less interested in military action and more interested in trying to buy Greenland — which, by all accounts, is not currently for sale.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson brushed off the idea, telling reporters that Rubio might’ve made the comment “in jest.” The Louisiana Republican repeated the line Wednesday morning, explaining at a Capitol Hill press conference that he thinks he remembers hearing the secretary of state talk about a possible Greenland purchase, but the GOP leader said he “took it as a joke.”

Readers, it was not a joke.

Q: Does the US intend to buy Greenland?

MARCO RUBIO: That's always been the president's intent

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-07T16:31:55.422Z

Asked to clarify comments he made to lawmakers behind closed doors on Monday, Rubio told reporters late Wednesday morning that it’s “always” been Trump’s “intent” to try to buy Greenland.

Less than an hour later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said largely the same thing, explaining during a briefing that the president is “actively” discussing the purchase of Greenland.

Leavitt says Trump is "actively" discussing buying Greenland

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-07T17:10:56.139Z

As policy priorities go, all of this seems plainly ridiculous. And yet it also raises a host of new and related questions: Where exactly does Trump intend to get the money to buy a massive arctic island that isn’t for sale? Is he going to ask Congress to appropriate the funds? Would GOP lawmakers be willing to write an enormous check?

And how embarrassed is the House speaker right now after his “took it as a joke” line has been publicly discredited by his ostensible allies?

Details of the deadly incident are still coming into focus, but based on the available information, we know that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman Wednesday during an operation in Minneapolis. The Trump administration immediately accused the victim — an unarmed, 37-year-old civilian — of “domestic terrorism,” even as many of those who’ve seen the video evidence of what transpired have drawn a very different conclusion.

“Having seen the video … myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said of the administration’s claims. “This was an [ICE] agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tells ICE to "get the f*** out" of city after agent kills woman

www.ms.now/news/federal....

— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-01-07T18:46:03.799Z

In theory, Donald Trump could’ve taken this opportunity to calm the waters and vow a thorough, independent investigation. In practice, however, the president responded to the developments in a typically Trumpian way....

His statement went on to argue:

The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.

The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!

......Exactly one year ago this week, The New York Times’ David French noted that Trump “is at his absolute worst in a crisis.” The columnist, whose observation at the time was related to foreign policy, added of the president, “He is not a man who is ready to meet important and dangerous moments.”

That observation remains astute for a reason.

Tim Walz: "Our administration is going to stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working on the investigation."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-07T21:06:28.032Z

For his part, Tim Walz, Minnesota’s Democratic governor, told the public on Wednesday afternoon, “Our administration is going to stop at nothing to seek accountability and justice. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is working on the investigation.”

As this week got underway, the House Republican Conference had 220 members, giving the GOP a narrow majority in the chamber. On Monday, that total dropped to 219, as then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia resigned (right after she became eligible for a congressional pension).

One day later, that total fell again when a member died unexpectedly. My MS NOW colleague Mychael Schnell reported:

Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California has died, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer announced Tuesday morning. […]

LaMalfa, who represented California’s 1st Congressional District, was a fourth-generation rice farmer and a native Northern Californian, according to his congressional bio. He served in the California state Assembly and state Senate before being elected to the U.S. House in 2012.

LaMalfa’s death leaves House Speaker Mike Johnson with a 218-member conference — in a chamber where 218 is the bare minimum for a majority......

In practical terms, on party-line votes, Republicans now have a two-vote margin — and that’s with full attendance, which isn’t altogether common in an election year. With Baird sidelined, that shrinks the party’s margin to one. With Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky routinely voting against his party’s proposals, GOP leaders have effectively no margin at all.

What’s more, conditions for the majority party are likely to get worse before they get better. While Greene and LaMalfa are likely to be replaced by Republicans, the special elections to fill their vacancies are still months away. On the other hand, later this month, voters will replace the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner in one of Texas’ bluest districts, increasing the Democratic conference to 214 members and narrowing the House GOP’s advantage even more.

Hanging overhead, meanwhile, is recent scuttlebutt that other current House Republicans, including New York’s Elise Stefanik and South Carolina’s Nancy Mace, are weighing possible resignations before their terms end.

By any fair measure, 2025 was exceedingly difficult for Johnson and his fellow House GOP leaders. There are fresh reasons to believe 2026 will be worse.

The comments came to mind watching Donald Trump address the House Republican Conference at the Kennedy Center. Time magazine reported:

President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of canceling future U.S. elections, elevating a longstanding concern among critics of how he might try to limit threats to his power in his second term.

Trump brought up the idea while speaking to House Republicans at their annual retreat, and then quickly insisted he was not calling for such a move, casting his remarks as a critique of Democrats rather than a proposal.

In context, the president was rambling about his contempt for Democrats, which led to related electoral thoughts.

Trump: "I won't say cancel the election, they should cancel the election because the fake news will say 'He wants the elections cancelled! He's a dictator.' They always call me a dictator."

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2026-01-06T15:37:50.623Z

...In August, for example, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — whose country cannot hold elections during Russia’s deadly war — Trump said, “Say, 3 1/2 years from now, so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections.”

This is the same American president who has repeatedly talked about ignoring the U.S. Constitution and seeking a third term. Trump has similarly discussed “terminating” parts of the Constitution that stand in the way of his ambitions and creating a temporary American “dictatorship.”

What’s more, the president’s comments at the Kennedy Center came on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack — political violence Trump instigated as part of an effort to overturn the results of an election he lost and to remain in office despite the will of American voters.

So when Trump starts musing about canceling elections, it’s difficult simply to shrug one’s shoulders and laugh it off as meaningless nonsense.

Donald Trump has made little effort to hide his interest in controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, especially now that the Republican administration, in the president’s own words, is “in charge” of the South American country.

But late Monday afternoon, Trump broke new ground with an announcement published to his social media platform. It read, in its entirety:

I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

According to a New York Times report, 50 million barrels of oil could have a market value of as much as $3 billion......

In the United States, the president can’t create his own pile of money that Congress never approved, and then start allocating the funds at his discretion.

The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution gives lawmakers what’s known as the power of the purse. When Trump effectively responds, “I’m going to have my own purse,” there’s a problem.

Indeed, for all intents and purposes, what the Republican has sketched out in his vague online statement sounds an awful lot like a slush fund, which would be plainly illegal.

This fight is just getting started, and it’s poised to be a doozy. Watch this space.

Legal experts have begun to weigh in on the harrowing video from Minneapolis of an ICE agent fatally shooting a woman through the driver's side window of her car as she began to pull away from them — and at least some believe that state criminal charges could be imminent.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied any wrongdoing in the incident, arguing that the officer credibly feared for his life and was justified in using deadly force.

However, experts watching video footage of the shooting don't think DHS's version of the story adds up.

"Secretary of Defense Kristi Noem now says that the middle aged white woman who was shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent was a 'domestic terrorist,'" wrote lawyer and newsletter writer Amee Vanderpool on X. "Watch the video of it that is everywhere. You can see for yourself that every word out of Noem's mouth here is a lie."

"Let a jury decide whether that officer was justified in using deadly force, not MAGA meatheads on social media," wrote former federal prosecutor and ex-Republican staffer turned liberal punditry editor Ron Filipkowski.

"I just saw the video from Minneapolis. Barbarous behavior," wrote Georgia State University constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, adding, "I will be shocked if the state doesn’t indict."

"#ICE brutality is the equally ugly twin of police brutality," wrote Harvard Kennedy School professor and former NAACP president Cornell Brooks. "Racially profiling Black & Brown migrants for deportation is as dangerous for all Americans as racially profiling Black & Brown citizens for incarceration. Reckless racist law enforcement is a public safety threat."

President Donald Trump released a comment Wednesday after an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman driving in a car in Minneapolis, blaming "the radical left" and claiming the agent was in danger......

"The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense," Trump wrote. "Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP"

Video footage from the incident showed the ICE officer walking away from the scene.

The FBI and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have planned to investigate the use of deadly force and shooting incident.

After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. radically revised the vaccines schedule for American children, public health officials were disgusted. Donald Trump, however, was delighted.....

Twelve minutes earlier, Trump had published some related thoughts on public health. His missive was an all-caps screed on which I’ve changed the capitalization to make it easier to read:

Pregnant women, don’t use Tylenol unless absolutely necessary, don’t give Tylenol to your young child for virtually any reason, break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots (not mixed!), take Chicken P shot separately, take Hepatitas [sic] b shot at 12 years old, or older, and, importantly, take vaccine in 5 separate medical visits!

This comes months after Trump and RFK Jr. held a bizarre event at the White House where Trump said “don’t take Tylenol” 11 times, suggested physicians might be corrupt and, as part of a weird anti-vaccine screed, even declared, in reference to infant vaccinations, “It’s too much liquid.”

Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Washington Post, “That was the most dangerously irresponsible press conference in the realm of public health in American history.”.....

These three concurrent stories — Trump’s celebration of a misguided vaccine schedule, his foolish advice about Tylenol and his indifference to doctors’ recommendations about aspirin — are effectively different parts of the same story. Mr. “Inject Disinfectants” continues to believe that he (a man who’s reportedly avoided physical exercise because he believes the human body is born with a finite amount of energy) has the credibility and expertise needed to give Americans guidance on matters of public health.

People would be wise to trust medical professionals instead.