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Two weeks into 2026, President Donald Trump has already set off a chain of disputes at home and abroad—ranging from immigration raids to threats involving Greenland—while the November midterm elections loom as a test of control of Congress. The Associated Press reported that Trump has also faced pushback around a criminal investigation associated with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and that several remarks early in the year have rattled even some allied Republicans.
Trump’s early-year actions include foreign policy moves that he has framed in economic terms, even as critics described them as a departure from the “America First” posture he emphasized during the campaign. The AP described his administration’s decision earlier this month to carry out a military operation removing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from Venezuela, alongside Trump’s claims that the U.S. would begin controlling the sale of some Venezuelan oil and that the country would be “run from Washington.” The report also said Trump posted a meme declaring himself “acting president of Venezuela.”
Alongside Venezuela, Trump has also threatened the leadership of Cuba and Iran and pressed on Greenland, which belongs to Denmark and is a NATO member. The AP said Trump wrote on social media that “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” adding “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
In the U.S., the AP said Trump’s agenda has included an immigration crackdown that has produced confrontations in multiple cities. Minneapolis became the focus after a federal agent shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, according to the report. The AP said administration officials described the shooting as self-defense and accused Good of trying to hit the agent with her car, while local officials and others disputed that account based on videos circulating online.
The report said the Minneapolis shooting occurred after Trump dispatched 2,000 immigration agents to Minnesota in response to fraud reports involving the state’s Somali community. Trump also said the administration was targeting “thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners, dangerous people from foreign mental institutions and insane asylums, and other deadly criminals too dangerous to even mention,” the AP reported.
The AP said the immigration actions have fed concern among local officials and lawmakers about uncertainty and public safety. Justin Bibb, the Cleveland mayor who leads the Democratic Mayors Association, said the administration’s actions have created “chaos, confusion and uncertainty,” and he described the impact on residents trying to understand whether conditions are improving. Bibb told the AP that his city is “trying to do everything we can to calm that concerns and quell those fears,” while also saying, “But people don’t feel like the world is getting better. People don’t feel like the economy is getting better.”
The AP also described the Federal Reserve criminal investigation as a flashpoint that emerged after Powell disclosed on Sunday that the central bank was facing a criminal investigation over his testimony about building renovations. The report said the Justice Department had pursued criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former national security adviser John Bolton, among other Trump adversaries, while the new focus on Powell appeared to move beyond what some conservatives were willing to accept.
In comments that the AP said were unusually critical for a Trump defender, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo told her Monday show that “It just feels like most on Wall Street do not want to see this kind of fight.” She added, “The president has very good points, certainly. But Wall Street doesn’t want to see this kind of investigation.” The AP said that the Federal Reserve plays a key role in the economy by calibrating interest rates, and that reducing the institution’s independence could backfire by raising borrowing costs instead of lowering them.
Trump, meanwhile, addressed the economy in a speech in Detroit but also took aim at Powell, according to the AP. The report said Trump told the crowd, “That jerk will be gone soon,” while also saying, “Right now I’m feeling pretty good.” The AP said the speech was ostensibly intended to refocus attention on economic conditions as Trump claimed the economy is surging despite lingering concerns about higher prices.
Historians and political voices cited by the AP portrayed the pattern of early-year moves as destabilizing. Historian Joanne B. Freeman, a Yale University professor, said, “The presidency has gone rogue,” adding that it was something “we haven’t seen in this way before.” The AP also reported that some observers said Trump appears undeterred by potential blowback and that he doubles down when possible, even if he does not always follow through.
As the midterm campaign accelerates, the AP said Democratic campaign officials are emphasizing the economy, with a January AP-NORC poll cited as showing that 37% of U.S. adults approved of how Trump is handling the economy. Rep. Suzan DelBene, who leads Democrats’ House campaign arm, said Trump’s visit to Michigan highlighted “how he and House Republicans have failed to address the affordability crisis,” according to the AP. Progressive activists also pressed the argument that Trump’s power moves could worsen as the midterms near its final term, with Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, telling the AP that authoritarians “don’t willingly give up power” and “When weakened and cornered they lash out.”
Republican leaders, by contrast, have largely rallied behind Trump, and the AP cited the Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels saying voters would reward the party. Pels predicted that “Voters elected President Trump to put American lives first — and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” adding, “President Trump is making our country safer, and the American people will remember it in November,” the AP reported.