By Simon Landau ’27

From the swearing in of New York City’s new mayor, the capture of Venezuela’s president, the deaths of two Minnesota protesters, and many other events, 2026 has gotten off to turbulent start. The news this month has been riddled with misinformation, biases, and political agendas. In this piece I will do my best to sum up some of the most important occurrences this month in a way that simply displays facts and not opinions.  

On January first, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as the 112^th mayor of New York City. Mamdani is a democratic socialist with an avid group of followers. Although he is loved by many, there are also many people who disagree with him. One side presents an optimistic view, saying change is a necessity, and Mamdani is the future of New York politics. The other side believes he is too naïve, and that although the old way of running the city may not have been the best, it was efficient and there was no need to make such a drastic change. 

The next large-scale event of January came in the early hours of January 3. American troops entered Venezuela in the dead of night and took President Maduro and his wife from their home and brought them to the United States. In a press conference later in the day, Trump revealed that he planned to run Venezuela through an appointed committee. Because they do not believe the U.S. should interfere with other countries, and Trump did not get the approval of congress to carry out the mission, many democrats across the country condemned the operation. Most republicans approved of the move, siding with Trump and saying the move would accomplish a number of things: lower gas prices, reduce the amount of Venezuelans who make the dangerous journey to find refuge in America, send a message to other nations that the United States is the “Peacekeeper” of the world again, and stop a portion of the drug flow into the U.S. 

Throughout all this, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been running large scale operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Many Minneapolis natives have taken to the streets, protesting ICE’s presence, and defending undocumented immigrants. On January 7, Renee Nicole Good was asked to step out of her car by an ICE agent. Instead of complying, she drove off, coincidentally heading straight for another agent in the road. Feeling threatened, the agent shot Good, killing her instantly. Renee’s death sparked national outrage, and thousands of people started to assemble in protest in Minneapolis. The Federal government defended the ICE agent who shot Good, claiming it was in self-defense.  

By the January 10, Trump had started to set his eyes on Greenland once again. He offered to buy it from Denmark, paying Greenlanders to cede, threatened to impose tariffs on countries that stood in his way of getting Greenland, and even threatened military force. However, at the Davos conference, he laid off Greenland, simply saying he wished to make a deal in the future.   

Back in Minneapolis, the peaceful protests had started to get rowdy. On January 24, Alex Pretti was trying to help a woman who had been roughed up by ICE. He then confronted the officers and was thrown to the ground. It is not entirely clear what caused it, but after a few seconds, two agents unholstered their weapons and shot Pretti. It later came out that Pretti was carrying a gun, but that it was also removed before he was shot. It was also said that his gun had a history of misfiring, so it is possible agents heard his gun go off and lacked the training to know what to do. This shooting enhanced the already existing protests and led to demonstrations throughout the country. In response to the shooting, the trump administration put the two agents on leave, and pulled Gregory Bovino, the man leading the ICE operations in Minnesota, from Minneapolis. 

In 31 days, we have seen an astounding compilation of events that threaten constitutional liberties and international laws and customs, with a shifting local, domestic and geopolitical status quo. With the next 11 months of 2026 before us, we can expect to hear more about ICE, track the progress of Venezuela’s economic rehabilitation, follow Mamdani’s mayoralty, and wonder what new tactic of shock and awe Trump will employ. Looking forward, we also await the midterm elections, some of the most consequential Supreme Court rulings in recent years, and the increasingly common threat of government shutdowns, as we adapt to the new norm of jaw-dropping headlines.