Shots Fired

PAYING SUBSCRIBERS CAN ACCESS THE FEBRUARY MONTHLY STRATEGY REPORT BELOW, PUBLISHED LAST EVENING BY INVESTMENT DIRECTOR TOM DYSON, WHO IS CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN INDIA

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Thursday, January 28th, 2026

Bill Bonner, from Rancho Santana, Nicaragua

Poor Donald Trump. His approval ratings keep falling. Yahoo!:

Trump’s approval rating on his favorite issue just dropped to a record low

And The Hill:

Trump approval among independent voters hits new low: Poll

And now that his ICE agents shot dead Renee Good, he may have lost another supporter. USA Today:

President Donald Trump said he hopes the father of Renee Nicole Good, the woman who was shot and killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis, is still a “Trump fan” after his daughter’s death.

Meanwhile...comes word from Baltimore.

“It’s freezing cold. And there must be three inches of ice on the car.”

We wonder how the weather affects Mr. Trump. It’s probably not just the Big Freeze that breeds discontent, but the fact that POTUS insists that we should thank him for the balmy weather!

Denying the evidence of our eyes and ears has not seemed to work in Minneapolis. Americans had come to expect certain standards of decency...or at least plausible hypocrisy...from their leaders. For example, they believed they could lawfully and peacefully carry firearms without being accused of terrorism (the 2nd Amendment). They thought they could make their opinions heard without being roughed up on the streets (the 1st Amendment). They didn’t think they needed to carry their birth certificates — their ‘papers’ — when they went to ‘Home Deport’ (the 4th amendment). And if they were picked up by the police, they thought they’d get a chance to confront their accuser and dispute the charges against them (the 5th and 14th amendments). It must have come as a shock to millions of voters that the rights they thought had been solemnly granted by the Constitution...and faithfully protected for more than 200 years...could be swept away without warning, debate, or vote.

But Mr. Trump says this is a ‘war’ and the Constitution doesn’t apply. Team Trump quickly branded the Minnesota Martyrs as ‘domestic terrorists.’ But everyone could see they were not what we think of as ‘terrorists.’

The Mirror:

Trump has ‘lost control’...as Minnesota ICE deaths spark MAGA revolt and White House chaos

The poor old coot. He went all the way to Switzerland to deliver a rambling discourse that must have been almost incomprehensible to those whose native language was not New York-ese. Old. Tired. His ratings must have fallen minute by minute, like those of Joe Biden in his last debate with Trump.

And there’s an old rule in theater. When you bring a cannon onto the stage, sooner or later you’ve gotta fire it. Mr. Trump arrived with his heavy artillery — he was going to invade Greenland! — but then he turned around and took his cannon home with him. It made him look weak..

The poor old fellow. He went to all the trouble of taking out Maduro in Venezuela...and warning Vice President ‘Delcy’ in front of the whole world. The New York Post:

Trump threatens Venezuela’s new leader Delcy Rodriguez with a fate worse than Maduro if she doesn’t work with US

And now, bold as brass, ‘Delcy’ gives him the finger. The Hill:

Venezuela acting president says she’s had ‘enough’ of orders from Washington

Poor Mr. Trump. His Trump Coin has lost 98% of its value. And even his wife’s hagiographic documentary, Melania, is said to be disappointing. Newsweek:

Market researcher Boxoffice has projected it will gross between $1 and $2 million in opening weekend ticket sales. Both figures are well below the $40 million Amazon paid for the title.

Poor Mr. Trump. So eager to prove he is not the hopeless, low-IQ bumbler from Queens that he appears to be...so eager for the adulation of the sophisticated Manhattan crowd...so ready to throw his weight around to prove something. Even if they never admire him, at least they will learn to fear him. Right?

And then, there is the economy. But the anti-dollar, anti-bubble element, gold, is selling for $5,533 this morning.

Poor Mr. Trump.

More to come...

Regards,

Bill Bonner

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The mainstream financial media has caught on to measuring stock returns in gold, rather than in nominal prices. The chart below shows the S&P 500 in gold terms since 2006. Like our Dow/Gold ratio, which goes back over 150 years, this shows stocks mean reverting to lower levels, in gold terms.