It's five years since Donald Trump's supporters mounted an attempted coup - and people are still, for some reason, surprised that he doesn't care about playing by the rules. Here's a roundup of the unhinged last 24 hours in Trump world
15:05, 06 Jan 2026Updated 17:37, 06 Jan 2026
Five years ago today, hundreds of Donald Trump's supporters fought their way into the US Capitol in a bid to violently overturn the result of the 2020 election, fired up by an incendiary speech demanding they "fight like hell," or they "wouldn't have a country".
Today, their guy is back in office and people the world over are shocked and surprised that he has absolutely no interest in following the laws and rules that keep the world safe.
One day we'll go through all the terrible takes from January last year, where theoretically sensible people were telling you to take Trump "seriously but not literally", and that talk of him invading Greenland was just "Trump being Trump", and it was fine to be all kissy kissy with a guy who tried to foment the only coup in modern US history, as long as we get good trade terms and a guarantee of defence cooperation. The UK Government seems to have leaned heavily into that way of thinking over the last 12 months. One wonders at what point they'll admit it was a bad call.
Meanwhile...
1. Trump floats cancelling US elections on 5th anniversary of January 6th
Donald Trump floated the idea of cancelling US elections - five years to the day since the January 6th insurrection. Giving a speech to Republican members of Congress at a retreat at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, Trump complained that his party even has to bother running against Democrats.
"How we have to even run against these people," he said. "I won't say cancel the election, they should cancel the election, because the fake news with say, 'He wants the elections canceled. He's a dictator.' They always call me a dictator."
Can't imagine why anyone who wants to cancel elections might be called a dictator.
It's worth noting this is not the first time he's mused about this as an option.
During a visit to the Oval Office by Volodymyr Zelensky (not that one), Ukraine's leader answered a question about the difficulty of holding an election during Ukraine's war with Russia - and Trump openly speculated about how a similar circumstance could allow him to stay in power in the US past the expiration of his current term.
"So let me just say three and a half years from now -- so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections, oh, I wonder what the fake news would say," Trump said.
Elsewhere in his speech to Republican leaders, Trump claimed he'd won Minnesota in all three elections he's run in. In fact, he lost Minnesota in every election.
And he said he's "not sure" if he's allowed to run in a 2028 election (assuming one takes place at all...)
"I'm not allowed to run. I'm not sure," he said. "Is there a little something out there that— I'm not allowed to run, but let's assume I was allowed to run. There's gonna be a constitutional movement."
2. He did an impression of his wife...and it was incredibly problematic
During the same speech, Trump did an impression of wife Melania, claiming she hates it when he dances.
"She hates when I dance," he said - mimicking her accent to add: "It's not presidential!"
He went on: "She actually said, 'Can you imagine FDR dancing?'"
President Franklin D Roosevelt is unlikely to have done a lot of dancing while giving stump speeches, given he suffered from Polio-induced paralysis, and used a wheelchair. On the rare occasions he stood up to do a speech, he wore restrictive leg braces.
3. Miller: Hell yeah, we're going to own Greenland
Asked to rule out taking Greenland by force, Stephen Miller, Trump's Deputy Prince of Darkness, scoffed slightly - but did not.
Implying CNN host Jake Tapper was asking a ridiculous question, Miller repeatedly said Greenland should be "part of the United States".
"By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?" He asked. Tapper kindly didn't point out that the Danish (or Dano-Norwegian) claim to Greenland dates back to the 10th century, hundreds of years before the first European settlements in the United States.
Asked again if he'd take military action off the table, Miller said: "Nobody is gonna fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland..."
4. Europe: Erm...no you're not
...to which a group of European leaders very politely suggested "hey, we might."
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Keir Starmer joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
5. Starmer hasn't spoken to Trump yet
Keir Starmer's official spokesman today acknowledged the PM has yet to speak to Donald Trump since Saturday's invasion of Venezuela.
Which is probably quite annoying for him, considering he expressed a desire to speak to the US President about the attack on Saturday morning.
6. Trump didn't put Venezuela's opposition leader in power 'because she wouldn't give him her Nobel Peace Prize'
In perhaps the most Donald Trump turn of events since his return to office, it's been claimed the reason Trump installed Maduro's deputy as Acting Venezuelan President instead of Maria Corina Machado - the legitimate winner of the country's 2024 election - was over her Nobel Peace Prize.
According to The Washington Post, White House insiders say Trump lost interest in supporting Machado after she didn't turn down the Prize, which she won last month, and give it to him.
"If she had turned it down and said, 'I can't accept it because it's Donald Trump's,' she'd be the president of Venezuela today," a source told the Post.
7. Trump bullies Walz out of office - or does he?
So I might be going out on a limb here, but I've always suspected Trump going so hard on the 'fraud in Minnesota' thing wasn't just about anti-Somali racism.
I think Trump saw Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and running mate of Kamala Harris, as a threat. This is not a theory backed up by polling, I'll grant you - he was bubbling around high single figures in Democratic Primary polls before Trump waded into the scandal and made it into MAGA influencer fodder.
On the other hand, of all the candidates for Democratic nominee, Walz is the most likeable, and absolutely the best at speaking human.
So I was not at all surprised when Trump went hell for leather at the fraud scandal, and focused on pinning it directly on Walz.
As a result, Walz has announced he will no longer run for re-election as Governor this year, so he can concentrate on the job rather than running for office.
That said, his statement does leave the door open to a return to the fray in 2028, and a year or so out of office to build up to it.
8. Trump announces "fraud investigation" in California
Further weight might be added to this argument by Trump turning his fire on California governor Gavin Newsom, the current Democrat frontrunner. Now, Trump has never been shy of attacking Newsom (and vice versa).
But his Truth Social post today made it look awfully like "fraud investigation" was going to be the playbook for whoever looks like the biggest threat.
"California, under Governor Gavin Newscum," Trump wrote, "is more corrupt than Minnesota, if that's possible???
"The Fraud Investigation of California has begun..."
9. Turns out Trump was lying about telling the oil companies
There was some consternation the other night after Trump appeared to suggest the oil companies had been informed about the Venezuela strike, when Congress had not.
Turns out it was just a lie. "Nobody in [the big three oil firms - Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron] has had conversations with the White House about operating in Venezuela, pre-removal or post-removal to this point," a source told Reuters.