Trump Threatens Insurrection Act In Minneapolis As Anti-ICE Protests Escalate
Plus: Iran Protests Diminish After Brutal Crackdown As U.S. Backs Off Strike Talk
Good evening,
Let’s check in on American food trends in 2026. 🇺🇸🍽️
WHAT’S IN: WHOLE MILK 🥛 — President Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act on Wednesday, allowing schools to serve whole milk during students’ lunches again as well as non-dairy milks. Previously, Obama-era rules limited schools to only offer fat-free or low-fat milk options. The new law was passed unanimously by Congress.
Trump’s signing comes a week after the HHS released new US dietary guidelines that recommend Americans eat more whole-fat dairy products.
Some studies have associated whole-fat dairy products with less childhood obesity, while other experts say low-fat options are better for heart health.
WHAT’S OUT: PLANT-BASED “MEAT” 🌱— Plant-based meat products are declining nationally. Retail sales of vegan meats fell 7.5% leading into the spring of 2025, while shares of Beyond Meat dropped by 78% last year. Meanwhile, vegan restaurants have shuttered in different cities across the country.
WHAT’S CONCERNING (AT LEAST TO RFK, JR.): TRUMP’S DIET 🍔🥤 — President Trump is “pumping himself with poison all day long,” according to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The health secretary decried the president’s “unhinged” eating habits during a recent appearance on conservative podcaster Katie Miller’s show.
Trump, an avid fan of McDonald’s and Diet Coke, is nonetheless in great health, his doctors say. “He has the constitution of a deity,” Kennedy said.
Mo News Team
🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING
Trump Threatens to Invoke Insurrection Act As Tensions In Minnesota Boil Over
President Trump warned Thursday that he may invoke the Insurrection Act to “put an end” to ongoing protests against federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, unless Minnesota officials help restore order.
The threat comes as unrest is escalating, sparked by the shooting death of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer last week. That was followed by another federal officer shooting a Venezuelan undocumented migrant in the leg Wednesday night after agents were attacked during a traffic stop.
Federal authorities have sent nearly 3,000 immigration agents to the Twin Cities in the past two weeks – now outnumbering local police officers – as part of Trump’s broader deportation push and an effort to clamp down on growing protests.
Despite mounting backlash – and escalating clashes between protesters and officials – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said there are “no plans” to pull agents out of Minnesota.
ON THE GROUND
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said some protesters threw ice, fireworks and other objects at law enforcement Wednesday as federal officials sprayed tear gas on demonstrations. Authorities reported that several federal vehicles were vandalized.
Meanwhile, accounts online show chaotic confrontations and clashes between Minnesotans and officers: people being pulled from cars, doors knocked down, and individuals tackled by federal officials during enforcement actions.
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino called on state and local officials to cooperate with federal agents on Fox News Thursday, arguing that similar deployments in other Democratic-led cities did not become as volatile because local leadership worked with federal authorities — especially on crowd control outside ICE sites.
State and local leaders — including Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — are resisting any cooperation with the feds.
In an address Wednesday evening, Walz called on Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “end this occupation.” He also encouraged locals to “take out that phone and hit record” if ICE agents are in their neighborhood. Frey called for calm and asked protesters to stop "taking the bait."
THE INSURRECTION ACT
Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act on Truth Social Thursday morning, unless Minnesota politicians “stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job,” he wrote.
What is it exactly? The Insurrection Act is a rarely used law that allows a president to deploy U.S. military forces domestically. Every modern use of the Insurrection Act has come either at a governor’s request or to expand civil rights protections over state objections. It has been invoked 30 times by 15 presidents since President George Washington first used it to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.
President George H.W. Bush last invoked it in 1992 to deploy Marines and other active-duty troops during the Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict.
The last time a president invoked it unilaterally over a state’s objections was in 1965 when southern states refused to enforce civil rights laws.
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🚨 ONE THING WE’RE FOLLOWING
Iran Protests Diminish After Violent Suppression; U.S. Backs Off Strike Threats
After a sweeping Islamic regime crackdown leading to thousands of civilians killed, Iran’s protest movement has been forced into retreat after more than two weeks — at least for now — and the White House has cooled its warnings about possible strikes on Tehran.
Iran reopened its airspace Thursday after a brief closure Wednesday that sparked fears a U.S. strike was imminent. It remains unclear why Iranian authorities closed the airspace in the first place.
President Trump told reporters Wednesday that the “killing in Iran is stopping” –though he didn’t specify where that intelligence came from – and noticeably eased his rhetoric around U.S. intervention, without ruling it out completely.
State of play: Human rights groups estimate 2,000 to 12,000 protesters have been killed by the Islamic regime since demonstrations began about two weeks ago. However, an exact death toll remains unclear amid an ongoing communications blackout, after the authoritarian government shut down internet and phone lines last week.
BEHIND THE SCENES
On Thursday, Iran’s judiciary said it would not seek the death sentence for 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani, whose pending execution had drawn international concern, including from Trump.
But behind the scenes, Trump was also advised that a military strike might not change outcomes on the ground — and could actually make the situation worse.
Advisers reportedly told Trump that even a major U.S. strike wouldn’t necessarily topple Iran’s regime, but could instead ignite a wider regional conflict and require enormous U.S. military resources to protect troops and allies, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Arab states including Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt – as well as Israelis officials – also urged restraint in recent days, warning Washington that a U.S. strike could trigger serious security and economic fallout.
In the clear? Not totally. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Trump has not made a final decision on military action. Officials confirmed he requested military assets be put in place should the administration move forward with strikes.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American Washington Post journalist who was jailed by the Iranian regime in Tehran for 18 months as a political prisoner, tells the Mo News Podcast that even if these demonstrations are quelled, he anticipates Iranians will be back on the streets demonstrating soon.
Rezaian spent 544 days in an Iranian prison, beginning in 2014. He was accused without evidence of illegally spying for America while working as a Tehran correspondent for the Post.
He was released in January 2016 and said his time in prison taught him more about Iran’s government than his years covering the country as a reporter.
In a conversation with Mosheh on the Mo News Podcast, Rezaian says he thinks this wave of protests are different than past ones: people feel they have nothing left to lose as the Iranian currency collapses, the country grows more isolated, and repression intensifies.
“They don’t feel like they have much to lose,” Rezaian tells Mosheh. “That is why people are so willing to go out and call for the end of this regime… Not just in urban centers, which is where most of the protests over the years have been, and not just in provinces that are dominated by ethnic minorities. I think this is the first time that you see all of those groups en masse coming together.”
Rezaian predicts continued unrest will expose deeper weaknesses in the already historically weak regime — and that eventually, its collapse could be inevitable. “And I hope that we’ll have thought through and planned for what to do in that eventuality,” he adds.
🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Jason Rezaian on the Mo News Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.
⏳ THE SPEED READ
🚨NATION
Democrat blasts HHS for creating confusion in cutting, then reinstating grants for substance abuse and mental health programs (CNN)
Appeals court says judge had no jurisdiction to order Mahmoud Khalil’s release (ABC)
ICE deputy director resigns from agency to run for Congress (FOX)
Brazilian au pair testifies against former employer and lover who murdered wife and stranger in Virginia (CBS)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
Pro-regime protesters in Iran hold Trump assassination attempt photo, chant ‘death to America,’ state media shows (FOX)
British veterans aged 65 told to prepare for war (THE TELEGRAPH)
Another construction crane collapse in Thailand kills 2 people a day after deadly train derailment (NBC)
More than 4.7m social media accounts blocked after Australia’s under-16 ban came into force, PM says (GUARDIAN)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
Wikipedia inks AI deals with Microsoft, Meta and Perplexity as it marks 25th birthday (AP)
Verizon to issue $20 credits to customers affected by cell service outage (NBC)
After a medical evacuation from space, NASA’s Crew-11 returns to Earth a month early (NPR)
OpenAI’s ‘ChatGPT Translate’ opens and challenges Google Translate (VERGE)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Many college players among 20 charged in point-shaving scheme (ESPN)
Harry Styles announces music return with fourth solo album ‘Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally’ (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
Mattel partners with author Alex Aster Announces New Barbie YA Novel (PEOPLE)
Woman who claimed to be Freddie Mercury’s secret daughter dead at 48 (E!)
ICYMI FROM THE 📲
In case you missed it… 2016 is the new 2026, with scores of celebrities and social media users posting photos of themselves and their lives a decade ago.
What’s driving the trend? Maybe it’s pop culture nostalgia for fidget spinners, The Chainsmokers, and Pokémon Go. Or, maybe people are just remembering 2016 as a (mostly) calmer time with fewer algorithm-driven social media feeds.