A Hostile Takeover, A Trade War & What a Democrat is in 2026 - Top 3 Takeaways January 20th, 2026
Takeaway #1: Hostile Takeover
Well, that escalated quickly. In corporate America, there are three types of takeovers. The most common, which is known as a “Friendly Takeover”, is when a larger entity proposes the acquisition of a smaller entity, and the terms of the transaction are mutually agreed to by each company’s board of directors/shareholders. Then there’s occasional “Reverse Takeover”. This type of takeover occurs when a publicly held company is purchased by a private company that intends to list publicly (allowing the parent company to bypass the traditional IPO process). While it’s common for public companies to be purchased by private entities, it’s somewhat unusual for this purpose... And then there’s what’s known as the “Hostile Takeover”. While hostile takeovers have existed as long as warfare has, in the corporate world it’s not a team of barbarians storming a company’s corporate headquarters; however short of bloodshed it can at times feel that way to the company that’s targeted. Hostile takeovers occur when a larger entity believes that a smaller entity is undervalued and has unique assets that are deemed to be a priority for the growth of the acquiring company. The way that hostile takeovers playout can vary based upon ownership levels, whether shareholders side with the would-be acquiring company over their company’s leadership, etc. About now you might be wondering why my top takeaway seemingly is an Econ 101 lesson on corporate takeovers...it’s because President Trump is currently attempting one in unprecedented fashion. Over the first year of Trump’s Presidency, literally (yesterday marked exactly one year back in office for Trump), the president has tried all the non-hostile tactics to attempt to acquire Greenland for the United States. He’s made appeals to European leaders that Denmark isn’t in a position to withstand the threats posed by China and Russia which are aggressively and increasingly positioned in the waters surrounding the asset rich country, that President Trump feels is both currently undervalued and underutilized. He’s pointed out that Greenland’s government has publicly stated that they’ll consider teaming with China if more isn’t done to develop Greenland’s assets and boost its economy. He’s floated the idea of paying Greenland’s citizens up to $100,000 each for them to break with their government and vote to align with the U.S. instead of Denmark (that was the first foray into hostile takeover territory). But all of those overtures have been rejected, and so now the architect of the Art of the Deal is launching a fully hostile takeover attempt that’s effectively...
Takeaway #2: A Trade War
With Europe. If you didn’t feel liberated by “Liberation Day” in April of last year – there’s the potential for you to feel a bit queasy about what’s in the works today. President Trump has announced that he intends to raise tariff rates by 10% on February 1st for eight European countries if a deal for the United States to acquire Greenland from Denmark isn’t reached. He further said those tariffs would rise to 25% on June 1st if a deal still hasn’t been reached by then. In response, the EU has held an emergency meeting over the weekend and is considering retaliatory tariffs that could prove to be significant. The immediate reaction in the financial markets isn’t likely to be as strong as what we saw last April as we’re currently only talking about Europe, which represents about 30% of U.S. trade...as opposed to all countries we trade with but still it’s a big deal. It’s really unclear what exactly might happen from here. A wildcard to this conversation could include the United States Supreme Court ruling on President Trump’s tariffs case which could potentially take away the president’s ability to unilaterally implement tariffs for this type of purpose. The highly anticipated ruling could come down as soon as this week and, if they’re set to limit the president’s tariff ability, might even be expedited based on this development. It’s unlikely that the EU (or Greenland for that matter), will do anything retaliatory until they’ve seen what the high court’s ruling is. The EU had already pushed out a date to fully ratify last year’s trade deals negotiated with President Trump until this spring in part due to this reason... Stand by for news...and likely some selling of stocks and new highs for gold and silver.
Takeaway #3: This is what an Elected Democrat is in 2026
Following last November’s elections which featured Democrats performing well in Virginia and New Jersey, which was to be expected, I said this regarding the implications for the Democrat Party but also for the country based upon the outcomes. As I noted at the time... No, Abigail Spanberger, an uninspired generic Democrat who will be the next governor of Virginia isn’t the future of the party. Nor will Mikie Sherrill, another wholly unimpressive generic Democrat who will be the next governor of New Jersey. I followed that train of thought up by pointing out that the Schumer-wing of the Democrat Party would describe the two new milk toast unimpressive white female governors as moderates (which they’re not) and attempt to take a stand on running similar candidates across the country going forward. Meanwhile, the AOC-Mamdani wing of the party was celebrating while plotting the future takeover of the party. So here we are only a few months later, and Abigal Spanberger has shown her true colors. As I said at the time she may have been painted as a “moderate” however they don't’ exist in the Democrat Party today. 40 states had partnered with ICE to combat illegal immigration. Meaning that at a minimum, if ICE issued a detainer for a criminal illegal immigrant, the state would turn over custody to ICE for deportation proceedings at the appropriate time. That’s now down to 39 because Virigina’s new governor Abigal Spanberger has signed an executive order ending corporation with ICE and effectively rendering Virginia a sanctuary state. As I warned at the time, Spanberger isn’t moderate. They no longer exist in Democrat politics. The only dividing line on the left that is left is whether a Democrat is an overt socialist or not. This is why Democrats must be defeated in elections from top to bottom. Spanberger, who has decided to turn Virginia into a sanctuary state, is what the Left calls moderate these days. This is what a Democrat is in 2026.