Washington's annual Gridiron Dinner is a throw-back to the 19th century: women in long gowns; men in white tie; officials of both political parties, who pretend to get along for one night; and journalists who play nice to politicians they routinely roast during the day.

I was there in 2017, Donald Trump's first year in office. But the rock star of the evening was not the new president. It was the new owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos. Ignoring Trump, journalists like me lined up to shake hands with Bezos and thank him for breathing new life into one of our greatest newspapers.

One day after Trump took office, in fact, Bezos demonstrated his commitment to journalism by giving the Post a new slogan blaring out from the top of the front page: "Democracy dies in darkness." We all knew its powerful double-meaning: when governments operate in secret, accountability is lost; and a free, independent press is vital to maintaining a functional democracy.

What a burst of new faith in good journalism, but how brutally it's been shattered. Nine years ago, we celebrated Jeff Bezos for saving the Washington Post. Today, we condemn him for destroying it. Bezos decided to no longer hold Donald Trump accountable. He decided to become one of his biggest enablers, instead.

Bezos actually started out OK. After buying the Post for $250 million in 2013, he doubled the size of the national reporting staff, increased foreign coverage and invested more money into building the paper's online and video capacity. Trump repeatedly attacked the Post for its coverage and retaliated against Bezos by ordering the US Postal Service to raise delivery rates on Amazon. Yet, despite those threats, Bezos remained strong, even though the Post was losing money. But that suddenly changed when it looked like Trump might make it back to the White House. Bezos realized his two other mega-business ventures, Amazon and Blue Origin, both of which depend on federal government contracts, might be threatened under a second Trump administration. So he decided to throw the Post to the wolves.

It started in 2024 with significant layoffs and buyouts. Then, on Oct. 25, 2024, only 11 days before Election Day, the Post announced it was canceling its planned editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris - prompting hundreds of thousands of loyal readers to cancel their subscriptions.

As if that wasn't enough to curry Trump's favor, Bezos followed up by contributing $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, showing up at his inauguration and shelling out $40 million, plus $35 million in advertising, for Melania Trump's self-promotion documentary.

By now, Bezos was one of Trump's biggest cheerleaders. So imagine how Trump cheered this week when Bezos, in effect, pulled the plug on the Post. On Wednesday, February 4, the Post announced it was firing 300 of 800 journalists in its newsroom. There will be no more sports section, even though Washington has four major league teams. No more book section. No more local news. And no more international coverage from the Middle East, India and Australia. It's no exaggeration to say there will be no more Washington Post. Certainly not the Washington Post that won the Pulitzer Prize for its courageous coverage of Watergate.

No matter where you live in this country, this is bad news. Because it underscores the danger to free and independent journalism, so essential to democracy, under Donald Trump. As the Post's former Executive Editor Marty Baron lamented, "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

And the worst part is - unlike Trump's suing ABC, CBS, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, or prosecuting Don Lemon - the Post's demise is entirely self-inflicted. As Peter Baker of the New York Times reported, Bezos is worth $249.4 billion today. If the Post is, in fact, losing $100 million a year, Bezos could absorb those losses for five years - for what he makes in a single week. It's not that Bezos can't afford the Post anymore, he just doesn't care. He'd rather suck up to Donald Trump.

Is there anything we can do about it? Here's what I've decided. I read a lot of books. For years, I've been one of Amazon's best customers. But no longer. No more Amazon for me. It may take longer, but I'd rather order from my local bookstore than give Jeff Bezos one more penny to fuel his $500 million yacht.

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

It's been a horrible 12 months since Donald Trump's return. But for me, the greatest frustration is not just the cascade of outrageous actions taken by Trump. It's the failure of almost anybody to stand up to him.

Not one Republican senator was willing to cross him. A couple made negative comments, but quickly folded. Not one Republican member of the House. Not the Supreme Court. Not one major business or media leader. They folded faster than politicians. Not even most Democrats. Example: It wasn't Democrats who sued to block construction of Trump's gigantic ballroom, it was the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

But now, finally, we've found one group willing to defy Trump: the brave people of Minneapolis. They not only stood up to Trump, they forced him to back down. And they've taught the world a powerful lesson.

It's not the first time Minneapolis residents have shown their power. Five years ago, after the murder of George Floyd, they launched "Black Lives Matter" protests which swept the country and the globe.

In many ways, what's happening now in Minneapolis is even worse. Because this is not a random act by four local policemen. This is part of President Trump's organized crackdown on illegal immigration, including refugees who followed all the rules.

Under Trump's orders, thousands of masked and assault-weapon carrying ICE agents invaded and terrorized Minneapolis with tactics like Hitler's storm troopers: stopping American citizens in the streets and demanding their papers; breaking into homes with no arrest warrants; pepper-spraying protesters; marching a grandfather out of his home in freezing weather wearing nothing but boxers and clogs and wrapped in a blanket; detaining a 5-year-old boy and whisking him off with his father to a Texas detention center; and shooting three people in the last weeks: Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis (shot in the leg, but survived); and Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti, two American citizens, murdered in cold blood.

Trump and his cronies did everything they could to defend ICE agents and shut down the protests. They accused Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of "inciting Insurrection." Trump falsely accused Good of "running over an ICE agent," when the video clearly showed her simply trying to drive away. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino falsely charged Pretti with "brandishing his weapon" against ICE officers, when the video clearly shows him holding a cellphone, not a gun. Trump immigration hardliner Stephen Miller called them both "domestic terrorists." And, make-up artist always close at hand, feckless DHS Secretary Kristi Noem orchestrated the entire, shameful, response.

But the good people of Minneapolis didn't stand down. They stood up even stronger in acts of bravery and kindness. They represent the best of America. They continued to turn out in freezing cold to protest the presence of federal troops in the street and protect immigrants. They delivered groceries to immigrants afraid to leave their homes. They walked kids to school so their parents wouldn't have to risk getting swooped up and deported. They surrounded local churches on Sunday morning so neighbors could worship without fear of an ICE invasion.

In effect, Minneapolis became a made-for-TV drama: "The People v. Donald Trump." And here's the best part: THE PEOPLE WON!

OK, it's not a total victory - yet. This madness is far from over. ICE agents are still conducting operations. Trump will never admit he was wrong, but he did call Walz in an attempt to "de-escalate" the crisis. Greg Bovino's thrown out of town. Kristi Noem's no longer in charge. Even a couple of Republican senators have said she should resign or be fired. There's a long way to go before Minneapolis is free of federal troops. Until then, protests will continue.

But the fact is: the people of Minneapolis didn't back down. Donald Trump backed down. And therein lies a powerful lesson for every Republican and Democratic politician, every citizen of the United States and every foreign leader: You don't have to cave in to Donald Trump. You can stand up to this bully - and win. We can thank the good people of Minneapolis for showing us how to do it. "Minnesota Nice" is now "Minnesota Strong."

And here's the best way to show our thanks. This week, the editors of The Nation magazine officially nominated the city of Minneapolis and its people for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Nobody deserves it more. And you can be sure of one thing: When they win it, they won't give it to Donald Trump.

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

No more beating around the bush. It's not enough anymore to say Donald Trump's starting to show signs of mental decline. Say it out loud! Donald Trump is already totally bonkers!

That's been more evident every day, but never more so than this week. How else to explain his obsession with taking over Greenland? Don't take it from me. Take it from Trump himself. In a January 7 interview with the New York Times, Trump admitted his determination to seize Greenland is driven, not by facts on the ground, but by delusions in his own sick head.

"Why is ownership important here?" Times national security correspondent David E. Sanger asked." Because that's what I feel is psychologically needed for success," Trump, 79, replied. Quick-thinking White House correspondent Katie Rogers - whom Trump recently called "ugly, both inside and out" for writing a story about his age - chimed in with the obvious follow-up: "Psychologically important to you or to the United States?" Without hesitation, Trump fessed up: "Psychologically important for me."

How and why it's so psychologically important to him became even more clear this week. His feelings were hurt because the Nobel Peace Prize, which he did not deserve, but which he publicly campaigned, begged and groveled for, went to somebody else.

Now, it's hard to believe that any sane man would decide that because he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize, he'd get even by invading and seizing territory that's part of another NATO country, thereby single-handedly destroying NATO and alliances with our European allies that have kept the world safe, and allowed economies on both sides of the Atlantic to grow, for the last 80 years. But no sane man did. Donald Trump did.

Again, don't take my word for it. Trump admits it. On January 18, after receiving a text from Norway Prime Minister Jonas Store offering to host a meeting to "de-escalate" the Greenland issue, Trump fired back on Truth Social: "Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace."

What's wrong with that statement? Everything! One, Trump has not ended eight wars, not even one. Two, Norway doesn't have jurisdiction over Greenland, Denmark does. Three, the government of Norway doesn't award the Nobel Peace Prize, the independent, five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by Norway's Parliament, does. Four, no leader of any government or business, large or small, should make any decision based on "hurt feelings."

This week, after that bizarre text and his erratic appearance at a White House press briefing, people stopped whispering about Trump's declining mental health and started shouting about it. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, cardiologist to the late Vice President Dick Cheney, called for a "bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness." Ty Cobb, a White House attorney in Trump's first term, said it was obvious Trump was experiencing a "significant decline" in his mental faculties. "I think the dementia and the cognitive decline are palpable," he told MS-NOW. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey charged members of the Trump Cabinet: "Invoke the 25th Amendment." Fat chance!

Of course, this isn't the first talk of Trump's questionable mental health. In 2016, a group of 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts warned that "dangerous psychological patterns" made him unfit to handle the duties of president. In 2017, they published their findings as "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump." Even more ominous warnings were raised by health professionals in 2024, among them leading psychologist Dr. John Gartner, former professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, who said Trump was clearly showing signs of dementia.

On my podcast last month, Gartner told me things had gone south for Trump in 2025. "Dementia is a deteriorating illness," he explained. "It doesn't stay the same and it doesn't get better. It only gets worse. And that's exactly what we're seeing." He concluded: "If you just take out some graph paper and plot the rate of his deterioration ... there's simply no way he can make it till the end of his term, compos mentis."

I wish I had better news, but that's where we are. The president is seriously mentally ill. You wouldn't trust him to walk your dog, let alone run the country. But Republicans won't impeach him and his Cabinet will never invoke the 25th amendment. There's no way to get rid of him until 2028. Let's hope we still have a country left by then.

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.