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Trump Threatens Tehran & The Russia-Ukraine Casualty Data

SpaceX Wants $500B & Rep. Ilhan Omar's Assault

Author

Marcus Gee-Lim
January 29, 2026

Hi readers, happy Thursday! Today we’re covering Trump’s threats to Tehran, an attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Russia-Ukraine casualty numbers, poverty in the U.K., U.S. consumer confidence, the Fed’s interest rate decision, and SpaceX’s IPO plans.

“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.” ― Herman Hesse

Trump Turns Back To Tehran

U.S. Navy/PH3 Alta I. Cutler

President Trump’s wandering gaze shifted away from Greenland this week, and the leader of the free world is now threatening to unleash military strikes on Iran. On Wednesday, Trump called on Iran’s government to work out a deal that will see the country end its nuclear weapons program, warning that a massive U.S. armada was bearing down on the country “with great power, enthusiasm and purpose.” 

“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties,” Trump wrote on social media. “Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! … As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again.”

In a statement on Wednesday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Iran’s government is currently at its weakest state in years thanks to serious economic struggles and widespread protests earlier this month. Despite that claim, multiple U.S. intelligence reports seem to indicate that Tehran’s power structure is still intact, and the Iranian government has threatened to unleash massive retaliatory strikes on U.S. and Israeli bases if the U.S. launches an attack. 

Not A Moment Of Peace In Minneapolis

On Tuesday night, Representative Ilhan Omar was hosting a town hall meeting in Minneapolis, talking to people from her voting district about ongoing ICE operations in the city. Partway through the meeting, a man in the audience rushed at the progressive lawmaker with a syringe in hand, spraying her with a strong-smelling liquid before being dragged away by a security guard.

While staff and security pushed her to end the town hall, Omar continued talking to her constituents after a short break. “Here’s the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand,” she said. “We are Minnesota strong, and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us.”

Authorities have identified the attacker as Anthony Kazmierczak, a 55-year-old Minneapolis native. Kazmierczak’s social media history portrays him as an avid Trump supporter who sees Democrats as “angry and liars,” while court records show that he was convicted of felony auto theft in 1989 and driving while under the influence of alcohol in 2009 and 2010. While politicians from both parties have condemned the attack and wished Omar well, the president told reporters on Wednesday that he hadn’t watched footage of the incident. “I don't think about her. I think she's a fraud,” he said.

The Real Cost Of Russia’s War

via rawpixel. CC0 1.0 Universal.

  • According to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the total number of casualties – soldiers killed, injured, or missing – in the Russia-Ukraine war is expected to reach 2 million this spring. The report projects that Russia has sustained roughly 1.2 million casualties (including an estimated 325,000 troop deaths) between the start of the war and December 2025. Over that same timespan, Ukraine is estimated to have suffered between 500,000 and 600,000 military casualties, including 140,000 troop deaths.

  • “Despite claims of battlefield momentum in Ukraine, the data shows that Russia is paying an extraordinary price for minimal gains and is in decline as a major power,” wrote CSIS in its report. “No major power has suffered anywhere near these numbers of casualties or fatalities in any war since World War II.” Currently, the conflict has turned into a painful war of attrition, with Russian troops grinding out incremental victories along the war’s 600-mile front. The report states that Russia is advancing by about 49 to 230 feet per day, “slower than almost any major offensive campaign in any war in the last century.”

The Poverty Problem Across The Pond

  • Recent economic analysis indicates that poverty in the U.K. is becoming a stickier and more debilitating problem. According to analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), while the percentage of people living below the poverty line has held at 21%, a record number of U.K. households – 6.8 million people – are living in “very deep poverty,” meaning their yearly household income can’t cover their food, energy bills, and clothing costs. The numbers indicate that about 3.8 million people experienced destitution, an even more severe form of poverty that leaves families unable to stay housed, clothed, and fed. 

  • “Poverty in the UK is still not just widespread, it is deeper and more damaging than at any point in the last 30 years,” said the JRF’s chief analyst. The foundation’s report examines data from the past three decades, and indicates that the U.K. failed to reduce poverty at all between 2010 and 2024, the years during which the Conservative Party controlled the government. In terms of the current Labour government, the JRF report welcomes the left-wing party’s child poverty strategy, but warns that “there remains a seeming lack of urgency and sense of direction” in the nation’s response to the larger poverty problem. 

Additional World News

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Consumer Confidence Is Crushed

  • The vibes are bad across the pond too. On Tuesday, the Conference Board released its U.S. Consumer Confidence Index data for January – the index dropped by 9.7 over the past month, to 84.5. That’s the lowest the index has been since 2014, meaning consumers are currently less confident about the economy than they were when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Numbers that track Americans’ sentiments towards current economic conditions and the U.S. economy’s future prospects also dropped sharply, indicating that consumers have serious doubts about the country’s current leadership.

  • “All five components of the Index deteriorated, driving the overall Index to its lowest level since May 2014 (82.2) — surpassing its Covid-19 pandemic depths,” said the chief economist at The Conference Board. “References to prices and inflation, oil and gas prices, and food and grocery prices remained elevated,” she said, adding that “mentions of tariffs and trade, politics, and the labor market also rose in January, and references to health/insurance and war edged higher.” Overall, the data seems to indicate that people are stressed out over rising cost of living, and headlines about the Trump administration’s attacks on international allies and the Fed are probably not helping that anxiety.

The Fed Stays Flat

  • While consumers have indicated that they’re concerned about the economy, the Federal Reserve signalled the opposite. Yesterday, the Fed’s Open Market Committee voted to keep interest rates steady after electing to cut rates over the final three months of 2025. In this case, the bank’s decision to not cut interest rates means that the Fed is concerned about further rate cuts making inflation worse, and also indicates that the bank thinks the labor market is relatively healthy.

  • “Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have remained low, and the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization,” said the Open Market Committee in its post-meeting statement. “Inflation remains somewhat elevated.” The Fed is expected to keep rates flat for the next few months as inflation remains at 3%, well above the bank’s target of 2%. Currently, experts believe that the bank will make just two rate cuts in 2026, even though Trump is likely to install a more rate-cut-happy Fed Chair when Jerome Powell’s term ends in two months.

Additional USA News

 

SpaceX To The Moon?

  • According to the Financial Times, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is considering going public. Yesterday, the FT reported that the company is thinking about making its initial public offering (IPO) sometime in mid-June, when Jupiter and Venus line up with each other and just a few days before Musk turns 55 on June 28.

  • Sources close to the company have stated that SpaceX is looking to make about a third of its shares available to the public for a total of $500 billion, valuing the aerospace giant at a whopping $1.5 trillion. Those numbers would make SpaceX’s public offering the biggest IPO in history, far surpassing the $29 billion made by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

  • The company, which reported $15.5 billion in revenue in 2025, is apparently in talks with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley to figure out a bank to lead the deal. If the company's $1.5 trillion valuation sticks, Musk’s net worth (currently $680 billion) will shoot into the stratosphere like it’s been strapped onto a SpaceX rocket, as he owns 42% of the aerospace firm.

Additional Reads

Peanut For Your Thoughts

Pretty questionable source so didn’t want to include this in the actual newsletter, but here’s an eye-catching headline: Erika Kirk Under Fire As Candace Owens Leaks Audio Of Her 'Giggling' About 'Event Of The Century' After His Death (Yahoo)

Editor + Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella