Trump Is About to Find Out What Every Bully in History Has Found Out

In 2025, Donald Trump scared people. And institutions. Go back in your mind to way he came out of the gate, gunning the accelerator on every front. Pardoning the insurrectionists. Dismantling the executive branch. Firing inspectors general and heads and members of independent commissions. Arresting people for writing op-eds. Threatening universities and law firms. Shipping people off to El Salvador.

That was Round One in the Trump boxing match against reality, and for a time, Trump was winning. The shock felt by his attacks on political opponents and institutions left them flat-footed. Some prominent law firms caved to Trump’s threats and agreed to do pro bono work for his pet causes. Universities cut deals to stay out of his gunsights. Media companies capitulated. Amazon decided to make a movie about Melania (it debuts at the end of the month at—you guessed it—the “Trump-Kennedy Center”). Trump’s power reached from the normal political realm down into the culture itself. A number of firms and universities and others fought him, but the general cultural vibe was very much in the direction of trying to stay in line—the better to avoid the tyrant’s attention—or actively trying to win it with embarrassing acts of sycophancy.

Now we’re at the start of Round Two of the boxing match, and I smell something changing. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jason Frey have been impressively uncompromising—and uncompromised, which is more important—in their public statements since ICE hit town and executed a blameless U.S. citizen. Trump and the cowardly Pam Bondi (does she understand how the history books will treat her?) launched investigations into the two men. They responded by saying, in essence, bring it on. Said Walz: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.” (Hey, good idea, governor: How about the state of Minnesota or the city of Minneapolis arrest Jonathan Ross?)

Over the weekend, three high-ranking American Catholic cardinals denounced Trump (not by name) and his imperial bullying in what was, for cardinals, a strongly worded statement. “Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” they wrote. That followed statements by Pope Leo criticizing Trump for his treatment of immigrants.

Last Friday, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney announced that his country had made a deal with China that would dramatically drop tariffs on Chinese electrical vehicles and allow nearly 50,000 of them to be sold in Canada. This is a move to keep a close eye on.

Ever watched a video about a Chinese EV? I have. These vehicles are good. Maybe not just good. They look amazing. And they’re cheap, comparatively. That’s why Joe Biden imposed a 100 percent tariff on them in 2024—to keep the competition safely on the other side of the planet. Then-Canadian PM Justin Trudeau followed Biden’s lead and imposed the same level of tariff. Both were protecting their car industries, and this is one form of protectionism that I’d imagine most Americans support: No one wants to see Detroit die.

But Carney, with elbows clearly up, has different ideas. Okay, Trump, make all the 51st state jokes you want. You think I’ll just let this happen? Well, try this on for size: I’m going to bring Chinese EVs onto North American soil.

Detroit must be in a dead panic over this. And Trump is learning that little Canada with its mere 40 million people actually has some leverage over the mighty United States that the bully didn’t think it had.

And if Canada has leverage, what about the EU? The EU is the world’s third biggest economy, after the United States and China. Does Trump really think he can impose tariffs on the EU over this Greenland madness, and the EU won’t retaliate? Trump is set to speak in Davos on Wednesday. EU leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Thursday. They’re not going to take whatever idiocy he launches lying down.

So, all over the place, and in a range of realms, people have started to confront the bully. There remains, however, one group of people, or two closely related groups, that have yet to join the club: corporate America and Wall Street—the biggest cowards in the country.

Why haven’t they? We know why. They’re mostly Republican, and they voted for Trump. They want their tax cuts. They’re terrified of crossing him. They know they helped elect a president bent on weaponizing the civil service to seek revenge on his enemies—and that he’ll order the DOJ’s antitrust division or the Securities and Exchange Commission or others to go after them in a heartbeat the moment they end up on Trump’s blacklist.

But this, too, may be starting to change. Detroit, as noted, has to be worried that Trump is setting off a chain of events that may put them out of business. European countries are beefing up their defense spending, which should get a gravy train rolling for American defense giants—but the EU already started freezing out U.S. contractors last fall, and if Trump tries to seize Greenland, U.S. contractors will lose billions in opportunities. And even some Wall Street figures have been critical of Trump recently over the scandalous investigation of Fed Chair Jay Powell and Trump’s proposed credit-card interest rate cap.

I’m not expecting much out of these people. They don’t care about anything, really, except their bottom line. But the king’s madness is starting to affect that. If Trump drives this country into a position where most of the world—save Russia, Hungary, Chile, El Salvador, and a handful of other right-wing dys-fantasy lands—wants to do business with China and the EU, corporate America and Wall Street will miraculously find their backbones. And once that happens, Trump won’t have many friends left.

Trump’s shock troops still scare some people on the streets of our country, and tragically so. Over the weekend, I saw a heartbreaking sign posted on the door of a Mexican restaurant in Minneapolis: “WE ARE OPEN,” the sign said. “Please wait for us to unlock the door. Thank you for understanding.” It’s reasonable that those poor people should be scared. What a ghastly sight to see in the United States of America.

But those of us not facing that kind of direct threat? For that cohort, 2026 will not be a repeat of 2025. And the bully will learn what bullies throughout history have learned. Eventually, people decide they have had enough. And “eventually” is coming.