Support our truly independent journalism.   Watch now   Trump Tells NATO to Shoot Down Russian Aircraft After Scandinavian Drone Attacks TTT Live for Day 246 with Zev Shalev and Olga Lautman. Zev Shalev and Olga Lautman Sep 23 🎯 Trump Gives NATO Green Light to Strike Russian Military Aircraft In a surprising turn at his UN press conference with Zelensky, Trump declared that NATO countries should shoot down any Russian aircraft entering their airspace. Asked about the Copenhagen drone incident, Trump took an unexpectedly hardline position, stating NATO should take collective action against Russian incursions. As we discussed, this marks a significant shift - though whether he maintains this position after speaking with Putin remains to be seen. The statement came after Zelensky called the incidents “an obvious expansion of the war by Russia.” 🛩️ Russian Drones Shut Down Three Scandinavian Capitals Copenhagen Airport shut down Monday night after police reported 2-3 large drones, forcing cancellation of 20+ flights. As Olga Lautman revealed, this wasn’t isolated - Oslo and Stockholm airports faced similar incidents hours apart on the same day. Since Trump’s Alaska summit with Putin three weeks ago, Russia has dramatically escalated: targeting Western factories in Ukraine, jamming GPS on EU Commissioner von der Leyen’s plane (which Lautman argues was an assassination attempt), sending 19 drones into Poland via Belarus, and violating Estonian airspace for 12 minutes. As Lautman noted, Poland finally threatened to shoot down Russian jets, but for years watched Russian missiles transit their airspace to kill Ukrainian civilians. “Turkey shot down a Russian plane in 2015. Russia never even made a peep about it.” 🔨 Trump’s Personal Attorney Takes Over Federal Prosecutions Zero prosecutorial experience, racing against statute of limitations Lindsay Halligan, Trump’s former personal attorney with no prosecutorial experience, was sworn in as interim U.S. attorney for Eastern Virginia after Trump forced out her predecessor for refusing to indict James Comey and Letitia James. The statute of limitations on Comey’s 2020 congressional testimony expires within weeks. As Lautman explained, this mirrors Putin’s playbook: “It’s an unspoken word. You don’t even have to have discussions... one name given and then they know what to do.” The goal isn’t convictions but propaganda theater - mugshots and accusations that silence opposition through costly legal defense. ⚖️ Supreme Court Rubber-Stamps Agency Purges The Supreme Court cleared Trump’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, the last Democrat on the FTC, while agreeing to hear arguments on overturning 90-year precedent protecting agency independence. These shadow docket maneuvers - not actual cases presented before the court - enable rapid consolidation of power. 🎯 “Antifa” Becomes Whatever Trump Wants It To Be No organization exists to designate as terrorist. Trump’s executive order designating “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization has no legal mechanism - U.S. law doesn’t allow domestic terror designations. As we joked, if opposing fascism makes you “antifa,” then J.D. Vance qualifies as their leader since he called Trump “America’s Hitler.” 🇧🇷 U.S. Sanctions Brazilian Judge’s Wife for Prosecuting Bolsonaro Using taxpayer-funded agencies to protect fellow coup plotters The Trump administration sanctioned the wife of the Brazilian Supreme Court Justice who convicted Bolsonaro for his coup attempt, while revoking visas for judicial officials. As Lautman pointed out: “Brazil actually did hold the former president accountable, which frankly Americans failed to do.” Now Trump uses the Treasury Department to impose tariffs and the State Department to revoke visas - all taxpayer-funded retaliation for upholding democracy. The juxtaposition is striking: Trump surprisingly calls for shooting down Russian aircraft while simultaneously importing Putin’s authoritarian playbook domestically. Whether his NATO stance survives his next conversation with Putin remains to be seen - as always with Trump, actions matter more than words. Thank you Robin Payes, Pamela, P. J. Schuster, julie elder, Jeanne Elbe, and many others for tuning into my live video with Olga Lautman! Join me for my next live video in the app. Share our independent journalism with others.