The Daily Populous Thursday January 29th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by politico.eu and submitted by Bob_Spud

The Slovak prime minister made his remarks in a separate informal huddle between some leaders and chief EU officials rather than during the formal roundtable talks, the diplomats said. While none of the diplomats who spoke to POLITICO were present, individual leaders briefed them separately on the content of the conversation shortly after it.

All the diplomats were granted anonymity by POLITICO to allow them to discuss the confidential exchanges between leaders. They come from four different EU governments. The fifth is a senior EU official. All of them said they didn’t know the details of what Trump had said to Fico that had triggered his reaction.

Fico’s comments are especially pertinent because he’s among Europe’s most pro-Trump politicians, touting his access to the U.S. president in a Facebook video after the Mar-a-Lago meeting and voicing support for Washington’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war. A year ago, Fico spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference and told Americans “your president is doing Europe a great service.”

Fico took to X on Wednesday, saying: “I must emphatically reject the lies of the POLITICO portal about how I assessed my meeting with US President D. Trump at an informal summit in Brussels. No one heard anything, no one saw anything, there are no witnesses, but nothing prevented the POLITICO portal from coming up with lies.”

Fico said that he “did not speak at the informal summit in Brussels” and added: “I agree with many strategies of the US president, but with some I don’t. I honestly expected that after my sharp statement on Venezuela, my visit to the US would be cancelled. This did not happen, which makes me appreciate the meeting with the U.S. president all the more.”

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said: “This is absolutely total fake news from anonymous European diplomats who are trying to be relevant. The meeting at Mar-a-Lago was positive and productive.”

cafesolitito on January 28th, 2026 at 12:29 UTC »

He's rapidly deteriorating in front of everyone, we can all see it. The question is if Vance/Rubio have the balls to do anything about it and send the Boy-King to the nursing home and out of public.

MrCadwallader on January 28th, 2026 at 12:25 UTC »

I mean we don't need insider information to know that Trump's state of mind is dangerous. His posture towards allies and rivals seems to change on a dime. He's made threats towards Canada and Greenland. Domestically, ICE is detaining people without due process and he still has the Epstein files hovering over his head. It looks like he'll do anything, say anything to maintain control of the media narrative. All the while he's dismantling the global order, which was one of the foundations of American power.

It beggars belief that he somehow ended up in the position of the most powerful man in the world.

Bob_Spud on January 28th, 2026 at 11:57 UTC »

> Robert Fico, one of the few EU leaders to frequently support Trump’s stance on Europe’s weaknesses, was concerned about the U.S. president’s “psychological state,” two of the diplomats said. Fico used the word “dangerous” to describe how the U.S. president came across during their face-to-face meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Jan. 17, according to two of the diplomats.