Trump shares Christmas message as Denmark responds to Greenland threats by boosting defense: Live
Danish defense minister says country will spend $1.5 billion to ensire ‘stronger presence’ in Arctic
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Your support makes all the difference.Denmark is boosting defense spending for Greenland. A Danish official said Tuesday that the timing of the announcement, coming as President-elect Donald Trump made comments that the U.S. should own the territory, was an “irony of fate.”
This comes as Trump wished a “Merry Christmas to all” on Truth Social.
Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish defense minister, told the paper Jyllands-Posten Tuesday that the country plans to spend a “double-digit billion amount” in krone — about $1.5 billion — to make sure they have a “stronger presence” in the Arctic.
Trump said Sunday that the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S. The U.S. military operates a base in northwest Greenland.
After seemingly joking about Canada becoming the “51st” state, the incoming president fired off ominous messages alleging the Panama Canal and Greenland pose serious economic and national security threats to the United States and might be targeted for some kind of annexation or purchase.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is reeling after an ethics committee report into former congressman Matt Gaetz “determined there is substantial evidence” that he paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex and used illicit drugs while he was a member of Congress.
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Colombia’s president denounces ‘American fascist’ Colombian-American calling for public executions of immigrants
Far-right Republican figure Valentina Gomez, who has made headlines for stunts like taking a flamethrower to banned books, is now calling for public executions for any immigrant in the country illegally who “rapes or kills an American.”
“They don’t deserve deportation. They deserve to be ended,” she says in a video moments after shooting an effigy tied to a chair in the back of the head.
The caption reads “Public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American.” The video posted on X has been flagged for potentially violating the platform’s “rules against Violent Speech.”
Gomez, who is Colombian-American, came sixth in an eight-person primary for Missouri’s secretary of state, and last week she said she’s moving to Texas to challenge congressman Dan Crenshaw’s seat
Colombia’s own president called her an “American fascist.”
“She is not just an American fascist. She is Colombian,” Gustavo Petro wrote in Spanish. “And being a migrant, what she wants is to unleash hatred against migrants. Most Americans are killed by Americans.”
Trump’s Christmas Eve message promises to expand death penalty
Trump, who touts himself as America’s “most pro-life” president, continues to attack Presidnet Joe Biden after he announced the largest single-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.
The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system, which Trump has pushed to expedite once in office.
Biden explicitly said in his announcement that he could not let Trump do that.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he wrote.
On Christmas Eve, Trump hpromised to direct the Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue the death penalty” as soon as he enters office.
“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s Christmas Eve meltdown over Biden’s commutation of death row prisoners
Less than a month before Trump takes office, Biden removed 37 people from death row who were all convicted of murder charges
Matt Gaetz sends fundraising message after bombshell House Ethics report: ‘I need your help’
Hours after the publication of a bombshell report revealing “substantial evidence” that Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, the former congressman issued a fundraising plea through his recently launched political action committee.
Matt Gaetz sends fundraising message after bombshell ethics report
The former congressman used the publication of a damning report to raise money for his PAC
John Bolton: I’m ‘very worried’ about how Trump would handle ‘much more likely’ international crisis
John Bolton, President-elect Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, said that an international crisis is “much more likely” during the Republican’s second term.
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Can Trump actually try to buy Greenland?
Trump’s territorial ambitions have added another strange new wrinkle to the transition process.
It’s highly unlikely that the president-elect will have any success in convincing the governments of either Greenland or Denmark to sever the ties between the European country and its autonomous North American territory, it’s worth looking into the process of how the U.S. acquires new territories — and how that territory could be classified.
The Independent’s John Bowden explains:
Trump wants to purchase Greenland. How would that actually work?
President-elect has indicated the U.S. will make Greenland purchase a priority in post about new ambassador to Denmark
Republican senator endorses Trump’s calls to seize Panama Canal
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn told Fox News that voters gave Trump a “mandate” after suggested that his administration would try to seize control of the Panama Canal.
“The American people have given President Trump a mandate,” she told the network Monday night.
“They are tired of our nation not putting Americans first,” she added. “So, when it comes to dealing with the Panama Canal and making certain that China is not being advantaged in this, and America disadvantaged, of course. Let’s put this issue on the table and talk about it.”
On Truth Social, Trump – who has also suggested that the United States should launch campaigns to seize Canada and Greenland — said the nation “has a vested interest in the secure, efficient, and reliable operation of the Panama Canal, and that was always understood.”
“We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands! It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama,” he added. “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question. To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!”
More on Trump’s relationship to Panama from The Independent’s Josh Marcus:
Canal threats and a hotel battle: Trump’s long, weird history with Panama
Major Trump project in Panama City brought lawsuits, shoving matches and money-laundering allegations before Trump lost it in hostile takeover
Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO: ‘Americans no longer trust the national news media’
After Trump threatened to strip ABC’s broadcast license and forced the network into a $15 million settlement, the president-elect’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission warned its parent company that Americans “no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”
In a letter to Disney’s CEO Bob Iger, Brendan Carr lamented the “erosion in public trust” in news media, and suggested ABC was partially to blame.
Inside Trump’s latest fight with the media, and what Carr – a Project 2025 co-author — plans to do in office:
Trump’s FCC chair sends ominous letter to Disney CEO
Brendan Carr laments ‘erosion of public trust’ in media while Trump sues newspapers and media companies
Gavin Newsom reportedly mulling immigrant support plan to combat Trump’s deportation threats
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is drafting a plan to help undocumented immigrants in the state who could be targeted by Donald Trump’s mass deportation threats, according to Politico, which obtained a draft of a proposal.
A draft titled “Immigrant Support Network Concept” proposes the “creation of an Immigrant Support Network comprised of regional ‘hubs’ to connect at-risk individuals, their families, and communities with community systems — such as legal services, schools, labor unions, local governments, etc,” Politico reported.
The Democratic governor’s alleged efforts glimpse how some blue state leaders could be bracing for Trump’s agenda. On the other side of the country, however, New York City Mayor Eric Adams seems open to embracing Trump’s plans, as he announces his intention to loosen sanctuary protections and welcomes “border czar” Tom Homan to City Hall.
More on how New York is preparing for Trump 2.0:
America’s biggest ‘sanctuary city’ opens the doors to Trump’s border czar
Mayor Eric Adams meets with Tom Homan as Trump prepares for his mass deportation operation, says they have the ‘same desire’
‘It’s clear he’s in charge now’: Lawmakers react to Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration
As President Joe Biden winds down his presidency, Trump is behaving as though he is already in office, writes Rhian Lubin.
Within the last week, Trump launched a campaign against last week’s temporary bill and issued threats against the Panama Canal and Greenland.
‘He’s in charge’: Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ involvement ahead of inauguration
Trump is behaving as though he is already in office as Biden winds down his presidency, according to Republican and Democratic lawmakers
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