A second post<\/a>, also generated with AI, showed Trump planting a US flag on Greenland\u2019s soil, alongside Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.<\/p>\nThe images were the latest indication that Trump planned to muscle ahead with his plans to take control of Greenland, as part of his expansionist goals for his second term.<\/p>\n
In his news briefing, Trump expressed optimism that his pressure campaign would be successful, as he faced questions from reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aWe have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland,\u201d Trump said of his upcoming trip to Davos on Wednesday. \u201cAnd I think things are going to work out pretty well, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also waved aside concerns that his ambitions of territorial expansion might strip Greenlanders of their right to self-determination. \u201cWhen I speak to them, I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be thrilled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Still, when confronted with questions about how far he was willing to go to acquire the island, Trump struck an ominous note, stating simply, \u201cYou\u2019ll find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has previously refused to take military options off the table, and he has threatened several European allies with a tariff hike should they fail to support his claim to the self-governing island.<\/p>\n
Weighing the future of NATO and the UN<\/h2>\n
The sabre-rattling over Greenland led one reporter at the briefing to ask whether Trump was willing to risk the breakup of the NATO alliance to achieve his expansionist agenda.<\/p>\n
Trump responded by largely sidestepping the question. He indicated that a mutually agreeable solution could be struck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think something\u2019s going to happen that\u2019s going to be very good for everybody,\u201d he said of Greenland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that we will work something out where NATO\u2019s going to be very happy and where we\u2019re going to be very happy, but we need it for security purposes. We need a financial security and even world security.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also touted his efforts to boost military spending among NATO members. At a NATO summit in June, most member countries agreed to increase their defence spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic products (GDPs), though Spain successfully petitioned for an exemption.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody\u2019s done more for NATO than I have,\u201d Trump said, revisiting a familiar boast.<\/p>\n
Still, he questioned one of NATO\u2019s basic principles. Article Five of the alliance\u2019s treaty requires member states to come to one another\u2019s defence, should any be attacked. But under Trump, allies in Europe and Canada have speculated whether the US would abide by that commitment.<\/p>\n
At Tuesday\u2019s briefing, Trump appeared to flip the accusation on its head, casting doubt on whether Europe and Canada would come to the US\u2019s aid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO, and I know we\u2019ll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they\u2019ll come to ours,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI\u2019m just asking. Just saying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only once has Article Five ever been invoked, after the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. The incident prompted NATO allies to deploy their first-ever \u201canti-terror operation\u201d, providing aircraft to patrol US skies and ensure regional safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s overrated. Sometimes it\u2019s not,\u201d Trump said of the alliance.<\/p>\n
The US president similarly equivocated on the subject of the UN, saying the international body \u201chasn\u2019t been very helpful\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has never lived up to its potential,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n
When asked if his \u201cboard of peace\u201d \u2014 designed to oversee the reconstruction of war-torn Gaza \u2014 might one day replace the UN, Trump replied in the affirmative, saying, \u201cWell, it might.\u201d<\/p>\n
A role for Machado in Venezuela?<\/h2>\n
While Greenland was front of mind ahead of Trump\u2019s arrival in Davos, the president was also forced to confront questions about another country where the US has made claims: Venezuela.<\/p>\n
On January 3, Trump authorised a military action to abduct his longtime adversary, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was subsequently transported to the US to face trial on drug-trafficking charges.<\/p>\n
Legal experts have largely condemned the operation as a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty.<\/p>\n
While Trump initially said the US would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela in the aftermath of the attack, he has since signalled his willingness to cooperate with interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro\u2019s former second-in-command.<\/p>\n
Given that Maduro\u2019s last two elections had faced widespread accusations of fraud, many political observers expected a new vote to be called in the wake of his removal. But the Trump administration has declined to set a timeline for new elections.<\/p>\n
Previously, Trump also dismissed the prospect of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado taking power in Maduro\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn\u2019t have the support within or the respect within the country,\u201d Trump said within hours of the January 3 operation.<\/p>\n
Still, on Tuesday, Trump appeared to shift his tone. He signalled that there could be a role for Machado in Venezuela\u2019s leadership, following their meeting last week at the White House.<\/p>\n
During her visit, Machado presented Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in October. Trump has long lobbied for the prize himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn unbelievably nice \u200awoman also did a very incredible thing, as you know, a few days ago,\u201d Trump told reporters on Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019re talking to her, and maybe we can get her involved in some way. I\u2019d love to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump added that the Rodriguez government had \u200abeen receptive to his administration\u2019s demands and that he expected US oil companies to make \u201cmassive investments\u201d in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve taken 50 million barrels of oil out of Venezuela in the first four days,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got millions of barrels of oil left. We\u2019re selling it on the open market.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proceeds have gone into a US-controlled account, and on Tuesday, the Rodriguez administration said it received $300m as part of the arrangement.<\/p>\n
Addressing tensions in Minnesota<\/h2>\n
On the domestic front, Trump used his first-anniversary appearance to defend his controversial immigration operations in Minnesota, where nearly 2,000 federal agents have been deployed.<\/p>\n
The large-scale immigration crackdown began in December, after Trump blamed Minnesota\u2019s large Somali American community for a fraud scandal that rocked the midwestern state.<\/p>\n
At the time, he deployed racist insults to disparage Somali Americans, including by calling them \u201cgarbage\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump returned to that theme at Tuesday\u2019s news conference, where he belittled the diaspora\u2019s intelligence by saying they were \u201ca lot of very low IQ people\u201d.<\/p>\n
He then framed the fraud scheme as a criminal enterprise masterminded outside the Somali American community.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther people work it out, and they get them money, and they go out and buy Mercedes Benzes,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have no money. They never had money. They never had a life. They never had a government. They never had a country, because there\u2019s basically no country. Somalia\u2019s not even a country. They don\u2019t have anything that resembles a country, and if it is a country, it\u2019s considered just about the worst in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also used his podium to address the January 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three.<\/p>\n
Good\u2019s death was caught on video amid tensions in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over the presence of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Footage appeared to show Good parked in her car when ICE agents approached her, and when she started to move her vehicle away, an officer fired three shots into her window.<\/p>\n
Her death provoked nationwide outrage and protests, as critics questioned the use of force as excessive.<\/p>\n
Trump, however, approached the controversy with a \u201cboth sides\u201d argument, similar to how he framed the 2017 killing of Heather Heyer at a counterprotest denouncing white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe woman was shot. And I felt terribly about that, and I understand both sides of it,\u201d Trump said of Good\u2019s shooting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He then blamed \u201cagitators\u201d and \u201cinsurrectionists\u201d among the anti-ICE protesters for creating a hostile environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes ICE is going to be too rough with somebody,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey deal with rough people. They\u2019re going to make a mistake. Sometimes it can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, he expressed sympathy for Good\u2019s family, explaining that he had recently learned her father was one of his supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was all for Trump, loved Trump, and it\u2019s terrible. I was told that a lot of people, they said, \u2018Oh, he loves you,’\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope he still feels that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has been one year since Donald Trump took office for a second term as United States president, and he marked the occasion with a marathon news conference in the White House briefing room, where he zig-zagged between topics ranging from immigration to the future of the United Nations. \u201c\u200aIt\u2019s been an amazing period of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}