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Donald Trump has posted his traditional rambling Christmas message calling out various foes, taunting adversaries, and reiterating his desire for U.S. territorial expansionism — including retaking the Panama Canal, incorporating Canada into the union, and buying Greenland.
A Danish official said an announcement that the country is boosting defense spending for Greenland, was an “irony of fate.”
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 the “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the U.S., which operates a base in the territory’s northwest.
Meanwhile, college campuses across the country are calling the nation’s more than 1 million international students back to school before Trump’s inauguration, warning that the possibility of an imminent travel ban targeting certain countries could impact their return.
At the same time, Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have divided their party with recent comments lamenting the quality of the U.S. workforce.
Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the leaders of the Trump administration’s incoming Department of Government Efficiency, blamed a series of 1990s TV sitcoms for what he saw as a decline in U.S. dynamism in science and technology, leading tech companies to hire more qualified foreign-born and first-generation workers over their mentally lazy American counterparts.
His comments follow wider tensions within the Trump coalition, which includes both far-right anti-immigration views, and an increasing embrace of the tech industry, whose workforce is highly diverse and made up of many immigrants and first-generation Americans.
The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 11:00
Trump’s inaugural fund is projected to raise more than $150 million, breaking the previous $107 million inauguration fundraising record that was set during the president-elect’s first inauguration.
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 10:30
Trump acolyte and self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer is threatening to tell MAGA to “stay home” during the next midterm elections amid an escalating feud with “tech bros” Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy over Silicon Valley’s reliance on foreign-born workers.
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 10:00
Embattled former New York City mayor and Trump’s one-time attorney Rudy Giuliani will face a contempt hearing on January 3 related to his court-ordered turnover of his property to a pair of election workers he defamed.
In a series of court filings on Christmas Eve, Giuliani pleaded with a judge to reject their demands for sanctions.
The latest on Giuliani’s legal woes:
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 09:00
Marjorie Taylor Greene has shared an array of messages over the holiday period varying from the more traditional photo in front of a Christmas tree, to a plea to join her in prayer this Sunday “to end abortion in America.”
Her holiday photo in front of the Christmas tree came hot on the heels of a meme she shared titled “amount of people eligible to be mass deported.”
More Christmas messages from Trumpworld, per The Independent’s Rhian Lubin:
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 08:00
It’s unlikely Donald Trump will be able to realize his campaign promise that all remaining Bitcoin will be made in the U.S., according to observers who know the industry.
The Independent’s Josh Marcus explains:
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 07:00
The first-ever federal legislation to criminalize pornographic deepfakes was attached to a broader bipartisan government funding bill with support from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress.
Elon Musk’s X platform was even involved in lobby efforts to support the legislation, including other actions on child safety.
It was virtually guaranteed to pass Congress.
But Musk’s pressure campaign against that government funding bill prompted Republicans to strike that language from the measure altogether. Efforts to revive the spending bill did not include it.
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 05:00
The race to lead the Democratic Party in the wake of Kamala Harris’s election defeat expanded on Thursday as author and two-time candidate Marianne Williamson announced that she was seeking the role.
The Independent’s John Bowden has more:
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 03:30
Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt are engaged.
Hannity, 62, proposed to Earhardt, 48, over Christmas at their home church after years of long-distance dating, according to an announcement by Fox News Thursday.
”We are overjoyed and so thankful to our families for all of their love and support during this wonderful time in our lives,” the happy couple told the network.
Kelly Rissman27 December 2024 02:55
Some of Donald Trump’s most prominent critics are bracing for impact.
“By going after me they’re just going to give me a platform,” George Conway told The Independent.
More from The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg on the critics preparing for a fight:
Alex Woodward27 December 2024 02:00