Politics

Marco Rubio says that if we don’t control Greenland, China will

Published

4 hours ago

February 1, 2025

The Arctic could be the graveyard of American interests if the United States doesn’t gain control of Greenland.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio notes that the issue is serious and indeed time-sensitive, as “the Arctic Circle and the Arctic region is going to become critical for shipping lanes, for how you get some of this energy that’s going to be produced under President Trump – these energies rely on shipping lanes.

“The Arctic has some of the most valuable shipping lanes in the world. As some of the ice is melting, it’s become more and more navigable. We need to be able to defend that. So if you project what the Chinese have done, it is just a matter of time before – because they are not an Arctic power. They do not have an Arctic presence, so they need to be able to have somewhere that they can stage from,” he told Megyn Kelly this week.

To that end, Rubio predicts a more aggressive Chinese posture.

“And it is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually – maybe even in the short term – try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places, and that is install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company but that in reality serve a dual purpose: that in a moment of conflict, they could send naval vessels to that facility and operate from there. And that is completely unacceptable to the national security of the world and to the United – to the security of the world and the national security of the United States.”

Rubio is not alone in these worries.

President Donald Trump expressed similar concerns last month.

“People don’t even know if Denmark has any right to it. They should give it up because we need it for national security. You don’t even need binoculars. You look outside and you have (Chinese) ships all over the place, Russian ships all over the place. We are not letting that happen,” Trump said at a press conference.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is likewise concerned.

“Denmark can be a great ally, but you can’t treat Greenland, which they have operational control over, as some kind of backwater. It’s in the Western Hemisphere, multiple Presidents have tried to bring it into our sphere,” he told an interviewer last month.

Greenland, along with other Trump initiatives, strikes Waltz as an “America First” move to secure what he calls the “Monroe Doctrine 2.0.” And America’s ally to the north, who Trump has suggested should be an American state, needs to do more, Waltz argued.

Sen. Rick Scott, meanwhile, frames the prospect of acquiring Greenland as “exciting” and “great” for national security.

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Politics

Donald Trump dumps J6 prosecutors, FBI helpers

Published

27 minutes ago

February 1, 2025

May Greene

The Donald Trump administration on Friday fired a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases and demanded the names of FBI agents involved in those same probes so they can possibly be ousted, moves that reflect a White House determination to exert control over federal law enforcement and purge agencies of career employees seen as insufficiently loyal.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the firings of the Jan. 6 prosecutors days after President Donald Trump’s sweeping clemency action benefiting the more than 1,500 people charged in the U.S. Capitol attack, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. About two dozen employees at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington were terminated, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel issues.

A separate memo by Bove identified more than a half-dozen FBI senior executives who were ordered to retire or be fired by Monday, and also asked for the names, titles and offices of all FBI employees who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot — a list the bureau’s acting director said could number in the thousands. Bove, who has defended Trump in his criminal cases before joining the administration, said Justice Department officials would then carry out a “review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”

The Justice Department also charged more than 1,500 Trump supporters in connection with the Capitol riot, though Trump on his first day in office granted clemency to all of them — including the ones convicted of violent crimes — through pardons, sentence commutations and dismissals of indictments.

This week, the Justice Department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on Smith investigations, and a group of senior FBI executives — including several executive assistant directors and agents in charge of big-city field offices — have been told to either resign or retire or be fired Monday.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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Politics

Marco Rubio says even Democrats are sick of Ukraine ‘stalemate’

Published

1 hour ago

February 1, 2025

May Greene

A bipartisan consensus is emerging on Ukraine and how it’s not winning the war with Russia. And America needs an exit strategy.

“I think even a growing number of Democrats would now acknowledge that what we have been funding is a stalemate, a protracted conflict, and maybe even worse than a stalemate, one in which incrementally Ukraine is being destroyed and losing more and more territory. So this conflict needs to end,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Megyn Kelly this week.

Rubio says the “protracted conflict” must end in “negotiation,” where “both sides are going to have to give something up” via “the work of hard diplomacy, which is what we used to do in the world in the past.”

“But both sides in a negotiation have to give something. And that’s going to take time, but at least we have a President that recognizes that our objective is this conflict needs to end, and it needs to end in a way that’s enduring, because it’s an unsustainable – on all sides, it’s ultimately unsustainable,” he added.

The negotiated settlement is in the interest of Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rubio argues, in light of the destruction wrought.

“Ukraine is being set back 100 years; their energy grid is being wiped out. I mean, someone’s going to have to pay for all this reconstruction after the fact. And how many Ukrainians have left Ukraine, living in other countries now? They may never return. I mean, that’s their future, and it’s in danger in that regard.”

Russia needs an exit, too.

“Both sides are paying a heavy price for this. Both sides have incentive for this conflict to end. It’s not going to end with the maximalist goals of either side, and there’s going to have to be a lot of hard work done. And I think only the United States, under the leadership of President Trump, can make that possible. But it won’t be easy, and it’ll take some time.”

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Politics

Dems pick new leadership. Who does Florida’s contingent like?

Published

3 hours ago

February 1, 2025

May Greene

Democrats, desperately seeking a new message and messengers to push back against the Trump administration, will elect a new leader Saturday in a low-profile Democratic National Committee election that could have big implications for the party’s future.

More than 400 DNC members from every state and U.S. territory have gathered in suburban Washington for the election, which features a slate of candidates dominated by party insiders. Outgoing Chair Jaime Harrison is not seeking reelection.

Most of the candidates acknowledge that the Democratic brand is badly damaged, but few are promising fundamental changes. Indeed, nearly three months after Donald Trump won the popular vote and gained ground among key Democratic constituencies, there is little agreement on what exactly went wrong.

Facing an emboldened Trump presidency, however, the leading candidates are talking tough.

“As we reel with shock at the horror that Trump is visiting on communities across this country, we need a DNC and a DNC chair who’s ready to bring the intensity, the focus and the fury to fight back,” said Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic chairman and a top candidate for DNC chair.

The leading candidates for DNC chair, Wisconsin’s Wikler and Minnesota’s Ken Martin, are low-profile state party chairs. They’re promising to refocus the Democratic message on working-class voters, strengthen Democratic infrastructure across the country and improve the party’s anti-Trump rapid response system.

They have promised not to shy away from the party’s dedication to diversity and minority groups, a pillar of the modern-day Democratic Party. But if Martin, 51, or Wikler, 43, is elected, as expected, either would be the first white man to lead the DNC since 2011.

Also in the race: Marianne Williamson, the activist and author; former Maryland governor and Biden administration official Martin O’Malley; and Faiz Shakir, who managed Bernie Sanders’ last presidential campaign.

Here’s how Florida Democrats will vote.

Chair Nikki Fried, State Senator Shevrin Jones, Judy Mount, Pamela Castellana, Alan Clendenin, Ric Gable, and Lydia Hudson back Martin.

Juan Cuba, Daniel Henry, Karla Hernàndez-Mats, Millie Herrera, Samuel Vilchez Santiago, Samantha Hope-Herring, and Allison Minnerly back Wikler.

Martin O’Malley is the choice of Sean Shaw, meanwhile.

The delegation is more united behind Parkland survivor David Hogg for Vice Chair, meanwhile.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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