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Some Republicans push back against Trump on Greenland, Venezuela, and health care

Published

9 hours ago

January 9, 2026

For House Republicans, the political year started with a pep rally of sorts as President Donald Trump gathered them at Washington’s Kennedy Center for a stemwinder of a speech. But by the time lawmakers had completed their first week of work this midterm election year, fractures in the party were already showing.

From pushback to Trump’s self-described “Donroe doctrine” of aggressionin the Western Hemisphere to breaks in party unity over health care, Republican lawmakers are displaying signs of independence from Trump after spending much of the last year acquiescing to his practically every demand. It showed a new dynamic in the GOP as Republicans embark on difficult campaign to keep control of both the House and Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking at the U.S.-Mexico border Friday with a group of Republican Senate candidates, said that Republicans were “going to be focused like a laser” on issues of affordability and pointed to legislation in the works on housing and health care.

Thune’s border trip and talk of affordability were a nod back to some of the core themes of Trump’s presidential campaign. But the focus in Washington of late has instead been dominated by Trump’s military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, his threats to use military force to take control of Greenland, the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein and a debate over extending subsidies for insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act — an issue where Republicans have long struggled to find unity.

Recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in several U.S. cities, including one that killed a woman in Minneapolis, have also raised new questions about Republicans’ hard-line immigration agenda and shifted attention away from Trump’s handling of the border, which they see as a political success.

Even so, Trump still has plenty of command over most of the party. That was demonstrated this week by a pair of unsuccessful House veto override votes in which most GOP members stuck with the president despite previously voting for the low-profile bills.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has been one of the few Republicans to consistently defy Trump, said that “there was some bully pulpit intimidation going on” from the president that caused the veto overrides to fail.

Still, Democrats are making the case that Trump is becoming distracted from the needs of Americans, especially after the attack on Venezuela.

“He’s lurching towards another endless, expensive war, all the while American families here are struggling with skyrocketing costs,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Venezuela war powers vote draws GOP support

To prove their point, Democrats are forcing votes on war powers resolutions that would stop Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional approval. Such measures are rarely successful, but a procedural vote on the legislation drew support from five Republicans Thursday, setting up a final vote next week. House Democrats are also pushing forward a similar resolution.

The GOP senators who voted for the legislation tried to defuse the conflict with Trump by arguing their positions were in line with his own campaign promises to scale back U.S. commitments overseas.

“A drawn-out campaign in Venezuela involving the American military, even if unintended, would be the opposite of President Trump’s goal of ending foreign entanglements,” Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican who voted for the war powers resolution, said in a lengthy statement explaining his vote.

Trump reacted with fury. The president promptly called for the five Republicans, which included Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is up for reelection this year, to “never be elected to office again.”

Republicans are already dealing with retirements from several lawmakers who had uneasy relationships with Trump, and there was worry that such clashes could complicate their campaign picture even more.

“If Susan isn’t the senator from Maine, we’re going to end up with a Democrat,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican. “That would be 10 times worse. But I do appreciate that President Trump is absolutely pissed off.”

GOP pushes back on Trump’s Greenland plans

Trump’s desire to possess Greenland and his administration’s decision not to rule out military force also met significant resistance from GOP lawmakers this week.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is retiring after crossing Trump last summer, took to the Senate floor to proclaim that he was “sick of stupid.” He specifically criticized White House deputy chief of policy Stephen Miller, who made comments that Greenland should be part of the U.S.

“I want good advice for this president, because I want this president to have a good legacy,” Tillis added. “And this nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”

Other Republicans, including Thune and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Roger Wicker, also gently pushed back on military threats against Denmark, which is a NATO ally of the U.S.

After meeting with the Danish ambassador, Wicker said it was Denmark’s right not to sell Greenland.

“I’m troubled by Greenland. I’m troubled by some of the things he does. I don’t get it,” said Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, another retiring Republican. “I do feel like Congress should be more independent and should provide checks and balances here.”

Bacon added that Trump still had the ability to “bully” his Republican colleagues, but that Trump’s threats had “stiffened my spine.”

Health care votes expose divisions

During Trump’s speech at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, he urged Republicans to own the issue of health care. Yet when the House voted Thursday on a Democratic proposal to extend expired health care subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, 17 Republicans broke with party leadership to help pass the bill.

“People recognize the challenge here, which is to address health care affordability,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who voted for the proposal.

He still criticized the Affordable Care Act, a hallmark piece of legislation for Democrats, yet the health care debate unfolding in Congress is one that Democrats feel confident making a central campaign issue.

“In this first, full week of the new year, House Democrats — every single one of us joined by 17 Republicans — have partnered in a bipartisan way to protect the health care of the American people,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries following the vote.

Jan. 6 plaque coming out of storage

On the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, Trump told House Republicans that he had told his supporters to go “peacefully and patriotically” to confront Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. The White House also unveiled a website that portrayed the Jan. 6 attack as a “witch hunt” against him by Democrats and some Republicans in Congress.

But the Senate, which Republicans control, this week agreed to display a plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol — a cause that has become a point of contention with Trump as president. The plaque had been kept in storage rather than being displayed because House Speaker Mike Johnson had said the memorial did not comply with the law.

It was Tillis again who pushed the issue on the Republican side. He said it was important to honor the police and staff who risked their own lives and safety that day.

Democrats who joined in the effort said they were alarmed by the White House’s attempt to recast the narrative.

“It’s so important we be honest with the American people about what happened,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat.

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Business

Trump calls for one-year cap on credit card rates at 10%

Published

4 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Jace Porter

President Donald Trump on Friday called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, effective Jan. 20, without specifying details.

“Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. AFFORDABILITY!” he wrote on social media.

It’s not clear whether credit card companies will respond to his call, or what actions he might take to force any change.

The post comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to demonstrate to voters that the president is addressing concerns about costs and prices that have emerged as a central issue in the November midterm elections.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump pledged to seek limits on the interest credit card companies can charge.

Hours before his message on Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said on X: “Trump promised to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and stop Wall Street from getting away with murder. Instead, he deregulated big banks charging up to 30% interest on credit cards.”

In a letter last year to Sanders and Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, a group of banking trade groups painted a dire outcome for consumers if the government ever capped interest rates on credit cards at 10%, as the senators had proposed.

“Many consumers who currently rely on credit cards would be forced to turn elsewhere for short-term financing needs, including pawn shops, auto title lenders or worse — such as loan sharks, unregulated online lenders and the black market,” the group wrote.

The Bank Policy Institute said in a report last year that “while the proposed cap is a well-intentioned effort to reduce the high debt burden some households are facing, it would harm consumers’ access to card credit.” The group also said such a move could force card issuers to reduce cardholder benefits, including lucrative rewards tied to purchases.

Responding to Trump’s post on Friday, Hawley said on X: “Fantastic idea. Can’t wait to vote for this.”

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Business

Asian households still save as much as half their wealth in cash. Fintech platforms like Syfe want to change that

Published

6 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Jace Porter

Growing up in India, Dhruv Arora’s mother gave him one key piece of financial advice: Put his money in the bank.

But Arora, now the founder of Singapore-based fintech platform Syfe, quickly realized that following his mother’s advice meant his money “did absolutely nothing.”

“We have quite a heavy culture of saving,” Arora says, citing Asia’s often unstable economic and policy history. But inflation and low interest rates end up eroding the value of household savings. “Over time, the $100 you put in the bank doesn’t become $101, but effectively $98” due to the effects of inflation.

Asian households sometimes keep as much as 50% of their net worth in cash, rather than in investments or assets. In contrast, in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe, that figure is closer to 15%.

But that conservative attitude in Asia is starting to change. Asians are getting wealthier, pushing them to explore different investment options. Strong stock market performance is also driving a new wave of retail investors across the Asia-Pacific.

“Asian households are slowly dipping their toes into stock markets,” HSBC economists wrote in a Jan. 9 report, though noted that “overall equity investment remains quite low.” The bank predicts that a steady shift from low-yield cash to higher-yield investments will mean “more money will continue to rotate into equity markets over the next few years,” reducing a reliance on foreign investors.

A slew of fintech apps have emerged in recent years to tap a growing interest in investing and wealth management among Asian users. These alternative finance platforms, such as Syfe, Stashaway and Endowus, often offer a range of investment options, ranging from cash management to managed portfolios and options trading. The challenge, Arora says, is how to “bridge the gap between holding money and growing wealth,” and “give more people the confidence to put their savings to work.”

Arora began his career as an investment banker for UBS in Hong Kong in 2008, soon after the Global Financial Crisis. Despite Asia’s relatively quick recovery, Arora noticed that the region’s professionals were building wealth yet didn’t know how to manage it. “These were smart people like doctors, lawyers and consultants, who were doing well professionally, but just did not know what to do with their money,” he says.

He launched Syfe in 2019, just a few months before another global crisis: The COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the pandemic ended up being an opportunity for fintech platforms like Syfe. “It acted as a catalyst for a shift in investor behavior,” Arora explained, as people suddenly had the time to engage with financial markets.

In the U.S., for example, people stuck at home began to get involved in stock trading through platforms like Robinhood. Fueled by social media, these retail investors began to heavily trade in so-called meme stocks like Gamestop and AMC.

Syfe has since expanded from its home market of Singapore to new Asia-Pacific economies like Australia and Hong Kong. The platform continues to grow both its userbase and company revenue, and the company claimed it reached profitability in Q4 2025. It’s now a “self-sustaining organization,” Arora says.

Syfe closed an $80 million Series C funding round last year, and is backed by major investors like NYC-based Valar Ventures and UK-based investment firm Unbound.

The platform’s users generated $2 billion worth of returns while saving $80 million in fees last year, according to the company.

Currently, Arora wants to deepen Syfe’s presence in its existing markets. Last year, the platform began to roll out bespoke offerings for its users, like private credit for accredited investors looking to diversify their portfolios on Syfe. Syfe will launch options trading in 2026.

Arora notes that many of Syfe’s users, over time, have grown more comfortable with taking larger investment risks, moving from putting their money in Syfe-managed portfolios, to more actively trading on brokerages and income portfolios.

Yet he eventually wants to bring Syfe to new markets in North Asia and the Middle East, which boast sizable populations of what Arora terms the “mass affluent,” a population with significant investable assets and higher-than-average incomes, though still not in the high-net-worth category.

“This demographic has historically been ‘stuck in the middle’: too large for basic retail banking, yet often underserved by traditional private banks,” he explains.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Business

Lawmakers and victims criticize new limits on Grok’s AI image as ‘insulting’ and ‘not effective’

Published

6 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Jace Porter

Elon Musk’s xAI has restricted its AI chatbot Grok’s image generation capabilities to paying subscribers only, following widespread condemnation over its use to create non-consensual sexualized images of real women and children.

“Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers,” Grok announced via X on Friday. The restriction means the vast majority of users can no longer access the feature. Paying, verified subscribers with credit card details on file can still do so, but theoretically they can be identified more easily if the function is misused.

However, experts, regulators, and victims say that the new restrictions aren’t a solution to the now widespread problem.

“The argument that providing user details and payment methods will help identify perpetrators also isn’t convincing, given how easy it is to provide false info and use temporary payment methods,” Henry Ajder, a UK-based deepfakes expert, told Fortune. “The logic here is also reactive: it is supposed to help identify offenders after content has been generated, but it doesn’t represent any alignment or meaningful limitations to the model itself.”

The UK government has called the move “insulting” to victims, in remarks reported by the BBC. The UK’s prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters on Friday that the change “simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service.

“It is time for X to grip this issue; if another media company had billboards in town centers showing unlawful images, it would act immediately to take them down or face public backlash,” they said.

A representative for X said they were “looking into” the new restrictions. xAI responded with the automated message: “Legacy Media Lies.”

Over the past week real women have been targeted at scale with users manipulating photos to remove clothing, place subjects in bikinis, or position them in sexually explicit scenarios without their consent. Some victims reported feeling violated and disturbed by the trend, with many saying their reports to X went unanswered and images remained live on the platform.

Researchers said the scale at which Grok was producing and sharing images was unprecedented as, unlike other AI bots, Grok essentially has a built-in distribution system in the X platform.

One researcher, whose analysis was published by Bloomberg, estimated that X has become the most prolific site for deepfakes over the last week. Genevieve Oh, a social media and deepfake researcher who conducted a 24-hour analysis of images the @Grok account posted to X, found that the chatbot was producing roughly 6,700 sexually suggestive or nudifying images per hour. By comparison, the five other leading websites for sexualized deepfakes averaged 79 new AI undressing images hourly during the same period. Oh’s research also found that sexualized content dominated Grok’s output, accounting for 85% of all images the chatbot generated.

Ashley St. Clair, a conservative commentator and mother of one of Musk’s children, was among those affected by the images. St. Clair told Fortune that users were turning images on her X profile into explicit AI-generated photos of her, including some she said depicted her as a minor. After speaking out against the images and raising concerns about deepfakes on minors, St Clair also said X took away her verified, paying subscribers status without notifying her or refunding her for the $8 per month fee.

“Restricting it to the paid-only user shows that they’re going to double down on this, placing an undue burden on the victims to report to law enforcement and law enforcement to use their resources to track these people down,” Ashley St Clair said of the recent restrictions. “It’s also a money grab.”

St Clair told Fortune that many of the accounts targeting her were already verified users: “It’s not effective at all,” she said. “This is just in anticipation of more law enforcement inquiries regarding Grok image generation.”

Regulatory pressure

The move to limit Grok’s capabilities comes amid mounting pressure from regulators worldwide. In the U.K., Prime Minister Keir Starmer has indicated he is open to banning the platform entirely, describing the content as “disgraceful” and “disgusting.” Regulators in India, Malaysia, and France have also launched investigations or probes.

The European Commission on Thursday ordered X to preserve all internal documents and data related to Grok, stepping up its investigation into the platform’s content moderation practices after describing the spread of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes as “illegal,” “appalling,” and “disgusting.”

Experts say the new restrictions may not satisfy regulators’ concerns: “This approach is a blunt instrument that doesn’t address the root of the problem with Grok’s alignment and likely won’t cut it with regulators,” Ajder said. “Limiting functionality to paying users will not stop the generation of this content; a month’s subscription is not a robust solution.”

In the U.S., the situation is also likely to test existing laws, like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online providers from liability for content created by users. U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Edward J. Markey, and Ben Ray Luján have issued a statement urging Apple and Google to “immediately remove the X and Grok apps from their app stores” following Grok’s alleged use for generating “nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children at scale.” The lawmakers called the images “disturbing and likely illegal,” and said the apps should remain unavailable until Musk addresses the concerns.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has also called for Grok to be blocked from generating “sexually explicit images of children and women, including prominent Muslim women.”

Riana Pfefferkorn of Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence previously told Fortune that liability surrounding AI-generated images is murky. “We have this situation where for the first time, it is the platform itself that is at scale generating non-consensual pornography of adults and minors alike,” she said. “From a liability perspective as well as a PR perspective, the CSAM laws pose the biggest potential liability risk here.”

Musk has previously stated that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.” However, it remains unclear how accounts will be held accountable.

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