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Incoming president continues to float idea of merging North American neighbor into United States
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Donald Trump is continuing to circulate articles from conservative media on his Truth Social feed hinting at the prospect of the US entering merger talks with Canada about it becoming America’s 51st state, capitalizing on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rocky end to the year.
The idea was also entertained on Fox News on Monday when Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary expressed his enthusiasm for the idea in conversation with Trump’s former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
The president-elect has also sought to revive talk about his acquiring Greenland from Denmark in recent days.
Meanwhile, his influential new friend Elon Musk has expressed doubt about the current speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, as he seeks re-election later this week.
The Big Tech boss responded to an X post by Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, in which the latter warned against allowing Johnson to hang on to the gavel given that the GOP had already witnessed him “partner with the Democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget”.
“You might be right, but let’s see how it goes,” Musk told Massie, undermining Trump’s recent call for party unity.
The president’s suggestion that Trump could learn “decency” from Carter led to outrage and a meltdown on Fox News’s Outnumbered on Monday.
“It’s a shame and it’s embarrassing for Joe Biden,” contributor Tammy Bruce said during the segment.
“Joe Biden will be known for just being a failed president and an indecent man,” the networks political analyst Lisa Boothe added.
“I think he’s just going to continue to go out looking like a bitter old man,” Dr Nicole Saphier chimed in.
Ariana Baio has more on their outrage.
‘Outnumbered’ co-hosts spent nearly seven minutes criticizing Biden for suggesting Trump is indecent
The honeymoon period between the president-elect and his Big Tech pal may be coming to an end as Trump is reportedly increasingly “annoyed” by the world’s richest person and his antics..
As a public rift deepens between Musk and Trump’s MAGA allies in what Laura Loomer has characterized as a “civil war” over H1B visas, sources told Mediaite that the Republican is getting tired of both the Space X owner’s ubiquitousness and the media firestorm that follows him.
“100 percent Trump is annoyed,” a source who worked on the incoming president’s re-election campaign told the outlet.
“There’s a Chinese saying: ‘two tigers cannot live on one mountaintop.’”
Another person told the site: “There was likely an allure to it in the beginning but it seemed like it could go ugly…Trump is Trump. I think it’s just the way Trump is.
“Someone that is around that much and having influence would be a bother.”
They continued: “I mean the guy came in, gave a boatload of money, and wants to take over the place.”
The insider didn’t think the tech billionaire had “bad intentions” but added: “You also can’t just inject a shadow president somewhere.”
Kelly Rissman reports.
Trump’s alleged frustration with the world’s richest person arrives as Musk publicly feuds with MAGA allies over H1B visas
Here’s the latest from the president-elect on Truth Social, once more ordering the GOP to fall in line or else:
“We just won a Historic Landslide and Mandate from the American People, but Senate Democrats are organizing to improperly stall and delay the confirmation process of many of our Great Nominees. They will try all sorts of tricks starting very soon. Republicans must not allow them to do that. We have a Country to run, and many big problems to solve, mostly created by Democrats. REPUBLICANS, BE SMART AND TOUGH!!!”
Contributor Bill McGurn challenged the public perception that the late president Jimmy Carter was a “decent” man during an interview on the conservative news network on Monday, pointing out that Carter “essentially” labeled Ronald Reagan a “racist” and “warmonger” during the 1980 presidential election.
McGurn – a Wall Street Journal editorial board member and former speechwriter for President George W Bush – took the swipe at Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, when he was asked on The Story by anchor Jonathan Hunt to weigh in on the late president’s legacy.
Here’s Justin Baragona with more on McGurn’s oddly-timed takedown of the man from Plains, Georgia.
’I think we have to remember … when everyone says he’s decent? Remember the campaign he ran against Reagan, essentially calling him a racist and a warmonger,’ Bill McGurn said on Fox News
The contrast between the peanut farmer and the mogul could not be more different as the US marks the passing of its most humble president – and braces for the return of its most divisive.
Editorial: The contrast between the peanut farmer and the mogul could not be more different as the US marks the passing of its most humble president – and braces for the return of its most divisive
Donald Trump Jr’s rumored new girlfriend Bettina Anderson appeared to take a swipe at her critics after she was spotted dining with the president-elect’s eldest son at a Mar-a-Lago Christmas feast.
Earlier this month, the 46-year-old political scion appeared to end his engagement to fiancée Kimberley Guilfoyle. Amidst reports of the break-up, Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host, was tapped to be Donald Trump’s incoming ambassador to Greece.
As the rumor mill whirls in the wake of the new relationship, Anderson, a 38-year-old model and Palm Beach socialite, took to Instagram to share a defiant message with her dissenters, posting a video of a narrator quoting the book of Exodus from the Bible.
“So let them lie. Let them manipulate. Let them talk. You just be still, because when God is on your side, who can stand against you?,” the speaker said in the now disappeared clip from her Instagram story.
James Liddell has more.
Anderson shared the defiant message after attending a Mar-a-Lago Christmas do besides the Trump family
Bannon may deny the existence of a civil war within Trump’s camp but the president-elect’s incoming White House chief of staff has nevertheless chosen this moment to order his cabinet picks not to post on social media without approval from the transition team.
“While this instruction has been delivered previously, I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself,” Susie Wiles said in a memo, according to The New York Post.
“Accordingly, all intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel.”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
‘All intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel,’ Susie Wiles warned in memo
Even though it appears the “America First” hardliners appeared to lose their recent dust-up with conservative tech bros over H-1B worker visas when Trump publicly sided with the latter, his former White House chief strategist is still declaring victory over Elon Musk, calling him “embarrassing” .
And, according to Bannon, who previously branded Musk a “toddler” after the X owner profanely attacked his right-wing critics, there never was a MAGA “civil war” in the first place because Musk is “not tough enough” to start one and “folded” on the visa issue as soon as the spat turned ugly.
Justin Baragona has the latest.
“They folded – I mean, it was embarrassing,” Steve Bannon said on Monday, referencing Elon Musk’s tweets over the weekend when he said the H-1B visa program needed to be “reformed.”
The Peach State’s Attorney General Chris Carr is calling on the state’s Supreme Court to reject an appeal from Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who was removed from prosecuting the sprawling criminal case against Trump and his allies.
Governor Brian Kemp then jumped in: “Agreed!… Georgians deserve safe communities and partisan politics out of our courtrooms.”
Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who is expected to jump into the race for governor, joined in, occusing Willis of having “orchestrated a political charade against President Trump.”
Earlier this month, Georgia’s Court of Appeals struck down a lower court decision and argued Willis should be taken off the case, arguing that her former romantic relationship with a special prosecutor amounted to a “significant” conflict of interest that warranted her dismissal.
Willis filed a notice of appeal shortly after the ruling.
Here’s Alex Woodward with the full story.
Appeals court ruling determined her relationship with special prosecutor warrants dismissal
Election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell is being dragged into court by a merchant cash advance firm that accuses the MyPillow CEO of ducking out on nearly $1.5m in outstanding debt.
Justin Rohrlich has more.
Exclusive: Lindell said his legal woes are not his priority, telling The Independent, “I’m trying to run companies and get rid of the electronic voting machines. That’s my focus.”
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