Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused Thursday to answer a simple question about the Trump administration’s plans for Greenland, implying that the U.S. military has drawn up plans to take the country by force.

While testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Representative Mike Turner gave Hegseth the opportunity to clarify the Trump administration’s position on taking military action to acquire Greenland—but the secretary refused to deny rumors of a potential invasion.

“While you’re here, I just want to help you out because people try to twist your words,” said Turner. “You are not confirming in your testimony today that at the Pentagon there are plans for invading or taking by force Greenland, correct? That is not your testimony today?”

“All my testimony is, is that the Pentagon has plans for any number of contingencies,” Hegseth replied simply.

“It is not your testimony today that there are plans at the Pentagon for taking by force or invading Greenland?” Turner asked, sounding incredulous. “Cause I sure as hell hope that it is not your testimony—”

“We look forward to working with Greenland to ensure that it is secured from any potential threat,” Hegseth responded, still giving no clear answer.

Turner yielded his time back to the chair.

Hegseth’s position should only come as a surprise to those who still wish to believe that Trump is kidding about his fantasies of annexing the massive, mineral-rich Arctic island, which the president has claimed the U.S. absolutely needs to wrest from Denmark’s control in order to establish “international peace.”

But to the hammer Hegseth and his so-called “warrior ethos,” every problem seems to be a nail, and every acquisition a potential invasion. The Trump administration also previously asked the U.S. military to draw up options for retaking the Panama Canal, and Trump has said he wouldn’t rule out the use of military force to seize Greenland.

Hegseth’s revelation also comes just hours after the Danish government approved the construction of U.S. military bases on Danish soil. The Trump administration is also planning to move Greenland under the protection of its U.S. Northern Command, rather than the U.S. European Command—a symbolic change to incorporate the Danish territory.

The White House also has plans to conduct an expensive public relations campaign to convince Greenlanders that they actually want to be Americans.

President Trump thinks Gavin Newsom should be thanking him for “saving his ass.”

“Los Angeles was safe and sound for the last two nights. Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the L.A. Police in a position to effectively do their job. They all worked well together, but without the Military, Los Angeles would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years,” he wrote Thursday on Truth Social. “Governor Gaven NewScum had totally lost control of the situation. He should be saying THANK YOU for saving his ass, instead of trying to justify his mistakes and incompetence!!!”

Trump sent thousands of National Guardsmen and hundreds of Marines to L.A. without Newsom’s permission to quell anti-ICE protests, an unprecedented escalation that led to violent clashes between troops and civilians last Friday.

“Federal antagonization, through the presence of soldiers in the streets, has already caused real and irreparable damage to the City of Los Angeles, the people who live there, and the State of California,” Newsom said in a statement. “They must be stopped, immediately.”

The scene did not reach a point that necessitated the presence of the Guardsman and the Marines. Trump is not saving anyone here. He’s creating a spectacle of fear, siccing the military on his own citizens to frame Newsom as weak and indecisive and depict himself as strong and poised. And he spent $134 million in taxpayer dollars to do it.

A pro–Andrew Cuomo super PAC released a mailer this week that modified the image of Zohran Mamdani, the progressive front-runner in New York City’s mayoral race, to appear as if he has a darker, longer beard.

The altered image of Mamdani, a New York state representative, appeared next to text on a mailer claiming that Mamdani “rejects” the police and capitalism. It also claimed that Mamdani “rejects Israel,” on the basis that the Ugandan-born Democratic Socialist supports a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement known as BDS that advocates for economic sanctions against Israel.

The advert also advertised Mamdani as a candidate who “rejects Jewish rights,” claiming that he “refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.” It was developed by Fix The City Inc., whose largest donor is DoorDash, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board and the group’s website.

Fix the City denied releasing the mailer.

“The mailer was proposed by a vendor; upon review it was immediately rejected for production and was subsequently corrected,” Liz Benjamin, a spokesperson for the group, told The New Republic. “We are disturbed that this was posted online without our consent.”

But the backlash was already underway.

“Andrew Cuomo is afraid he’ll lose, so his donors want you to fear me,” the assemblyman posted on X Thursday. “His SuperPAC just sent out a mailer that artificially lengthened and darkened my beard.

“This is blatant........

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