White House

Greenland, oil and ‘all hell’ in the Middle East: Takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference

From a new era of American imperialism to an enduring bitterness toward a criminal justice system he maintains unfairly targeted him, here are our top takeaways.

President-elect Donald Trump hosted a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. | Evan Vucci/AP

By Irie Sentner

01/07/2025 03:13 PM EST

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Donald Trump ran on a series of big promises — and with Inauguration Day fast approaching, he’s attempting to preview on what he’ll try to turn into reality.

In a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, the president-elect forecasted the MAGA vision he’ll work to make real when he reclaims the White House in less than two weeks. From a new era of American imperialism to an enduring bitterness toward a criminal justice system he maintains unfairly targeted him, here are our top takeaways.

‘Drill, baby, drill’

Trump slammed an action President Joe Biden took Monday that banned offshore drilling across 625 million acres of U.S. ocean, promising to “reverse it immediately” and instead “drill, baby, drill” — the official slogan of his platform’s energy policy. He said energy costs will be brought down “to a very low level,” which he said would decrease costs across the board.

In a statement, the White House said Biden had issued the drilling ban — which covers the entire East and West Coasts of the continental U.S.; the eastern Gulf of Mexico; and parts of Alaska — because the president “determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential.”

“It feels like the whole ocean,” Trump said, adding: “Nobody else does that. I’m going to have it revoked on Day One,” even if it requires going to the courts.

Trump acknowledged that it would be “hard” to bring down consumer prices, saying “someone else has screwed something up,” but promised to bring them down by slashing energy costs through deregulation.

“I think you’re going to see some pretty drastic price reductions,” Trump said.

A new age of American imperialism

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Trump really wants the Panama Canal. And Greenland. And Canada.

Soon after his son Donald Trump Jr. and other representatives touched down in Greenland, Trump reemphasized his desire to bring the massive Arctic territory under U.S. control — which the Danish prime minister promptly shot down.

Trump also slammed the late former President Jimmy Carter — who will lie in state on Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol ahead of his funeral on Thursday — for........

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