"Trump has raised a lot of issues that are not likely to go anywhere such as Greenland joining America, and the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West said.
by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump discussed a slew of topics in an unbridled press conference on Tuesday -- the first since his election win was officially certified by U.S. Congress.
In wide-ranging remarks, Trump blasted opponents and outlined a laundry list of pro-MAGA -- "Make America Great Again" -- initiatives he pledged to push through after taking office later this month.
Trump railed against what he and his supporters call "lawfare" -- the misuse of courts for political purposes.
"They're playing with the courts, as you know, they've been playing with the courts for four years…we had a great election, so I guess it didn't work. But even to this day, they're playing with the courts and they're friendly judges that like to try and make everybody happy… It's called lawfare, it's called weaponization of justice," Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Joining Trump at the presser was Steven Witkoff, his pick as the special envoy to the Middle East.
When they were asked about attempts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, the president-elect said: "If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East."
"And it will not be good for Hamas," he said.
The incoming president also announced plans to pardon some of the defendants in the case of the Jan. 6 riots, during which some rioters stormed the Capitol building four years ago. Trump and others have said many were unjustly persecuted simply for being there.
"People that didn't even walk into the building are in jail right now. So we'll be looking at the whole thing but I'll be making major pardons," Trump said.
House Democrats, who spearheaded the effort to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 events and led a comprehensive investigation into the attack, cautioned that granting pardons could have significant implications. Even some Republicans have reservations.
Trump also ramped up rhetoric about the possibility of taking control of the Panama Canal and the island of Greenland, both of which he said are important for U.S. national security.
When asked whether he would rule out the possibility of using military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, the president-elect did not dismiss it as an option.
Since his win in November, Trump has repeatedly mentioned the possibility of gaining control of the Panama Canal -- a major shipping route dug through Panama -- and purchasing Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
However, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that Greenland is not for sale, stating that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders."
In other comments, Trump pushed NATO members to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of their GDP from the current 2 percent.
Trump has repeatedly blasted NATO allies for what he labels as not paying their fair share, claiming the United States is unfairly footing the bill for their defense.
"They can all afford it, but they should be at 5 percent, not 2 percent," Trump told reporters.
Last month the president-elect reiterated a threat to withdraw from NATO if members did not increase their financial contributions to the organization.
At the press conference, Trump said that he plans to "immediately" reverse outgoing President Joe Biden's newly announced ban on offshore drilling.
He also announced that 20 billion U.S. dollars from Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, chairman of DAMAC Properties, will be invested to build data centers across the United States.
But experts said many issues Trump mentioned at the press conference are unlikely to come to fruition.
Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua: "In World War II, planes would confuse radar by dropping lots of aluminum strips, called 'chaff.' Trump's press conference language is like that -- it's chaff."
"He lays down a heavy cloud so that you're not certain of his direction of travel. He does this when he knows his direction, but also when he doesn't know it … His strong supporters in his base understand this perfectly well. If the press doesn't learn, they will spend all their time chasing down every false trail … That's the plan," Ramsay said.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: "Trump has raised a lot of issues that are not likely to go anywhere such as Greenland joining America, and the U.S. taking control of the Panama Canal."
"There is little support for those ideas in the international community or in the locales themselves," West said.
"All of those issues seem a big distraction from the real issues Trump must address. He needs to focus on the subjects that Americans are worried about," West said. ■