5 takeaways from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference

On January 8, 2025By Littum

President-elect Trump met the media at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday, the day after Congress confirmed his victory in the November election.

The press conference came 13 days before Trump will be inaugurated, making him the only president since Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century to serve non-consecutive terms.

Trump’s remarks were typically wide-ranging and at times unmanageable. They included topics from conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine to Trump’s long-running complaints about wind turbines and showers with ineffective water flow.

Here are five takeaways from his comments.

Trump refused to rule out military force in relation to the Panama Canal or Greenland

In the biggest news of the day, Trump left the door ajar to use military force in Greenland or the Panama Canal.

Trump has recently renewed his interest in the US somehow taking control of Greenland or absorbing it into the US for strategic reasons. Greenland is a self-governing area within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Trump has also complained about the Panama Canal, a globally vital waterway that was given back to Panama on terms agreed to by the late President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s. Carter died on December 29 at the age of 100.

Asked at the news conference if he would rule out “military or economic coercion” to take control of either location, Trump stated.

“No,” he began. “We need them for financial security.”

Trump was later asked at the news conference about Canada, which he has said — perhaps mischievously — he wants to make the “51st state.” The president-elect ruled out the use of military force north of the border.

Later in the day, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media that there was “not a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

It is not entirely clear what should be done about Trump’s implicit threat to Greenland and Canada. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland on Tuesday, but it looked more like a charm offensive than a precursor to any more aggressive action.

Trump is taking notice of Biden’s actions during the transition period

Tonally, one of the most striking things about the news conference was President-elect Trump’s obvious irritation at some actions taken by President Biden in the period since the election.

Trump seemed particularly irked by Biden’s latest executive order, which will make about 625 million acres of U.S. waters off limits to new drilling permits.

The action “will not stand,” Trump insisted, claiming he would “reverse it immediately.” Invoking a campaign trail slogan, Trump said that when he is president, the overall policy would be “live, baby, live!”

The president-elect further claimed that the current White House was giving money to “anyone who wants it, for any project.”

Trump also underscored a complaint he has made on social media, insisting the Biden administration made the transition unnecessarily difficult.

“They told me they’re going to do everything they can to make the transition to the new administration very smooth. It’s not smooth because they’re doing what they’re playing with,” he said.

But Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, recently praised the current occupant of that job under Biden, Jeff Zients, for having “been very helpful.”

‘The Gulf of America’

As is often the case with Trump, one of the most striking elements of his news conference was one of the most unexpected.

“We’re going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America.’ What a beautiful name,” Trump said. “And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate.”

His proposal appears to be related to his concern about migration across the southern border. He immediately followed his comments about renaming the Gulf by saying, “Mexico needs to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of the president-elect’s most ardent supporters in Congress, wrote on social media that she would “introduce legislation ASAP to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to its rightful name, The American Golf!”

Good news for Trump from beyond Mar-a-Lago

Trump got the chance to respond to breaking news when, while his press conference was taking place, it emerged that US District Judge Aileen Cannon had temporarily blocked the release of a report to Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.

Smith, to the president-elect’s fury, had filed two separate charges against him — one related to his role in and leading to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and one related to sensitive documents found at Mar-a-Lago after his first term was end.

Cannon, a Trump nominee, is already a controversial figure because of a series of rulings that critics charge have been overly sympathetic to the president-elect.

Cannon’s delay of Smith’s report is temporary.

Nevertheless, Trump welcomed the development as “good news.”

Regarding the report itself, he claimed, “It will be a fake report, just like it was a fake investigation.”

Smith was ultimately thwarted because Trump won the 2024 election before any of the special counsel’s cases could go to trial.

Several media organizations have reported that Smith will step down before Trump takes office on January 20.

A taste of what’s to come

Beyond its details, the Mar-a-Lago event was a reminder of what’s to come once Trump is back in office.

The 45th president rewrote the norms of American political discourse from the moment he began his first campaign. During his first term, an incessant stream of social media posts, surprising announcements and often bizarre controversies became the norm.

Tuesday was a reminder that the president-elect, now 78, will not change.

The next four years will offer plenty of similar moments.

Go to The Hill for the latest news, weather, sports and streaming video.