The Philip DeFranco Show - ICE Kills U.S. Woman in Her Car

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

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Ice just killed an American woman in her car in Minneapolis today. I just finished today's show, which you're still gonna get here, because there's a lot of news we have to dive through. And the details, they're still coming out because this just happened, but here's the setup. Ice officers were on a residential street, and it looks like there were protesters there watching and recording. And a woman seemed to have her car in the middle of the road,

and she was approached by an ICE officer who told her to get the fuck out of the car. She then tried to back away a little. Before then, going forward in her SUV, it's looking like she's trying to get away. And that's when, on one of the videos we've seen, we see an officer near the left front of the car, taking out his pistol and shooting her multiple times at essentially point-blank rain. The car then went a short distance before crashing into another park car, and afterwards you had people just screaming.

You are f***ing criminals! You're fucking criminals! The authorities then moved to call 9-1-1, and the victim was pronounced dead. Right again, this is still developing. There's not much we know other than she was a U.S. citizen. Also, since ICE killed this woman, more protesters have started to confront ICE agent, agents and local officers on the scene, leading to tear gas being fired into the crowd. And eventually you saw there was a sizable police force there, although ICE and federal agents have since left. Right, and the reactions and narratives here, depending on where you go,

have been very different. Where you have the Trump administration already justifying the officers' actions with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Noem saying at a conference. ICE officers were out in an enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him. And my understanding is that she was hit and is deceased. We're continuing to gather more information, but this goes to show the assaults that our ICE officers

and our law enforcement are under every single day. These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism. We're working with the Department of Justice to prosecute them as such. With many not surprised are going with that argument as there is precedent for defending officers who use deadly force when a card's heading towards them in some way, even at slower speeds. But then also on the other side of this, you have a lot of people demanding some form of justice. We're saying that it looked like this woman was trying to turn to the side and get away, saying at the very least, it looks like the second shot was taken from the complete side of the vehicle. You had Minneapolis City Councilmember Jason Chavez saying that the ice agent that shot somebody should be arrested effective immediately.

But I'm then going on to add that there needs to be community patrols to warn people about ice raids and prevent kidnappings. Also, you have local prosecutors pushing hard for what they call a local investigation, which is the only way to ensure full transparency and review. Additionally, you saw Minneapolis police officers apparently seeing this coming with Chief of Police, Brian O'Hara, saying yesterday, I've been concerned for weeks that because the issue is so emotional, because frankly, some of the way this stuff has been carried out, the greatest risk to me is that there would be unrest or that there would be a tragedy.

Somebody could get seriously hurt or killed because of what's happening. And finally, with the city's mayor demanding that ICE leave immediately, although he doesn't have the power to actually enforce that himself, Get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. But with this, you have many saying this incident is similar to one that happened in Chicago where two people were arrested for boxing ice in with their cars. One person there, Marimar Martinez was accused of ramming her car into an ice vehicle before getting shot multiple times.

So there, she still managed to drive away before being seen by paramedics with relatively minor injuries. And while she and the other person were charged with assaults and federal employees, just six weeks later, the charges were drunk. With the seeming when the government decided to drop the charges rather than release the Texas, messages of agents at the scene because they show just how excited they were to shoot people. You know, here's what I'll say is this latest situation is developing. There is one thing that is clear. This isn't going to reduce the tensions that many people have with ice raids. For many of the people that have seen this video, they're saying this is murder, but you have the administration continuing to call it a defense against an act of domestic

terrorism. And that's the thing. Right now, we have an administration that has shown they have no problem, you know, stretching the truth or outright lying if the propaganda game wins. Well, of course, with this story, I'd love to know your thoughts, opinions, and reactions to this news, that actually brings us to the first thing that I wanted to talk about today with you. Everything that you think you know about January 6th, it's a lie. Right? All those brave folks who entered the Capitol that day, they were peaceful patriotic protesters just exercising their First Amendment rights. But the Democrats, they masterfully twisted reality to brand them as insurrectionists. Not, even though the Democrats themselves are the real insurrectionist

for certifying a fraudulent election. That, in a nutshell, is how the Trump administration spun one of the worst assaults on American democracy during the event's fifth anniversary. With Team Trump publishing an insane revisionist history on the official whitehouse.gov website yesterday and the reactions to it They've been just as crazy and so let's dive into this some starting with Trump's speech that afternoon at the ellipse Because the White House, they claimed that he was blameless for what happened afterward arguing that he emphasized the need to protest peacefully I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building To peacefully and Patriotically make your voices heard that it was just one moment in the middle of an hour-long speech and a three-hand

hour-long event if you count all the other speakers. And as many have pointed out, and we're going to bounce around the speech here, if you listen to the totality of it, the tone is anything but peaceful. Our country, our country has been under siege for a long time. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. We're going to walk down and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down to the capital because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be Next up, the White House claims of the so-called patriots marched to the Capitol in that they were peaceful, orderly, and spirited, saying that it was actually the police who deliberately escalated tensions by aggressively firing tear gas, flashbangs, and rubber bullets into the otherwise peaceful crowd.

Meanwhile, officers inexplicably removed barricades, open doors, and even wave people inside of the building. Except, problem there, that's just not true, right? Some cops did lead rioters through the flimsy barricades, but that's because they were hopelessly overwhelmed by an enormous mob and they were trying to keep it under control. And in truth, I don't know how many people have forgotten this. or, you know, they've just listened to the lies so much. They have, like, this different image in the head. The rioters themselves climbed over walls and fences. They toppled barricades.

They broke down doors. They shattered windows. And at this point, in the White House's narrative, it's really not even clear which story they want to tell. Half the time, it's like, all these patriots, they did nothing wrong. And then the other half of the time, it's like, actually, it was a violent riot,

but the Democrats provoked it. In fact, it suggests that dozens of FBI assets inside of the crowd urged everyone else to break into the building. But as we've long known, those assets were just informants, not undercover agents, and there's no evidence anyone actually working for the FBI provoked the riot. Also, of course, the rioters were not peaceful. In fact, many of them were armed. Or with reported weapons including guns, pepper spray, tasers, a sword, axes, hatchets, knives,

destroyed office furniture, fencing, bike racks, stolen riot shield, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, PVC piping, and reinforced knuckle gloves. And the police, they reportedly suffered cuts, bruises, sprains, concussions, rib fractures, irritated lungs, and one mild heart attack, not to mention mental trauma. With one officer getting knocked unconscious, one losing the tip of a finger, many more getting smashed in the head, another is choked, pepper-sprayed, and taste. So in total, over 140 cops reported injuries, many of them having to go to the hospital. Multiple capital injuries. We're still taking metal, sharpened objects, missiles to include bottles and rocks and hand-thrown chemical-grade fireworks. Yet according to the White House, no big deal. Zero

law enforcement officers lost their lives. I guess because, Trump doesn't care about the officer who suffered two strokes, nearly eight hours after being pepper sprayed and then died. Nor, I guess, the four more took their own lives in the days and months after January 6th. Plus, let's remember, if the rioters got their way, somebody else may have ended up in the gallows erected outside of the Capitol. Pets! Hey, my best! Hey, my best! Start making a list, put all those names down, and we start hunting them down one by one. Traders are getting a day!

The Trump White House, of course, didn't mention any of that. Instead, it featured memorials to the several so-called patriots who died. With that, including Ashley Babbitt, who the White House claims was shot without warning, even though she, in their words, posed no threat. And with that, you have right-wing outlets like the Gateway Pundit and lives at TikTok. Now even claiming that the cop who shot her, Michael Byrd runs an unaccredited daycare out of his home and pocketed $190 million in HHS funds. So one, child care accreditation is optional where he lives.

Two, that 190 million figure appears to be total nonsense. And three, Babette was at the head of a violent mob crawling into the speaker's lobby where cops were guarding lawmakers. With all that said, as far as the other narrative being pushed by the White House, that the whole riot was the Democrats' fault, they mostly pinned the blame on then-house Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But with them pointing to footage that they claim shows her expressing regret for not accepting Trump's offer to send National Guard troops before the event. For over three hours, we begged him to send the National Guard. He never did it. He took joy in not doing it. It was savoring that. And right now, he was saying on TV today,

I wanted to send it, they just wouldn't do it. His own Secretary of of defense, acting secretary of defense, testified under oath against what the president is saying. The huge thing, Trump didn't need her permission to send the National Guard. And in reality, he was sitting back watching events unfold on TV from his private dining room. In fact, Trump reportedly resisted pressure from his allies, advisors, lawmakers, and even his own daughter to call off the riot for over three hours. With also the Washington Post describing those 187 minutes as follows. 25 minutes into Trump's silence, a news photographer was dragged down a flight of stairs and thrown over a wall. 52 minutes in, a police officer was kicked in the chest and surrounded by a mob.

Within the first hour, two rioters died as a result of cardiac events. 64 minutes in, a rioter paraded a Confederate battle flag through the Capitol. 73 minutes in, another police officer was sprayed in the face with chemicals. 78 minutes in, yet another police officer was assaulted with a flagpole. 83 minutes in, riders broke into and began looting the house speaker's office. 93 minutes in, another news photographer was surrounded, pushed down, and robbed of a camera. 94 minutes in, a rider was shot and killed. 102 minutes in, rioters stormed the Senate chamber, stealing papers, and posing for photographs around the dais.

116 minutes in, a fourth police officer was crushed in a doorway and beaten with his own baton. Meanwhile, the president was reportedly raging to people around him about the vice president. And his tweets only added fuel to the fire, starting with one that blasted Mike Pence for not having the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution. Then another tweet telling his supporters to support Capitol police and stay peaceful as if they weren't already violent. And next, asking everyone at the Capitol to remain peaceful, adding no violence. Meanwhile, when GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called him, reportedly, Trump claimed the rioters were Antifa, to which McCarthy was like, no, they're your people. And then Trump reportedly said, you know what I see, Kevin?

I see people who are more upset about the election than you are. They like Trump more than you do. And then finally, after three hours, Trump finally posted this video. I know you pain. I know you hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. I know how you feel But go home and go home at peace. With that, reportedly being the best of at least three takes because he kept veering off the script that his staff had composed for him and repeatedly had to re-recorded to get one that his aides felt was palatable enough to share with the public. But then still, the White House's revisionism isn't done. They also called the 2020 election the greatest election theft in U.S. history in a section titled betrayal of the president. They wrote

Vice President Mike Pence, who had the opportunity to return disputed electoral slates to state legislatures for review and decertification under the United States Constitution, chooses not to exercise that power to an act of cowardice and sabotage. And saying instead, Pence presides over the certification of contested electors, undermining President Trump's effort to address documented fraud and ending any chance to correct the election steal. Though still, after five years of playing whackamol with these conspiracy theories, there's still no evidence the 2020 election was ever stolen. Nor are there any credible legal experts who believe that Mike Pence could have given Trump. the win, and to this day, the former VP stands by that decision. I will always believe, by God's grace, I did my duty that day, to support the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States of America.

But still, the White House claims that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Capital One, and other major financial institutions, plus the legacy media all conspired to destroy Donald Trump politically and economically in the years that followed. And while, you know, we kind of all knew that there were still people that believed this shit five years later. It is still, to a certain degree, shocking to see it laid out this comprehensively and ridiculously on an official government website. Which is then why you have people reacting online saying, January 6 is crazy because we all watched it live and they're still gaslighting us about whether it happened. As well as, of course, people quoting Orwell's 1984, the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.

It was their final, most essential command. While there's a lot of focus on Trump rewriting history from five years ago, you've got some now accusing CBS News of rewriting history as it's happening. Many accusing CBS news of turning into Trump propaganda or Trump propaganda light for months now, and these concerns, they're just getting louder and louder, especially after last night's evening news broadcast. Because one, in their brief coverage of the anniversary of January 6th, for some reason, they didn't mention Trump's revision his website. Two, they ran this segment on Marco Rubio's role in the Trump administration where they glazed him harder than a box of crispy creams. The many lives and many jobs of Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a former Florida senator, he's now the face of U.S. foreign policy and President Trump's point man on Venezuela, all in addition to his roles as Secretary of State, interim national security advisor,

and acting national archivist and USAID chief. Whatever you think of his politics, you've got to admit it's an impressive resume. CBS then took a kind of cutesy-joky pivot to show a series of memes depicting Rubio holding other jobs like the governor of Minnesota, new Shah of Iran and Prime Minister of Greenland before then adding. Now, back in real life, of course, these memes may not add up to much, but for Rubio's hometown fans, which are many around here in Miami, it is a sign of how Florida, once an American punchline, has become a leader on the world stage. Marko Rubio, we salute you. You're the ultimate Florida man. And for many, this just felt like state media promo, state media propaganda, not a segment

worthy of airing on a major news broadcast. Many critical and some noting that even Fox has more dignity than this. It's saying that CBS, they're using a news program to do corporate bidding and calling this a naked appeal for support from the White House for Paramount's bid for Warner Brothers Discovery. You know, while we're not in their heads and we can't prove intent on why they got the knee pads out, I mean, this is a crucial point for CBS News right now. It's been the focus of tons of controversy lately. Ever since the Paramount Skydance merger put David Ellison in charge, and Barry Weiss became the new head of CBS News, right? People have viewed it as a more conservative outlet.

Now it's revamping evening news with Tony DeCopal as the new anchor, and that's been off to a very rocky start. I mean, he only officially started on Monday, but even before then, he was irking people just by the way that he addressed viewers talking about his goals for the show saying, the point is on too many stories,

the press has missed the story, because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates, and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites and not enough on you. With many finding that troubling, saying that CBS News shouldn't be dismissing input

from experts and just hearing the other side and showing them as equal things. With that, you had DeCopold actually fighting back against those comments on Instagram, right? When one person wrote, I grew up on Cronkai, too bad CBS has lost, it's Tiffany Shine. DeCopal responded by saying, what did you love most about him?

I can promise you we'll be more accountable and more transparent in Cronkite or anyone else of his era. Also, before his first show, CBS Evening News, released new guidelines and promises to its viewers, and one of those was, we love America, and we make no apologies for saying so. And adding our foundational values of liberty,

equality, and the rule of law, make us the last best hope on earth. We aim to do our part every night. One way to think about our show is a daily conversation about where exactly we are as a country and where we are going. And again, for many, that was a red flag, making it sound like a news network

was pledging allegiance to the country. A notion that even more people find concerning because Donald Trump has been moving like he is America. Then also had a lot of people wondering who the hell's running the show when, you know, DeCopold made his official evening news debut this week. There was a major on-air blunder. All right, to other news, as you just heard from Jill, to other news now, to Governor Walls. No, we're going to do Mark Kelly.

First day, first day, big problems here. Are we going to Kelly here, or are we going to go to Jonah Kaplan? We're doing Mark Kelly. You know, while technical difficulties, they happen, many just thought that this moment, it kind of underscored the issues happening at CBS News right now. Variety, even calling it an inauspicious sign of where CBS News is headed. But really, where you're seeing that the biggest concerns has to do with the change of content,

the change of tone. And many saying it, it feels like this is really being built for an audience of one, and that being Donald Trump. To get in his good graces, to normalize his extremism. To be Trump propaganda light, maybe even work in a certain degree as an arm of the White House, which on that note, the White House rapid response account actually post. to last night's Rubio segment in a positive light.

And so also with that, you know, for some of the MAGA crowd, this was an appealing pivot. Really, one of the biggest questions is, is this going to be a winning strategy for CBS News moving forward? And there, I'll say, it kind of depends on the goals. Is the goal to increase viewership, get more ad dollars, get more money, run a successful business, or is it just having a thing to disseminate information,

to push propaganda? And there, it kind of brings us back to Elon Musk behind Twitter. Is his goal there to run a business that actually makes a ton of money? Or is it about controlling the public square, controlling the dissemination of information, what's out there, what's not. Because that is its own kind of power, I would argue it's more important than money. The really how the systems work and are connected, especially with this administration is you could have a loss here. But to switch it around to everyone, yeah, Jeff Bezos has the Washington Post. Also, he has Amazon. Also is blue origin. There

are government contracts. It feels like with these organizations and social networks getting gobbled up, there is just going to be an understandable distrust of information, whether it be from previously mainstream trusted sources like CBS News and the like. And then there's even more we've got to dive into, but first let me say, you know, it is a new year. And if you're still online without a VPN, is basically like walking through an airport holding your wallet open and saying, please behave everyone. That's why today's sponsor NordVPN is a must-have, not a luxury. NordVPN encrypts everything you do online so hackers,

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But it's a tanker known as the Marinera, though when the chase began, it was called the Bella One. And it appears that it's the only vessel owned by a company based in Turkey, which was also sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department back in 2024. Or with the U.S. officials accusing the company of moving goods on behalf of the Kud's which is an elite wing within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Though also, notably, the vessel is believed to have been transporting Venezuelan crude oil in the past, and with that, U.S. forces attempted to board the ship

last month when it was in the Caribbean and believed to be heading toward Venezuela. And that being an effort to enforce Trump's total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil thinkers entering or leaving Venezuela. But the crew, they dramatically changed course, they sent out a distress signal, and then they just went darned. But then, two weeks later, and thousands of miles away, they turned on their broadcast signal with a whole new name, re-registering as a Russian vessel, whereas before they were this stateless vessel flying under a false flag. And that's a very key thing here, because as one expert explained, once it's legitimately registered, it gets the protection of the flag and dadding. It's not retroactive. You can't say it was stateless two weeks ago, so we're going to say it's stateless now. And with that,

Russia made what was seen as an unusual move of allowing the tanker to get what has since been described as a temporary permit to sail under the Russian flag without an inspection or other formalities. And actually, several other sanctioned tankers have re-registered as Russian vessels in recent weeks as well. In fact, at least 18 oil tankers hit by U.S. sanctions have switched to a Russian registry, with many of them also having previously been sailing under a false flag. But for now, right, the focus is on the Marine era that the U.S. has been pursuing for two weeks, even though it had never actually picked up any oil from Venezuela, and even though the Russian government made a formal diplomatic request that the U.S. stop its chase.

And all the while, this tanker was believed to have been heading toward a city in northwestern Russia. And while today, as the tanker moved northeast between Iceland and the U.K., the Kremlin reportedly dispatching a submarine and other naval vessels to escort the tanker, At the same time, the U.S. and the U.K. military scrambled aircraft in the area. You then had reports quickly emerging that American forces have begun in operation to seize the tanker. Russian state media publishing footage reportedly taken from onboard the tanker and appearing to show a U.S. Coast Guard ship in the distance as well as images purporting to show a U.S. helicopter flying near the tanker.

And sure enough, you then had the U.S. European Command posting on X that the vessel was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court. And going on to say, the seizure supports POTUS proclamation, targeting sanction vessels that threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere. And then, Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth adding, the blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in full effect anywhere in the world. And actually to that point, the Coast Guard also intercepted another Venezuela-linked tanker today,

this one in the Caribbean, although the attention really has been focused on the one registered in Russia. But especially as there have been fears of a Russia-United States standoff. So in the end, there were reportedly no Russian vessels in the vicinity of the tanker during the seizure, though, I will say that also doesn't mean that there's not going to be fallout from this. I mean, you've got the Russian transport ministry already issuing a statement, accusing the United States of breaking the 1982 UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, saying, no state has the right to use force against ships properly registered in the jurisdictions of other states. And you also had a senior Russian lawmaker from the country's ruling party arguing

at the U.S.'s actions, they equated to an act of outright piracy. But also another big thing with everything we're talking about here is it may lead to more than just strong words from Russian ministries. It might sink any peace deal in Ukraine. And I mentioned that because right now, European, Ukrainian, and American negotiators are in Paris trying to work out another deal. Right, and the negotiators, which included figures like Jared Kushner, which I guess means you know Trump is serious, they were all worried about the same problem. How do they deter future Russian aggression? And for that, they want to implement multi-layer defense guarantees for Ukraine.

This, including by providing weapons and training to Ukraine's troops, which is probably a given. But the real breakthrough was the promise for a supporting force that would give land, sea, and air support. Now, I will say, no information about how big that force is supposed to be has been released publicly. The U.S. and allies are also supposed to monitor and verify that ceasefires are being adhered to. that also won't mean American boots on the ground, right? Trump has ruled that out explicitly. But France and the UK have signed a declaration of intent to send troops to Ukraine as part of any official peace deal. Even Germany was keeping the possibility of boots on the ground open with their chancellor saying. Germany will continue to engage politically, financially, and also militarily.

This could include, for example, deploying forces for Ukraine on neighboring NATO territory after a ceasefire. And for Ukraine, these security guarantees there are a must have for any peace, to the point they won't even consider a peace deal without them. Also, another must have for any peace is that the U.S. needs to actually be on board, and so far, that does seem to be the case. Right, Special Envoy, Steve Whitkoff, riding on X. We have made significant progress on several critical work streams, including our bilateral security agreement framework and a prosperity plan. And adding, we agree with the coalition that durable security guarantees and robust prosperity commitments are essential to a lasting peace in the Ukraine, and we will continue to work together

on this effort. With the same time, you had Kushner saying, this does not mean we will make peace, but peace would not be possible without the progress we made today. And he might be right that despite major headway on a common agreement being made yesterday, that peace still might not come. But at the end of the day, Russia has to agree and boots on the ground, it just seems to be a line in the sand for them. So far, at least as I'm recording, they haven't commented on the new peace deal, but the U.S.'s actions, they do amount to a direct confrontation with Russia. And while there are still some unknowns here, you might expect a massive response, but so far, the Russian foreign ministry has just called on the U.S. to ensure humane and dignified treatment of Russian citizens on board the tanker. And there's possibly two reasons for this. One is that it's Orthodox Christmas in Russia. So just like the U.S. in many countries, things kind of completely shut down at this time of year.

So, you know, it is entirely possible we see some stronger language and response in the coming days. But also, like, you can't look at this without considering that ever since Trump got reelected, Russia has been trying to kind of not confront the U.S. on really so many issues. And in some ways, it looks like it's working as Trump has entertained Russian demands for peace in Ukraine. Though the biggest payoff might be coming soon after Trump wrote a massive anti-NATO peace on truth social. In a piece where he bashes members of the alliance and claims that the U.S. pops it up before then adding, Russia and China have zero fear of NATO without the United States, and I doubt NATO would be there for us if we really needed them.

A statement that, you know, many people took is Trump threatening to leave NATO, which was then kind of contradicted in that post itself, because right after Trump added, we will always be there for NATO, even if they won't be there for us. So of course, that he then made sure to end it by making it clear that he was behind the US version of America that Russia and China fear. But also, here's the thing, whatever Trump's writing online, you have this White House still making threats that if they followed through

on it, it could very possibly lead to the end of NATO. With White House press secretary Caroline Levick continuing to insist yesterday and today that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority and that the use of military force remains an option. Now with that, you also have Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently telling lawmakers that these threats aren't serious and they're just about pressuring Denmark into selling Greenland. That's also not really reassuring with experts arguing at the stakes. They're just too high to not take Trump seriously, especially considering what he just did in Venezuela. Just like what happened there doesn't really seem to be about drugs, it's not clear that the interest in Greenland is really about national security.

Greenland, this autonomous territory of Denmark, is strategically located and home to vast, untapped mineral resources that much of the world is currently reliant on China for. And as far as security, the U.S. already has a military base on the island, which supports missile warning and missile defense operations. And in fact, with some conditions, the agreement that allows the U.S. to operate its base there also allows it to construct, install, maintain, and operate military bases across Greenland, house personnel, and control landings, takeoffs, and Anchorage, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft and waterborne craft.

Right, it's why you have experts saying the U.S. has such a free hand in Greenland that it can pretty much do what it wants. And adding, I have a very hard time seeing that the U.S. couldn't get pretty much everything it wanted if it just asked nicely. And even when it comes to mineral resources, Greenlanders have said that they're open to doing business. Also with this, right, Trump's recent complaints that the island was covered in Russian and Chinese ships, it really doesn't appear to match reality. I mean, you've had European officials noting that while Russia and China have increased their activity, in the region, most of that's elsewhere in the Arctic with no current uptick and activity near Greenland. With the Danish foreign minister saying, the image that's being painted of Russian and Chinese ships right inside the New York Fjord and massive Chinese investments being made is not

correct. And adding, the situation was based on a misreading of what is up and what is down. Now, with all this, you've got Danish and Greenlandic officials, reportedly hoping to meet with Marco Rubio to push back against Trump's flawed view of the security situation and ultimately ease tensions. You've also seen several European nations as well as Canada coming out with a joint statement showing their support for Denmark and Greenland, though notably avoiding explicit criticism of the US. And also, there's been a lot of discussion about what else might actually be done to stop the United States from doing kind of whatever it wants. So there, the answer may very well be not that much. But it's been said that European countries could reconsider their support for

US military bases on their territory, possibly taking steps to limit access or increase costs. But you know, the problem there is that NATO and Europe, they still depend heavily on the United States for their own security. And similarly, it's been said that European countries could try to use trade or taxation policies to pressure the United States. States, at least in theory. But in practice, those actions could also undermine the alliance that they're meant to protect. And so ultimately, many of the options available to try and prevent the United States from taking action that would most likely destroy NATO, they would at the very least weaken NATO and maybe ultimately bring about its end as well. So it's actually

been argued that there is a definite pathway toward a non-military U.S. takeover of Greenland. Though if it did come down to military action, it also probably wouldn't face any resistance. Even at a Danish politician who asked to stay anonymous telling Politico, it could be like five helicopters, he wouldn't need a lot of troops. There would be nothing they could do. You also had an associate professor of military operations of the Royal Danish Defense College further explaining You could just simply put troops in the country and just say that it's American now And adding the United States military is capable of landing any number of forces on Greenland either by air or by sea and then C claiming that it's American territory and we talk about all of that not to normalize it, but to you know note that while it still may be

Unlikely not long ago it felt like a complete impossibility But that my friends is the end of today's Wednesday Philip DeFranco show. I want to say thank you so much for spending some time with me Even if you did so as a second screen experience because your attention span has just been completely destroyed. And of course, I'll be right back here for you tomorrow with some more news. I've even got more for you to watch today that you can check out right now. We're a settler colonial empire now. Does it count as a bombing if it's just boats off the shore and also a poor and also you steal their president? Trump's just jealous, like honestly, like when it really comes down to it.

It may just be the same shit and we just get oil now. Yeah, it's called a rebrand, Phil. Thank you.