Good morning and happy Monday to all who celebrate! During a press conference on Friday, Donald Trump was asked a politically charged question: “What is a woman?” Love him or hate him, the guy knocked it out of the park with this response: “A woman is a person who’s much smarter than a man, I’ve always found.” Game recognize game.

WORLD

🧊 Team Trump keeps eye on Greenland as Danes push back

In the words of our distinguished vice president, it’s “cold as shit” in Greenland. America’s #1 Millennial swung by the world’s largest island to visit the soldiers sailors guardians stationed at the U.S. Space Force’s Pituffik Space Base about 947 miles south of the North Pole. Repping the boss’s desire for control of the place was a nice bonus.

• The trip was supposed to be a cultural tour for Second Lady Usha Vance. That didn't go over too well with the locals, so JD came along, and it morphed into a more political swing.

Vance made Trump’s case for greater U.S. control of the island and clarified that he doesn’t think "military force is ever going to be necessary.” The VP emphasized that Greenlanders (all 57,000 of 'em) would first use their power of self-determination to split from Denmark "and then we're going to have conversations" from there.

• He slammed Denmark, the island’s current owner, for not doing enough to keep it safe and believes Greenlanders would be better off under America’s "security umbrella” than Denmark’s.

Denmark isn’t thrilled about all this (obviously). The Danish foreign minister said he agrees the "status quo" in the Arctic isn't an option. He admitted that “the tone” of the U.S. message is a problem and added, "This is not how you speak to your close allies."

• The Danes are open to negotiating, however, and pointed out that the existing 1951 defense agreement already allows for a greater U.S. military presence.

If Vance’s pitch did them in, they’re going to love Trump’s. The island's mile-thick ice sheet conceals vast mineral wealth, and the whole place is in a killer strategic position to counter Russia and China in the Arctic. It's an enticing piece of ice for the man in the Oval.

• The president on Sunday refused to take military action off the table. "We'll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent."

Related: President Trump threatened Iran, warning that if they don't sign a deal restricting their nuclear weapons program, "there will be bombing… the likes of which they have never seen before."

GOVERNMENT

🗽 President Trump signed an executive order to bring back ousted statues. It directs Interior Sec. Doug Burgum to restore public monuments that have been removed since 2020. That may be a tall order, however, since most (or all) removed statues seem to be owned by state or local governments rather than the feds. The order also aims to rid the Smithsonian Institution of "divisive, race-centered ideology" and programs that "degrade shared American values." The government doesn't directly control the Smithsonian but does provide much of the museum's budget and appoint its board.

🚫 President Trump also moved to strip most federal employees of their ability to join labor unions. Federal law allows him to ban federal agencies from negotiating with unions if those agencies engage in national security work. Trump signed an order adding dozens of agencies to that list, including the State Department, the Treasury, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Science Foundation, and more. About 25% of federal workers are union members. Trump’s order affects about 75% of them.

Q&A

❓️ Breakups, taxes, and third-term dreams

Q: Is Trump running for a third term in 2028?

A: No. In an interview on Sunday, Trump said he was focused on his current term but that "a lot of people" want him to go for a third in 2028. The Constitution’s 22nd Amendment says “no person shall be elected” president “more than twice.” That pretty much seals Trump’s fate here, though there maaay be a workaround. Note that it says he can’t be “elected” again. Technically speaking, there’s nothing to prevent him from getting elected vice president and convincing the new president to resign. Other than, you know, human nature.

Q: Did Canada break up with the United States?

A: Eh. New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. is "no longer a reliable partner" and that the "old relationship… based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over.” Carney said Canada's trade relationships need to "pivot" and backed that up with trips to the U.K. and France. But he might be gone soon. And untangling two massive economies is easier said than done.

Q: Is Trump hitting imported cars with 25% tariffs?

A: Yes. Starting April 3, imported cars, trucks, and auto parts will get slapped with an extra 25% import tax. Who pays that tax? Trump believes the foreign exporters will pay it, but his opponents would argue that American consumers eat the cost. Either way, car dealerships are busy as tariff day approaches. A key detail here is that many “foreign” cars are actually built in the U.S., while many “domestic” models are built elsewhere.

• Related: President Trump has deemed Wednesday "Liberation Day.” He plans to roll out new tariffs to "charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth.”

TRIVIA

Today would be the 98th birthday of a famous Mexican-American labor leader and activist. Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994, this guy organized the first successful farm workers union and is today a legendary figure among labor activists and in the Mexican-American community. What was his name?

Hint: His first and last names both start with the same letter.

POLITICS

🗳️ Republican electoral fears tank UN nomination

Well, it was (probably) fun while it lasted. But that official ambassadorial residence — a $16 million, 5,900-square-foot, 37th-floor New York City penthouse — will have to go to someone else. The White House pulled Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, citing the Republican Party’s slim majority in the House of Representatives. Stefanik was announced as the pick back in November but never received a confirmation vote by the Senate. It’s back to the old day job in Congress for Stefanik, which suddenly seems lame by comparison.

Trump’s election already resulted in the resignations of two House Republicans. Those seats, both in Florida, are set to be filled by special elections tomorrow. Both are strongly Republican, but one has the party sweating. The Democratic nominee in Florida’s Daytona-area 6th congressional district has outraised the Republican about 10-to-1.

• It’s all hands on deck now for the Rs to pull their man over the finish line.

• He’s still in the driver’s seat, but off-schedule special elections often go awry for the party in power.

But hey, if worse comes to worst for Team Trump, perhaps the seat’s former occupant, Mike Waltz, will soon be available to run again in 2026. He’s the national security advisor under fire for adding a reporter to the now-infamous Signal group chat.

Elon Musk is taking a page from his 2024 playbook and handing out $1 million checks to a few lucky voters in the runup to tomorrow’s contentious election for, uh, Wisconsin Supreme Court. The seat will determine which party controls the not-technically-partisan-but-totally-partisan court in the key swing state. Campaign spending on this bad boy is set to top $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial race ever.

• In other Elon news, he sold Twitter X to his heretofore unrelated AI company, xAI.

• He also sat down for a lengthy interview alongside other senior DOGE staff (at least one of whom is a former rocket scientist).

BRIEFS

● Afghanistan's Taliban-controlled government has released an American woman after a two-month detainment. Faye Hall is the fourth U.S. citizen released by the Taliban since January. Her release follows that of George Glezmann, who was held for two years.

● Columbia University has a new interim president after the previous interim president resigned. The school continues to duke it out with the Trump administration over widespread accusations of antisemitism, for which the new prez is also under fire.

● And then there were seven. Utah’s governor signed a bill to phase out the state’s universal vote-by-mail system (and another axing fluoride in its water). Utah is the only Republican state that mails ballots to every voter.

● Ukraine is prepared to reject a deal that could hand control of its minerals to the U.S. if such a deal endangers its path to E.U. membership. On the war front, Ukraine won some Russian territory and Trump is "pissed" at Putin for not negotiating a peace deal.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Our man of the day is Cesar Chavez, activist and founder of the United Farm Workers labor union. He’s a celebrated figure among many Democrats, with no greater recent example than President Biden keeping a bust of the guy in the Oval Office.