Nearly a decade ago, many of us watched in shock as Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Until that point, it was easy to write off his presidential run as an egotistical attempt to gain fame and power, with circumstances aligned to allow him to win the Republican nomination. But his victory meant that there was a real audience not disturbed by his bravado, sexism, and race-baiting. Academics like me were eager to understand what happened to the country. Into this breach came the concept of Christian nationalism. Given that an estimated 81 percent of white conservative Christians voted for Trump, it was easy to envision them as the main culprits behind his rise. Several academics (notably Sam Perry, Andrew Whitehead, Philip Gorski, Paul A. Djupe, and Joseph Baker) wrote articles and books on this subject, and as media attention followed, the notion of Christian nationalism quickly caught on among the public.

Vice President JD Vance defended President Donald Trump's Greenland policy push, telling Newsmax on Thursday that the United States already provides implicit protection for the Arctic territory and should share in its resources because of its strategic importance. Trump on Wednesday announced a "framework" for a Greenland deal is in place after talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Davos, Switzerland. Trump revealed few details of the deal but told CNBC it would include access to mineral rights for the U.S. and its European allies, as well as collaboration on the Golden Dome missile defense system.

Prior to announcing on Jan. 21 that he has reached a "framework of a future deal" on Greenland with the secretary general of NATO, President Donald Trump had insisted that the United States needed to acquire Greenland for national security reasons — and at first, he wouldn't rule out potentially taking the territory over by force. In a Jan. 21 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said, "I don't want to use force; I won't use force." Throughout his initial push to claim Greenland for the U.S., Trump made several claims about the island in the Arctic, which is home to about 56,000 people, including statements questioning Denmark's documented ownership of Greenland and statements suggesting that the U.S. needs "ownership to defend" Greenland. Some of his claims are false.

Despite "psychologically" needing to acquire Greenland, President Donald Trump Thursday headed back to the United States with just "the framework" of an agreement that appears to exist only in his own mind. Weeks of antagonizing both Denmark and all of NATO with threats of tariffs and even war, in Trump's telling, won the United States key concessions in the Danish territory following a one-on-one meeting with the alliance's secretary general, Mark Rutte, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We're getting everything we wanted ― total security, total access to everything," Trump bragged to Fox Business Thursday morning, acknowledging that the details are still being worked out. "Essentially, it's total access. There's no end. There's no time limit."