topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

colorado-springs

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

National

President Trump's advisers have little patience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's objections as they push ahead with "phase two" of the Gaza peace plan.

"This is our show, not his show. We managed to do things in Gaza in recent months nobody thought was possible, and we are going to continue moving," a senior U.S. official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu.

Friction point: Netanyahu released an unusually pointed statement objecting to the "executive board" for Gaza, which the White House named on Friday. 

The committee, which reports to the Trump-led Board of Peace, includes the foreign minister of Turkey and a senior Qatari official, despite Netanyahu's insistence that those countries have no role in governing Gaza.

The announcement stunned Netanyahu, who was not consulted. The Israeli media quickly started reporting on the idea that Qatar and Turkey — key mediators on the Gaza deal who both have fractious relationships with Israel — would be wielding influence.

"The announcement... was not coordinated with Israel and runs counter to its policy. The Prime Minister instructed the Foreign Minister to raise this matter with the U.S. Secretary of State," Netanyahu said.

The other side: Asked by Axios about Netanyahu's comment, the senior U.S. official doubled down.

The official said Netanyahu was not consulted on the membership of the committee because he does not have a say in the matter.

"If he wants us to deal with Gaza, it will have to be our way. We worked over him. Let him focus on Iran and let us deal with Gaza. We are not going to argue with him. He will do his politics and we will keep moving forward with our plan. He can't really go against us," the U.S. official said.

The senior official added that unless Netanyahu wants to send Israeli troops back into the fight in Gaza, with the U.S. withdrawing from this issue, he'll have to get with the U.S. program.

"We are doing him a favor. If this fails he can say, 'I told you so.' We know that if it succeeds he will claim credit."

Between the lines: While Trump personally has kept up a close relationship with Netanyahu, many on his team are fed up with the Israeli prime minister's hardline stances in Gaza and beyond.

They're also worried that if they can't build momentum behind phase two of the deal, Israel will resume the war.

The U.S. official claimed that while Netanyahu is highly skeptical the U.S. plan would work, he likes its content. The official said that "nobody in Israel believed we will get this far - but we managed to do it."

State of play: Trump wants to launch the Gaza Board of Peace next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 

He announced a new Palestinian technocratic government on Wednesday to oversee day-to-day governance in Gaza. It will be headed by Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister of transportation in the Palestinian Authority.

Former UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov will serve as the Board of Peace "High Representative" for Gaza — effectively the CEO.

Mladenov will report to an international Executive Board, which will include Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner; former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair; billionaire businessman Marc Rowan; the foreign minister of Turkey and ministers from Qatar and the UAE; Egypt's intelligence chief; Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay; and former UN Gaza envoy Sigrid Kaag. 

"Each member of the Executive Board will be responsible for a defined portfolio critical to stabilizing Gaza, including governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilization," the White House said.

What they're saying: The Palestinian technocratic government released on Saturday its mission statement, which includes a commitment to peace. 

"We are committed to establishing security, restoring the essential services... as well as cultivating a society rooted in peace, democracy, and justice," the statement read. 

The new government also committed to "the highest standards of integrity and transparency."

"We embrace peace, through which we strive to secure the path to true Palestinian rights and self-determination," the new government stressed. 

What to watch: Any hope of turning the Gaza truce into lasting peace depends on Hamas giving up its weapons, and on Israel pulling its troops back, rather than trying once again to disarm Hamas by force.

U.S. officials insisted in recent days that Hamas has privately signaled it's ready to accept the U.S. demilitarization plan and begin to disarm. They said the next 60 days will focus on getting this process going. 

"With the support of Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar, we will secure a COMPREHENSIVE Demilitarization Agreement with Hamas, including the surrender of ALL weapons, and the dismantling of EVERY tunnel," Trump said on Truth Social Thursday evening.

He added: "Hamas must IMMEDIATELY honor its commitments, including the return of the final body to Israel, and proceed without delay to full Demilitarization. As I have said before, they can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

The White House said Saturday that Army Gen. Jasper Jeffers will be commander of the International Stabilization Force in Gaza.

Jeffers will oversee all security matters related to the Palestinian technocratic government, assist in efforts to demilitarize the Gaza Strip, and supervise the safe transfer of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials to ensure they do not fall into Hamas' hands.

"Gaza is our show": U.S. pushes its plan over Netanyahu's objections

"If he wants us to deal with Gaza, it will have to be our way."

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at the White House in November. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Donald Trump

Israel

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

American politics has gotten dirty — and so have officials' mouths.

The big picture: In the era of politics often defined by the in-your-face style of President Trump, lawmakers are dropping f-bombs like "The Wolf of Wall Street" went to Washington.

Robert Thompson, the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told Axios the U.S. long operated in "two parallel languages": How we spoke with one another and the "language of public discourse."

"One could argue that until these past couple of years that separation was still pretty extreme," he said. The Trump era, in some ways, has set "new rules."

Case in point: In a high-intensity press briefing after a federal agent shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis, the city's mayor, Jacob Frey, didn't mince words as he ripped into ICE, demanding officers "get the f-ck out."

That phrase — while softened with asterisks and dashes — made headlines and was broadcast live.

Michael Adams, an English professor at Indiana University Bloomington and the author of "In Praise of Profanity," says Frey's fiery command was a "great moment in swearing" as a piece of expressive language: "It was an instance in which I think it's fair to say that swearing was eloquent."

While Frey's sharp rebuke garnered significant coverage, it's part of a years-long erosion of political and media norms that limited profanity in the public arena of politics and the scandal that resulted from using those words.

Context: Trump is a top offender. In October, he told reporters as cameras were rolling that since-captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro didn't "want to f-ck around with the United States" — a profanity-laden punch the administration was quick to promote with its "FAFO" catchphrase. 

He's publicly used a plethora of profanities during his political career, including confirming the infamous incident where he called Haiti and other nations "s--thole countries" and calling other nations (and U.S. cities) "hellholes."

And he flipped the bird at a heckler at a Michigan Ford factory Tuesday, with footage of his federal finger appearing on gossip website TMZ.

Vice President Vance has taken a page out of Trump's book, calling a podcast host a "dips--t on social media and saying in a speech to troops that people who like turkey were "full of s--t."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also told a room of the nation's top military officials that the department was "done with that s--t" — meaning social justice and diversity initiatives. 

The other side: While Trump is known for his at-times overtly crass language, Democrats have also sung along in a chorus of curse words.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has flaunted the f-word: dropping "No f--king way" in a video shared amid the government shutdown and saying the administration can't "f--k around" over the Epstein files release.

And former Vice President Kamala Harris used her favorite curse word at a Los Angeles summit in October.

"If … Trump opened the door to swearing, Trump is getting a dose of that back now because other people are swearing to express their frustration at things they believe he's responsible for," Adams said.

What they're saying: Thompson said it's like politicians "have discovered what comedians discovered a generation ago ... that in fact, you could get laughs by simply saying these words."

"Now, there's this sense that you can make a point by simply saying them." 

Flashback: When the White House released transcripts ahead of former President Nixon's resignation amid the Watergate scandal, they were notoriously littered with the placeholder, "[expletive deleted]."

"That, I think, was the first time a lot of people got the sense that ... 'wow, Nixon really has a foul mouth, and ... this is the first president that used these words' — which, of course, wasn't the case," Thompson said.

Nixon acknowledged that tension himself, writing in "In the Arena," that while other presidents used foul language, "none of them had the bad judgment to have it on tape." 

Yes, but: Cursing in politics continued to trigger scrutiny despite, as Thompson notes, critically acclaimed programming of the day using such language in "extreme ways."

While Nixon seemed ashamed by the foul language, the late Vice President Dick Cheney took pride in his profanity, saying that telling the retired Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to "f--k yourself" was "sort of the best thing I ever did."

And a giddy former President Biden famously told former President Obama that the signing of the Affordable Care Act was a "big f--king deal" — in a not-so-secret whisper.

Worth noting: While Trump's use of curse words may garner little more than a momentary raise of the eyebrows, his other rhetoric — calling a female reporter "piggy" or Somali immigrants "garbage" — has sparked significant outrage.

Today, cursing in politics evokes a sense of strategy rather than the scandal of the past.

"The F word is the new authenticity," Thompson said. And sometimes, he adds, "it's kind of pathetic."

The bottom line: Thanks to that growing trend of political profanity, today's newscasts may feel more George Carlin than Stephanopoulos.

The rise of the political potty mouth

Illustration of a blue campaign button with a white band across the middle, with swear symbols reading, "%@$&#!" on it instead of a candidate's name.

Media

Latest news on Wall Street, Corporate America and financial regulation.

Business

Macro

Axios Macro

President Trump announced Saturday he would impose a 10% tariff on imports from eight NATO allies — including Denmark — until a deal is reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland.

Why it matters: The threat marks the most significant step yet in Trump's campaign to acquire the vast Arctic territory, which has been controlled by Denmark for centuries.

The tariffs, which Trump said would start on Feb. 1 and increase to 25% starting in June, would jeopardize recently finalized trade deals with the European Union and the United Kingdom. 

What they're saying: Trump said on Truth Social said that tariffs imposed on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom "will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland."

Trump said the U.S. is "immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades."

Trump has often complained that the U.S. subsidizes the security of NATO allies, and more recently claimed that America must control Greenland in order to fend off threats from China and Russia.

The big picture: The eight NATO allies named by Trump have expressed solidarity with Greenland in the face of U.S. threats, and recently deployed a small contingent of troops to the island for a reconnaissance mission.

"These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable," Trump said on Truth Social.

Denmark and Greenland — where protests against the U.S. were held on Saturday — have condemned Trump's threats and urged the White House to reconsider its approach.

France's President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post on Saturday, "France is committed to the sovereignty and independence of nations, in Europe and elsewhere."

"This guides our choices. It underpins our commitment to the United Nations and to its Charter," Macron added, noting it was the reason France was supporting Ukraine — and now Greenland, too.

"No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations," he wrote. 

Between the lines: White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told Fox News on Saturday that Denmark should not be able to control a place he claimed it could not defend. 

"Denmark is a tiny country with a tiny economy and a tiny military. They cannot defend Greenland," Miller said, arguing that raw military power has been the deciding factor in territorial control "for 500 years."

Miller did not mention that Denmark is a member of NATO, which is the world's largest military alliance and obligated to treat an attack on one ally as an attack on all.

The intrigue: It is unclear which legal authority Trump would lean on to impose these tariffs. 

The White House's go-to authority — the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which has underpinned most global tariffs — is facing legal scrutiny from the Supreme Court, with a decision due any day now.

The bottom line: Trump has threatened tariffs on much of the world— and blown up global economic norms — to bring nations to the negotiating table.

Now he is turning to a similar playbook in his efforts to acquire Greenland.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add a statement from French President Macron. 

Trump announces tariffs on 8 NATO allies in latest push to acquire Greenland

It's the most significant step yet in Trump's Greenland pressure campaign.

People protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, against President Trump and U.S. interest in acquiring the territory, Jan. 17, 2026. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Brexit

Tariffs

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

Senior Trump political adviser Chris LaCivita and The Daily Beast have reached a settlement agreement stemming from a defamation suit LaCivita brought against the news outlet last year.

Why it matters: LaCivita's lawsuit was one of several that figures in Trump's orbit brought against news organizations in the wake of the 2024 election.

The background: The lawsuit centered on a Oct. 2024 story the Daily Beast published, which reported that LaCivita had made $22 million off the campaign.

LaCivita adamantly denied the allegations, and his legal team sent several letters to the Daily Beast demanding it retract the story.

The outlet later edited the story to say that LaCivita had made $19.2 million. It also deleted a podcast which featured longtime investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, the story's author, talking about the piece. 

But the Daily Beast declined LaCivita's demands to retract the article or make additional edits.

In March 2025, LaCivita's lawyers filed a defamation suit in Virginia federal court accusing the Daily Beast of "harming [LaCivita's] reputation as an honest, reasonable, and ethical political operative."

Zoom out: LaCivita and the Daily Beast settled the case on Friday.

Trump adviser LaCivita and The Daily Beast settle defamation suit

LaCivita's lawsuit was one of several that figures in Trump's orbit brought against news organizations in the wake of the 2024 election.

Axios

Saturday's top stories

"Gaza is our show": U.S. pushes its plan over Netanyahu's objections

The rise of the political potty mouth

Trump announces tariffs on 8 NATO allies in latest push to acquire Greenland

Trump adviser LaCivita and The Daily Beast settle defamation suit

Trump DOJ investigating Tim Walz, Minneapolis mayor

Behind the Curtain: The AI future is here

6 signs the AI race just entered a new phase

Power prices are rising — just not the way Trump claims

Latest wedding trend: Smaller entourages

Judge limits ICE tactics in Minnesota