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War is raging in the Middle East, peace is uncertain in Europe, and investors and consumers are responding to threats of tariffs with sell-offs and boycotts. But President Donald Trump is focused on what matters to him: his self-image. Like a friend asking you to untag them from a photo on social media that they find unflattering, Trump isn’t happy with an artist’s depiction of himand wants the painting taken down. Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday about the painting, which was added in 2019 to a collection of presidential portraits at the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver. He claimed the portrait was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before. The portrait was painted by Sarah Boardman, a Colorado Springs artist who told the Denver Post in 2019 that she painted both Trump’s and former President Barack Obama’s portraits to appear intentionally apolitical. Boardman did not respond to a request for comment. In todays environment, its all very upfront; but in another five, 10, 15 years, he will be another president on the wall, Boardman said at the time. And he needs to look neutral. The psychology behind the portrait It’s unclear why Trump is complaining about the portrait now, six years after it was first displayed. But Trump’s aversion to his portrait is actually human nature. Scientists have found that humans tend to dislike photographs of themselves for two primary reasons: One, humans prefer images of themselves that they see oftensay, their face in a mirror. A portrait or a photograph that depicts a person from an unfamiliar perspective can lead to feelings of discomfort. Then there’s the phenomenon of self-enhancement, which describes the tendency to evaluate our own traits and abilities more favorably than is objectively warranted. According to a paper published in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, when presented with two imagesone untouched photograph and one enhanced for attractivenessrespondents tended to identify with the enhanced photo. In other words, we tend to think we look better than we actually do. This is almost certainly what’s going on in this case. After working in the public eye for decades as a celebrity, reality-TV-show host, and politician, Trump is particularly attuned to his appearance. But he also takes great pains to control his image. Heand his supportersare not shy about altering imagery to depict him in an artificially flattering light. Trump likes images of himself that show him as strong. And he likes images that he can approve (see his official White House portraits). Boardman’s painting violates all of Trump’s preferences: the soft-focused lighting, the jawline, the swept-over hair. Boardman’s portrait makes Trump look like just another guy in a blue suitand he can’t stand that.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump has said a lot of alarming things, but one comment that is sounding alarm bells across the Atlantic, from U.S. shores to Denmark, is his statement: “One way or another, we’re going to get [Greenland].” Now the Trump administration is sending an uninvited delegation to the autonomous Danish territory on Thursday, a move that Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has criticized, calling it “highly aggressive” and a “provocation.” Greenland’s people are bracing for the visit from second lady Usha Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Vance is set to watch Greenland’s national dogsled race and “celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” while Waltz and Wright will see the Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. military facility in remote northern Greenland. Meanwhile, as the Trump administration closes in on Greenland, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has previously stated emphatically: “We seriously mean . . . that Greenland is not for sale. Denmark is responsible for the defense and security of the island’s 57,000 residents, and opinion polls show that while Greenland’s people prefer a looser relationship with Denmark, they are against becoming a United States territory. Nevertheless, Trump’s persistence raises an important question: Why is he so fixated on Greenland, anyway? Trump claims Greenland is a national security asset Greenland is attractive to Trump for two reasons: It has a wealth of natural resources and is strategically located on the shortest route between the U.S. and Europe. “The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region, and it should not be a surprise the National Security Advisor and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get firsthand briefings from our service members on the ground,” National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told the Associated Press. According to the BBC, the U.S. has had its eye on the territory as far back as the 1860s, when President Andrew Johnson first wanted to buy Greenland. Much later, during World War II, the U.S. invaded Greenland and established military and radio stations across the territory. After the war, American forces remained in Greenland at what is now known as Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base). “If Russia were to send missiles toward the U.S., the shortest route for nuclear weapons would be via the North Pole and Greenland,” Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defense College told the BBC. “That’s why the Pituffik Space Base is immensely important in defending the U.S.” The Trump delegation’s visit also comes as both China and Russia are increasing their activity in the Arctic. The other reason Trump has his sights set on Greenland: It has large deposits of rare earth minerals needed to make computers, smartphones, and batteries, as well as its potential offshore deposits of oil and natural gas.
Category:
E-Commerce
BYD, Chinas largest maker of electronic vehicles, surpassed $100 billion in sales last year, beating out its beleaguered American competitor Tesla. Per an earnings release on Monday, BYD notched $107 billion in sales last year. That’s decisively above the $97.7 billion that Tesla made in 2024. And in terms of vehicles delivered, BYD shipped 4.27 million hybrid and battery electric vehicles, while Tesla shipped 1.79 million EVs. Last year marked Teslas first sales decline in over a dozen years. As of this writing, shares in BYD Company ADR have risen around 5% today, bringing its stock up more than 55% since the start of the year. News of BYDs big year dominating Chinas EV marketboth in sales numbers and new innovationscomes as Teslas brand is being increasingly battered because of a plummeting stock price in 2025, massive recalls, and protests against company billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s over-involvement in the U.S. government. BYD is a BFD Aside from its record-breaking sales numbers, BYD has most recently made headlines for designing a new ultrafast charging system, an innovation that could be a game changer for the greater EV market. Earlier this month, the company announced that its flash chargers will be able to provide power for 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles) in five minutes, or about the same amount of time it takes to fill the gas tank of an SUV. BYD plans to roll out 4,000 of the new chargers in China, where building EV infrastructure tends to be a much faster process than it is in the United States. Meanwhile, as climate reporter Dan Gearino writes for Inside Climate News, Tesla is in the midst of a corporate self-destruction unlike any Ive seen. The brands problems range from increasingly wide-scale backlash against CEO Muskwhose fund-slashing in the federal government has cut tens of thousands of jobsto a recall last week of nearly every Cybertruck ever made. Teslas woes have caused its stock to plummet 32% since the start of the year, and Tesla trade-ins recently hit an all-time high. Despite a rough few months, Teslas market valuation remains impressive, landing at around $800 billion compared to BYDs $157 billion, according to Bloomberg. And President Trump continues to implement new tariffs on Chinese imports and roll back EV subsidies. While Tesla stock had been falling since the beginning of 2025, it has been enjoying a rebound more recently, with shares up more than 15% over the past five days, according to data from Yahoo Finance.
Category:
E-Commerce
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