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Republicans and Democrats alike have scrambled to come up with ever-fancier theories of why Donald Trump was re-elected to the presidency, but the real answer is staring everyone in the face, a senior fellow with the left-leaning Center for American Progress said on MSNBC's "The Beat" on Wednesday evening.

"The basic idea here, which I've been pinging around, is like what happened in this election basically, was it Trump's message or Trump himself had some kind of unique political appeal, or was he there with his own ability at the time of this essentially anti-incumbent frustration?" asked anchor Chris Hayes. "And you make a pretty convincing case it really is that one."

One rum, two owners: the decades-long legal battle between the Cuban government and spirits giant Bacardi over the popular Havana Club rum brand has entered a new phase with the enactment of a new US trademark law.

Entitled "No Stolen Trademarks Honored in America Act" and signed into law last month by outgoing US President Joe Biden, it prohibits US courts from recognizing trademarks that were "illegally confiscated" by the Cuban government since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Donald Trump returns to the White House in two weeks with everything seemingly going his way -- from stronger grassroots support than ever to a cowed billionaire class and a demoralized opposition.

Yet a chaotic and polarized Republican Party on Capitol Hill threatens to frustrate his ambitions for a legacy-defining second term unless he is able to master the political equivalent of herding cats.

A cascade of shade shrouded the rare phone call between Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and President-elect Donald Trump as legal analysts and political observers took to social media to sound off on the conversation.

Reactions swiftly followed reports that the incoming president and sitting Supreme Court justice spoke by phone just a day before Trump asked the high court to block his criminal sentencing in the New York hush-money case, asserting he is protected by the court’s blockbuster presidential immunity ruling last summer.

A firebrand MAGA Republican said Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) may be "criminally responsible" for the raging wildfires near Los Angeles that so far have scorched more than 25,000 acres and left at least five people dead.

The fast-moving infernos have forced more than 80,000 to evacuate. The two largest fires in the area, the Palisades and Eaton fires, were zero percent contained as of Wednesday evening.

A former Brazilian president who — like President-elect Donald Trump — has been accused of undermining democratic institutions and promoting baseless claims about electoral fraud, says Trump invited him to his upcoming inauguration.

Jair Bolsonaro made the remarks Wednesday.

The United States is finally approaching a long-forecast "demographic cliff" with a sharp drop in the number of 18-year-olds — and some of the first institutions to feel it will be colleges and universities, according to the nonprofit Hechinger Report.

"This so-called demographic cliff has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control," reported Jon Marcus. "Demographers say it will finally arrive in the fall of this year. That’s when recruiting offices will begin to confront the long-anticipated drop-off in the number of applicants from among the next class of high school seniors."

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) jumped to the defense of President-elect Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, arguing that the rare phone conversation between the two was not only wholly appropriate – but a positive development.

“I do think it's appropriate,” Gonzales told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during an interview on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” He made the remarks Wednesday shortly after reports emerged that Alito spoke to Trump by phone a day earlier to recommend a former law clerk for a government position, and nothing more.

A former FBI informant has been sentenced to six years in prison for fabricating a bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, according to a report.

Alexander Smirnov was sentenced to federal prison on Wednesday, CNN reported. He has also promised to repay about $675,000 in restitution to the IRS for tax evasion.

US President-elect Donald Trump paid tribute to the late Jimmy Carter as he lay in state in Washington on Wednesday.

Stony-faced and silent, Trump stood with his wife Melania for several minutes before former president Carter's flag-draped coffin in the soaring Rotunda inside the US Capitol, then took a deep breath and Melania's hand as they turned and left.

A member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld pleaded guilty to handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal, US authorities said Wednesday.

Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri had previously been charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offenses, and both were remanded.

President Joe Biden said his son's California home is in danger of burning down amid surging wildfires around Los Angeles.

Biden on Wednesday said Hunter Biden's Los Angeles home was thought to have been destroyed — but its fate wasn't immediately known, according to USA Today.

President-elect Donald Trump has now threatened to “tariff Denmark at a very high level” as retaliation for the country not surrendering the autonomous territory of Greenland to become part of the United States — a measure that could have profound consequences on a surprising range of goods Americans buy, reported The New York Times on Wednesday.

"Denmark, which has a smaller population than New York City, is not a huge trading partner for the United States," reported Ana Swanson and Jenny Gross. "The country — a U.S. ally and a NATO member — sent the United States more than $11 billion worth of goods in 2023, just a tiny slice of more than $3 trillion of imports" — as opposed to the U.S. sending $5 billion in goods that include industrial and scientific equipment, aircraft, and computers.