Donald Trump’s bid to acquire (or seize or steal or whatever verb you prefer) Greenland was a bridge too far, and one affront too many.
That was the message on Monday from German finance chief Lars Klingbeil who, speaking for the whole of Europe, said “We are constantly experiencing new provocations and new antagonism [from] President Trump and we must make it clear that the limit has been reached.”
Klingbeil spoke as European leaders — and, now that you mention it, US lawmakers — struggled for a response to an American president whose delusions of grandeur are manifesting in increasingly brazen words and deeds.
On the heels of Trump’s weekend threat to tariff NATO allies who oppose his Greenland gambit, the situation took another turn for the bizarre on Monday when PBS published a letter Trump sent to Norwegian premier Jonas Gahr Store.
“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump said, again suggesting that Norway the country, as opposed to the Nobel Committee, determines who gets the peace honor.
Trump went on to wonder, of Copenhagen’s claim on Denmark’s suddenly-disputed constituent island, “why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway?”
Then, he regaled Oslo with a history lesson vis-à-vis Greenland’s relationship to Denmark. “There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago,” Trump said. “But we had boats landing there, also.”
He closed the letter by reiterating his position and demands. “I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States,” Trump said. “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you!”
Meanwhile, the Nobel Committee expressed incredulity at Maria Corina Machado’s decision to gift Trump her award, even after Trump spurned and belittled her following the operation to capture Nicolas Maduro.
“Even if the medal comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” the panel said, of the spectacle at the White House last week.
It’s hard to know what to say about all of this other than to repeat, emphasize and otherwise make a point of stressing, how utterly derisible it is.
During Trump’s first term, the word “crazy” was bandied about on a weekly basis, typically to describe his penchant for the harebrained. But this is more than harebrained. This is crazy in a very literal — i.e., certifiable — sense.
I have to believe that even considering the blind, unflinching support Trump still enjoys among most GOP lawmakers, impeachment’s crossed the minds of far more Republicans than would publicly admit as much, even as that’s a low bar considering the number of GOPers who’d raise the issue in public is two, maybe three.
Although I still think Trump will abstain from invading Greenland — if for no other reason than it wouldn’t accomplish anything — it’s not out of the question.
The fact that Trump just told Norway he “no longer feel[s] an obligation to think purely of Peace,” is foreboding to put it mildly. It also makes for an interesting juxtaposition with Trump’s nascent “Board of Peace” project which, among other things, asks participating nations to pay a $1 billion membership fee for seats.
(As Bloomberg dryly noted, the fee demand left many world leaders “bewildered [with] much of the concern center[ing] on the wording of the board’s charter which appears to place its ultimate decision-making power with Trump rais[ing] many questions, not least over where the membership payments would go.”)
The opposite of peace is war, and Greenland has backing for its independence from Brussels. So, even if he didn’t mean to, Trump alluded in a roundabout way to an armed conflict with Europe while lecturing Oslo.
On Monday, Davos confirmed that Denmark will boycott the World Economic Forum. “We can confirm that the Danish government will not be represented this week,” the WEF said, in a statement. “Danish government representatives were invited, and any decisions on attendance are a matter for the government concerned.”
H-Man, scary times.
One of the things the founding fathers missed. What if when our country reaches one of its most critical junctures it is being run by a group of the most ignorant people ever to be put in charge of anything serious? These people have no idea how to analyze the danger they have created. Egypt and China ruled for thousands of years, Greece, Rome, Britain for a few brief centuries. The US will certainly not last for 300 years. The “Thousand-Year Reich” lasted less than a century.
‘Stop the Steal’ – of Greenland, the Nobel Peace Prize, American democracy and the free world’s sanity.
Not obligated only to peace? Maybe he can prevent Jacob Ingebrigtsen from participating in the 2028 Olympics. That’ll show ’em. Wouldn’t put it past this kind of crazy.
Parallels with Putin are becoming more and more obvious. Not a surprise Trump is mimicking his idol’s actions. Now we have reached to history lessons – one taught the world on the Pechenegs and Cumans and a fake country, this one – on boats centuries ago and a fake island. Looks like another message “hey, look, metoo!, we can be friends!”
I just can’t get it why GOP is still tolerating this. I just can’t stop denying that 50+% of voters kind of support all that tragicomedy.
Your answer:
A recent poll suggested that 80% of Republicans support the president’s immigration sweeps.
Half of them said they hoped it was limited to the capture of immigrants who had committed crimes. The other 50% advocated for rounding up all illegal immigrants.
Trump’s inexorable assault on American democracy has always reminded me of a warning given by Winston Churchill in 1938:
“And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.
Churchill was responding to the Munich Agreement which ceded the Sudetenland (a part of Czechoslovakia) to Germany in an effort to “appease” the demands of its leader. Those words seem just as prescient to me now as they were then.
The number of US and Danish troops in Greenland is now roughly equal – roughly 200 each.
Maybe each side could pick their best soldier for a Winner Take All Death Match a la WWF. Trump could Emcee (and judge) the really big show. Used to be Captain America vs. the Iron Sheik (you can guess who won). Maybe Fox News could help pick, name, and credential a soldier “representative” of Greenland since they are so good at adapting the WWF/soap opera genre to the news format.
That most of us couldn’t believe the person bestowed with the most powerful military/political might in the world would engage in such childish action/words, in public, in official communication, indicates the failure of imagination, or the failure of mainstream values + education system (which is imposed on the 99% but often fails to show them how the real world actually works)?
Recently i wonder if these factors form the fundamental flaws of a democracy: i) generally emotion, not reason, drives people’s action/votes; ii) showmen/women who can most effectively arouse emotions or perform best on stage get votes; iii) the best showmen are not necessarily qualified leader/strategist/visionary to find and lead smart people to solve complex problems in the world, so they just wing it through election cycles, scarring the world and fattening their pockets along the way.
Separately, am really curious what Machado’s supporters in Venezuela think of her latest act in white house. Doesn’t it just taint her reputation and moral high ground earned over the years? Or maybe, if the most powerful and smartest free world leader ever seen in the history of the universe puts her in power, the people’s opinions do not matter that much anymore?
The skills needed to win the Presidency are not the same skills needed to be a good President.
In today’s situation, I believe the opposition party (Democratic), at the national level, has completely failed over the past 10 years to understand the issues with Trump and combat it effectively.
Trump is slipping. The Old Donny would have marketed the H out of the NCAA championship. You know; add his name to the championship, put his mugshot on the tickets and extort a percentage of the gate. Now he’ll have to go big at Davos hawking seats in his peace club.
Would love to see the Nobel Committee revoke Machado’s prize and award it to someone else…kinda like Lan e Armstrong’s TDFs (can they do that…has it ever happened?).