Tariff Man’s losing the plot a little bit. Or maybe, as the most powerful person on the planet, he’s just writing a new script and we’re all condemned to play whatever role he assigns.
At least one world leader isn’t prepared to accept that latter characterization, particularly not if it means his nation’s role is that of a US vassal state.
On Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron accused Trump of trafficking in “blood politics” in the course of vassalizing Europe, a push the EU’s duty-bound to resist.
Trump, he chided, is trying to undermine the legitimate “export interests” of erstwhile US allies with unreasonable demands for “maximalist concessions” while “openly aim[ing] to weaken and subordinate Europe.”
He lamented the “endless accumulation of new tariffs” and described Trump’s latest machinations, including and especially threatened levies related to the acquisition of Greenland, “fundamentally unacceptable.”
For his part, Trump published a text message from Macron in an apparent attempt to embarrass the French president with whom Trump’s always had an awkward rapport. (The idea of an “awkward rapport” is inherently oxymoronic, but you get the idea.)
The message contained a diplomatic overture but found Macron expressing consternation around Greenland. “I do not understand what you are doing,” he told Trump.
Just minutes later, Trump posted the shoddy meme work shown below, apparently to clear up any confusion about what he’s “doing.”
Again, this is a US president who’s lost the plot in the figurative sense of the phrase, but as the occupant of the most important political office in the world, the literal script is his to write. And it absolutely includes America annexing Greenland.
Trump also threatened — not for the first time — to tariff French wine in retaliation for Macron’s refusal to join Trump’s “Board of Peace,” a club with a membership fee of $1 billion. The level of the wine tariff scarcely matters given how far into cartoon territory we are, but… well, it’s 200%.
The escalating threats forced Brussels to reconsider the EU-US trade deal struck last year. That accord’s now in limbo, and indeed it’s possible Europe will hit Trump with new tariffs in the event he doesn’t back off the Greenland duties. The usual targets are in play: Boeing and bourbon.
Later, Trump blasted the UK for a plan to “give away” Diego Garcia, a Venezuelan national with ties to the Maduro regime currently held in London on drug trafficking charges.
Wait, no. That’s not Diego Garcia. Rather, Diego Garcia’s an island in the Chagos Archipelago, and it’s home to a naval facility used jointly by the UK and US. Long story short, sovereignty over the islands is in the process of being transferred to Mauritius, and there’s some concern that the PLA could spy on the base using commercial fishing vessels as cover.
On Tuesday, Trump called the sovereignty transfer plan an “act of total weakness” on London’s part. “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed,” he said, adding that “the UK giving away extremely important land is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
Toddler in Chief thinks having zero allies is a good thing as he ungabungabunga’s the world to tears. Meanwhile, his private Brownshirts are storming American cities and his kangaroo courts are blessing the entire moronic disaster.
Russia and China have noticed.
Why haven’t the senate republicans noticed? Oh yeah, gonad shrinkage.
Reporter: Senator Costanza, why didn’t you notice the President had gone off the deep end?
Senator Costanza: I was in the pool!
MAGA is locked and ready to unload, on them and their families, if they stray from the emperor, thanks to all that NRA money they happily banked.
Lil Marco made the picture! I almost feel sorry for him but he made his bed and El Presidente isn’t going to let him pretend to not be complicit.
The saddest part is that I’d bet $1,000 Rubio saw that and thought, “Sweet. I’m in the picture.”
I knew something like this was going to result from a Trump second term, but it still pains me to witness the disintegration of this nation. Whatever harm comes our way, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.
Did anyone vote for this kind of stunt – including plan 2025, the Donroe Doctrine, busting up NATO, the list goes on? Is Greenland really a vanity acquisition, since the US has carte blanche to do what’s necessary to contribute to the protection of that space. When is enough, enough for America?
No need to worry my french friends, next month Trump will reduce the price of champagne by 1000%.
The 2028 presidential election can’t come soon enough. I don’t want to even imagine what our country will look like after 3 more years of this behavior.
Hopefully the Supreme Court delivers some forced sanity. Trump is like Captain Ahab in many respects, except Trump is a polymaniac- and definitely worsening over time.
Trump is certainly acting like he knows the clock is ticking and he doesn’t have much time left. I don’t know if his clock is ‘I only have one year until we lose the midterms’ or ‘the doctor said the dementia will be too noticeable in another 6 months’ but you can tell he feels the Reaper is close behind and he needs to act NOW.
Or this is how he causes enough civil unrest that he can use the Insurrection Act.
I know we were saying this (probably) a year ago, but it’s apparent the man is mentally ill by most medical definitions. Leave the meme game to the Reddit gangs.