Donald Trump’s not going to invade Greenland nor, apparently, is the Supreme Court prepared to sanction the unilateral dismissal of Fed governors.
“I won’t use force,” Trump said Wednesday in Davos, where world leaders were on tenterhooks for any indication the US might resort to military coercion to get its way with Denmark.
Hours later, during oral arguments before America’s high court, both liberal and conservative justices sounded highly skeptical of virtually everything Solicitor General D. John Sauer said regarding Trump’s attempt to oust Cook, particularly the idea that social media posts suffice as due process.
Brett Kavanaugh went so far as to say that if Trump’s the sole arbiter of what counts as “cause” to remove a Fed governor, and if no one, the courts included, is allowed to challenge the determination, “that would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve.”
Bottom line: Unless everyone, myself included, was just misinterpreting the audio from Wednesday’s hearing, Cook will remain in her position for the time being. Jerome Powell attended the session in what Scott Bessent, speaking completely out of turn, described as an inappropriate attempt to influence the court’s thinking.
As for Greenland, Trump was adamant Wednesday that he still intended to acquire the island. But even he seemed to understand that the optics of the US Navy showing up to, say, oust European military personnel and “raise the Stars and Stripes in Nuuk,” as one Danish pension operator fretted this month, were simply too absurd to chance.
Later, Trump took to TruthSocial to say the whole kerfuffle’s resolved, or at least on its way to being resolved.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump declared, out of the blue, adding that the “solution” will be “a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations.”
Rutte to the rescue again. Rutte, like no other Western leader since Shinzo Abe (remember: “Western” isn’t solely a geographic term when it comes to strategic alignment), has mastered the absurdist art of placating Trump with over-the-top adulation conveyed in a childlike vocabulary tailored to Trump’s temperament. That’s really the only skill you need to succeed as NATO chief when Trump’s in the Oval Office.
Ahead of Davos, Rutte sent Trump one of this signature ingratiating text messages. “Mr. President, dear Donald,” it began. “What you accomplished in Syria is incredible. I will use my media engagements in Davos to highlight your work there, in Gaza and in Ukraine,” Rutte told Trump. “I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”
Laugh as you will. But that’s how it’s done. Rutte’s not being obsequious, he’s being manipulative. And it worked. Again. Trump praised Rutte repeatedly this week and then, late Wednesday, said that after the two of them spoke, he’s decided not to impose the Greenland-related tariffs he threatened last weekend after all.
“Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland,” Trump went on. “Further information will be made available as discussions progress.”
So there you go. Nothing to worry about. Lisa Cook’s safe and so is Greenland. For now, anyway.
The TACO trade is back on! Let’s just hope the Demons don’t come to visit Trump tonight in the wee hours of the morning.
Demons are already in full possession. They’re just taking a break. Having fun creating fear and chaos
I love TACOs!!!
H-Man, only he could play both the good cop and the bad cop and often at the same time.
Until his next stupid idea……
Now that Drumphie at Davos is over, (and he TACO’d on his new tariffs), Scotus can now release their ruling against his claimed authority to impose last year’s tariffs in the first place.
Withholding judgment pending his nightsweats and sundowner hallucinations.
Excuse my stupidity, but how can the Secretary General of NATO with his adulating negociating skill set, speak for Denmark and Greenland? I think President Trump heard what he wanted and that was enough for another “biggest deal ever!” Tacos for everyone, but Denmark and Greenland are buying! I don’t buy it….
On the othe hand, it was a pleasure reading some of the updates during today’s SCOTUS hearing….
because everything that was agreed to was already true. We already have a base there, we already have permission to build another base, and bases are already sovereign territory under international law.
Maybe I can now go back to a single dose of Candesartan.
Mark Carney talked very well yesterday, clear thinking , and obviously well educated, and he even mixed in another language or 2 , while referring Greek philosophers.
DJT was an incoherent rant of uneducated petulance, of an old man
DJT was THE incoherent rant of a poorly uneducated petulant ,old man
( And I can’t seem to form sentences either)
One possesses the rhetorical precision and policy depth we once expected from leaders of consequential nations; the other is just an angry old man. There’s a lesson in there somewhere for us all.
All he had to do was quietly move some of the 45,000 troops in Germany (that the majority of Germans want reduced or completely eliminated from Germany) to Greenland.
Instead, his ego needed to be fed – by alienating even more of the countries/leaders that the US could/used to be able to consider as “friends”.