On February 24, Donald Trump will deliver the first State of the Union speech of his second term as president. That impending date goes a long way toward explaining Trump’s avidity for annexing Greenland – sooner rather than later – as the centerpiece of his program for restoring an American golden age of imperial power. Nothing would please Trump more than to be able to declare mission accomplished when he addresses Congress in February.
Far from backing away from the issue, Trump, who will travel to Davos next week, is doubling down. He seems convinced that he can cow European leaders into submission, but the more he badgers them, the greater the likelihood that they begin to resist. Like Saul Bellow’s protagonist Herzog, Trump appears to be operating on the conviction that “If I’m out of my mind, it’s alright with me.”
Even as some Republican legislators rush to explain away his bellicose statements, Trump’s language could hardly be clearer. After declaring for years that America had to avoid conflicts abroad, he’s now channeling his inner imperialist. “After Centuries,” Trump wrote on social media on Saturday, “it is time for Denmark to give back – World Peace is at stake!”
Alas, Denmark does not appear to be in the giving mood, which is why Trump has now raised tariffs on eight European nations that recently sent troops to Greenland. On Friday, his top aide Stephen Miller, a fierce exponent of annexing Greenland, explained that nations are not entitled to territories they can’t control and should wave goodbye to them. “To control a territory, you have to be able to defend a territory, improve a territory, inhabit a territory,” Miller said. “Denmark has failed at every single one of these tests.” You might even call it the “sea you later” doctrine. Meanwhile, Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, maintained that there’s a “long line of tradition” of American presidents employing tariffs as a national security weapon.
Maybe so, but the dispute over polar lanes is polarizing NATO. Danish leaders have fired back, vowing not to submit to Trump’s blandishments and threats. Keir Starmer said that Trump’s truculent approach was “completely wrong.” Wall Street Journal columnist Gerard Baker called Trump’s moves “Unconstitutional and mad. When will decent Republicans stand up and call a halt to this insanity?”
A bipartisan congressional delegation visiting Denmark stated that Greenland should be regarded as an ally rather than an asset. But Trump’s comments have sent the locals into a hugger-mugger. In Copenhagen and Nuuk, protesters denounced Trump’s acquisitive instincts.
The question for Trump is whether he is overplaying his hand, not only by arousing such enmity in Europe but also by relying once more on his beloved tariffs. The American economy is already in the doldrums and the Supreme Court may soon rule against his legal authority to impose tariffs, whenever and wherever he pleases. Anyway, additional tariffs on Europe, which he intends to impose capriciously for its opposition to his Greenland machinations, are likely to heighten inflation.
What’s more, a variety of polls indicate that Trump’s Greenland caper is widely unpopular, including among his MAGA base. Trump was elected to pursue an America First policy, but he has become increasingly consumed by foreign policy, whether in Latin America, the Middle East or Greenland. A Qunnipiac poll found that a scant nine percent of Americans support taking Greenland by force. Overall, Trump’s numbers, as a new Wall Street Journal poll indicated, are tanking. His latest bully-boy tactics seem unlikely to revive them.
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