Dem
47
GOP
53
We don't know if Switzerland has any home-grown mob bosses, but yesterday they got an imported one: Donald Trump. He gave an hour-and-a-half rambling speech at the World Economic Forum, but the line everyone will remember is this one: "We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won't give it. You can say yes and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember." In other words: "Nice country you got there. Pity if something happened to it."
If you want to get a feel for what Trump said but can't bear to watch the whole thing, Bloomberg News has put together this 3-minute clip of some of the highlights.
Trump said he would not use military force to take Greenland, but insisted that he will take it, one way or another. It is possible that his generals have informed him that the U.S. Army is simply not prepared for an Arctic war and sending it there would be a disaster, especially if the Arctic-ready European armies fought back. The speech emphasized the new world order, roughly summarized by: Might makes right. The powerful can do whatever they damn well please and too bad for the weak.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also spoke at Davos, on Tuesday. He had a different view. He said: "Let me be direct: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited." He made it clear that Canada stands with Greenland and Denmark. Trump referenced Carney's speech in his, saying: "Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they're not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn't so grateful." After this speech Carney is likely to be even less grateful.
Trump also talked about his "Board of Peace," where seats go for the low, low price of $1 billion. He wasn't clear how many seats a country could buy, which countries were interested, or where the money would go. He did make it clear, however, that he was going to run the show, even after he is done being president. That is kind of a tacit statement that he is not going to try to run for a third term and is not going to declare himself president for life. Given what Trump thinks of Africa, imitating the many African dictators who are de facto presidents for life is probably beneath him anyway.
Trump told many lies during his speech. This story discusses a few of them, for example:
He also made a number of false claims, roughly paraphrased as follows:
None of these are remotely true. Trump thinks that the assembled billionaires and world leaders are as gullible as his base. Hint: They are not. Europeans in the room were not all that impressed. Neither were all the Americans. Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), a likely presidential candidate, called Trump's remarks "dangerous" and "unhinged." Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said the speech was TACO. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said Trump's attempts to annex Greenland would not have the backing of Congress.
Can anyone or any thing constrain Trump? Probably not any foreign or domestic leader, but Trump is very sensitive to the markets. On Tuesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 870 points because all this talk about taking Greenland is making investors nervous. Yesterday, however, it recovered 588 points. Investors dislike uncertainty, and the stage is (or was?) set for a real roller coaster ride. That is something that might bring Trump to heel. It is probably the only thing, though.
And that brings us to our latest meal of Trump TACOs. After all of this, he got on his flour-or-corn-tortillas? social media platform to make this announcement:
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. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations—They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
With all of this governance via social media, and the lack of details or interrogatory questioning, it's hard to figure out exactly what's going on. But it certainly appears that Trump has (1) abandoned any possibility of military intervention, and (2) backed off on his tariff threats, and he has done so in exchange for vague promises that could very well go nowhere. Sounds like TACO Wednesday to us.
A likely deal will probably have two aspects. First, the U.S. can put bases anywhere it wants in Greenland. This was unnecessary because a 1951 treaty with Denmark already allowed that and all Trump had to do was ask the prime minister of Denmark and she would have been very enthusiastic (on account of the construction jobs created). Second, the deal will probably give the U.S. first shot at mineral rights. What Trump doesn't know is that there is a mile of hard ice over those minerals and the reason no mining company has ever asked to buy a lease to extract them is that removing a mile of ice is prohibitively expensive. Maybe Trump is thinking of giving his cronies in the mining industry a massive subsidy to try (and probably fail) to extract the minerals. But he could have done that without threatening NATO.
If things continue along their current course, then Trump supporters in the political world, and in the media, will frame it as another brilliant example of The Art of the Deal; that the president blustered and huffed and puffed and threatened, and he managed to get Europe to agree to negotiate terms. If one is going to adopt that framing, it raises two questions that demand answers. The first is: What did Trump achieve here that could not have been achieved through standard-issue diplomacy? The second is: Whatever it is that he did achieve, was it worth the damage that was done? Generally speaking, the European nations now have their hackles raised, and are going to be much tougher to deal with, going forward. More specifically, the 15% tariff deal with the E.U., which was ostensibly a big coup for Trump, looks to be dead.
In any event, undoubtedly a very large number of people, within America and without, and within the Republican Party and without, are pleased that the Greenland War is off, and that everyone can stand down. Maybe it is the fear of looking weak that makes it hard for Trump to back off of these sorts of wild goose chases. If so, we would like to offer up this homage to his fortitude:
Brave Sir Donald ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Donald turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Donald!
And now, it would seem, onward and upward to the next unnecessary crisis. (V & Z)