Pierce: Trump's Greenland Thing Isn't Funny Anymore

[mcar]

Trump's Greenland Thing Isn't Funny Anymore
Denmark has been one hellaciously good ally, and it gets rewarded with the worst kind of diplomatic insult.

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
AUG 21, 2019

Recently, while reading Noah Feldman's lucid study, The Three Lives of James Madison, I happened to be going through the long section regarding how Madison, as Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of State, was involved in swindling Napoleon out of the Louisiana Territory. (Fact I Did Not Know: vital to Napoleon's decision to sell us half-a-continent was the fact that he lost most of an army in Haiti to yellow fever, which also kept Haiti free. Yay, mosquitoes!) They were just trying to buy what was then called Florida, the entire strip of land including the coasts of what are now Alabama and Mississippi as well as the Florida panhandle (West Florida), as well as the peninsula (East Florida.)

On April 11, 1803, however, Talleyrand, Napoleon's crafty minister, having convinced the emperor that his plans for an empire across the sea was folly, asked the American envoys whether they might like to buy the whole of Louisiana. He asked them to make him an offer. Robert Livingston, the lead negotiator, was so gobsmacked that he told Talleyrand that, no, all he really wanted was New Orleans and the Floridas....

I spent a half-hour making sure that this wasn't some sort of parody account. Surely, the President* of the United States wouldn't be so balls-out petulantly crazy as to cancel a state visit because a foreign government refused to sell him a portion of its own country. I didn't fully believe it until the BBC reported on it, too.

The president was scheduled to visit on 2 September, at the invitation of Denmark's Queen Margrethe II. Then last week Mr Trump suggested the US was interested in buying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. Danish PM Mette Frederiksen described the suggestion as "absurd" and said she hoped Mr Trump was not being serious...

The suggestion was dismissed by Greenlandic and Danish officials. "Greenland is not for sale, but Greenland is open for trade and co-operation with other countries, including the USA," said the territory's premier, Kim Kielsen. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister, tweeted: "It must be an April Fool's Day joke." Soren Espersen, foreign affairs spokesman for the populist Danish People's Party, told national broadcaster DR: "If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof that he has gone mad."

...

This is Mad King stuff. He says he wants to buy something—and some people—who are not for sale, and he demands that Denmark take this bubbling insanity seriously, and when they don't, he insults them by cancelling a state visit. For a while on Tuesday night, I thought it was funny. Then, I looked it up and realized that Denmark has been one hellaciously good ally. It lost 43 soldiers in Afghanistan before withdrawing its troops in 2013. Those 43 deaths represent the highest per capita death rate of any member of the coalition, including the United States. And now it declines to participate in the grandiose fantasy of an increasingly unmoored president*, and it gets rewarded with the worst kind of diplomatic insult.

Then, this wasn't funny any more.

There is no bottom. None at all.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28771137/donald-trump-greenland-purchase-tweets-denmark/

[spanone]

1. NOTHING this man does is funny anymore. WHERE IS OUR CONGRESS?

this fucker is INSANE.

[cwydro]

9. Apparently they're on vacay.

[Perseus]

32. I have never thought anything he did, or does to be funny

This is a vile creature with no compassion, no criteria, no concept of consequences, no morals, no ideology, he is the lowest human kind has produced up to date, so no, nothing this creature has ever done, does or will do I would have to consider it funny.

Funny are the comebacks from people who know it happened but cannot believe it because it defies logic, or morals, but he is not a funny creature, he is just that, a vile creature.

[Srkdqltr]

2. Everything Trump touches dies.

[smirkymonkey]

3. K&R

Excellent article!

Helloooo! Is anyone paying attention here?! This man is bat shit crazy. What is it going to take to get rid of him? How much more of this insanity are we going to put up with before we say "enough, already"!

[Mrs. Overall]

4. Nothing is funny and it never was. He is batshit crazy and a narcissist and domestic/global affairs

are beginning to spiral out of control.

Not funny.

[Scarsdale]

5. What is even crazier is that

he is surrounded with people who cater to his every whim. They do not even TRY to stop the insane rants and "ideas". Are they so addicted to the large (taxpayer funded) paychecks, that they are willing to let the entire country go down the tubes? Moscow Mitch has a large stake in this, so he does nothing. Too busy padding his bank account. It is past time to take control, call out this Mad King, restore SANITY in government, and get rid of lardass orange repulsive tRump.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. You know what really should scare the shit out of all of us?

This insanity is what drives the private sector.

[calimary]

19. And Red State America too.

I still find myself stuck on that. What does that say about the voters who STILL support him?

And the farmers, too. They’re taking the direct results of his horrid policies straight in the shorts. How have they not been shaken awake, out of their trump-induced stupor? By now??? They haven’t seen enough by now? They haven’t been screwed over enough by now? They haven’t realized all the solidly-proven lies from this monster?

This is something I just don’t get. By now??? Okay, embrace your illusions when the campaign just ended and the guy’s new to the office. Okay, maybe through the first year or so. But By NOW???

[Baitball Blogger]

26. I remember, not too long ago, Trump was lamenting how the Dems were going to

take a hard line, and then go in the backroom and have a good laugh among themselves. And I thought, what are you complaining about Trump? This is the whole white privilege game. They create as much chaos as possible, then have a good laugh in their inner circle -- Locker room braggin. This is what passes for power among the white privilege culture.

I think those farmers and truckers that Trump is kicking in the face are getting one hell of an education.

[calimary]

28. Only problem with waiting for the farmers and truckers to wake up is

that nobody wants to admit they were wrong, or, worse, that they’ve been HAD.

And farmers and truckers in particular have been ROYALLY had.

[Baitball Blogger]

31. One thing is for sure, if Trump stands up and promises to make it up to them

after the next election, they will forget what happened -- except for the ones that go belly-up before then.

[malaise]

7. The most important event to understand the context for most developments

between the 1780s and early 19th century is this
https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/great-hurricane-of-1780

The great hurricane of 1780 wiped out French and British troops and people across the region. That hurricane weakened both the British and French big time. Several ships were lost.
There were several outbreaks of diseases that followed

[Ligyron]

16. Now that's interesting.

Good catch Malaise!

[malaise]

8. He is a raving lunatic

End of story

[cyclonefence]

13. The plan is

the Republican plan, that is--is to hold on to him until after the 2020 election (which he *must* win for their plan to work)--in which Pence is no longer the VP nominee, but someone like the wrestler from Ohio, someone the repubs really want for President--then ditch him via 25th amendment or something, pardon him, and put the guy they *really* want in office. This kind of crazy will be noted and stored up as evidence for 2021, trust me.

[ChiTownDenny]

15. It was an invitation to an ally, the United States,

not an invitation to an individual, Trump. That is an important distinction.

[Paladin]

10. I wonder if I'll ever regain my pride in being a U.S. citizen.

trump has taken that pride and wiped his lunatic ass with it. And there in the White House he continues to sit, in all his crazed, malignant non-glory.


A president who gets pissed at a rejection of his offer to buy Greenland is an individual who can declare himself president for life and announce that the 2020 elections won't be happening---and at least 40% of the population will immediately support him. I dare you to take issue with that statement.

[StevieM]

23. Let's suppose the elections do happen and he loses.

Last edited Wed Aug 21, 2019, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

What is to stop him from simply declaring victory anyway? He could announce that there was undeniable proof of massive voter fraud, which was shown to benefit Democrats, and back that point up by citing the announcements made by Fox News reporters.

I think this scenario, or something like it, has a pretty good chance of happening.

[Paladin]

25. The question is: What are we prepared to do about it?

I think the days of the Goody-Two-Shoes Democrats are rapidly approaching a violent ending. If we want our country back, we're probably going to have to take it back, from trump, Moscow Mitch, the Supreme Court, Fox "News" et al. If it happens, it will be the most worthwhile conflict since WWII. Maybe Spielberg will make a movie about it.

[Javaman]

11. maybe the orange asshole wants to build a wall in greenland to keep out all those

polar bears trying to get into the U.S.

It's a multilayered thing. LOL

[jeffreyi]

12. Invade!

Easy peasy. There's only 56,000 people there, and a boatload of oil, gas, minerals. What could go wrong?

[peggysue2]

14. I suspect someone whispered in Trump's ear that . . .

Greenland--now in full meltdown--would be an excellent place to drill for oil and gas, not to mention scraping up minerals left in the Climate Change wake. There are few people to worry about and the environmental catastrophe represents a way to cash in, bigly. For Trump it's always about the transaction, what he can get out of it. Just another real estate deal. Natch!

[sandensea]

21. +1

No doubt.

The fat bastard din't just wake up one day and decide to bring this nonsense up.

Big Awl (and Big Mining) had a nice chat with him just before this.

[calimary]

29. Not to mention yet another big lavish (and money-losing) golf resort.

[peggysue2]

30. Someone just mentioned that at another venue . . .

A 77 million hole golf course, casino and hotel that someone else would pay for but for which Trump would take 30% to brand it as a Trump Property.

Not sure how popular the brand is right now but the rest of it sounds . . . downright Trumpian.

[AC_Mem]

17. This may be unusual

but if you think about things larger than life itself, reincarnation - history does tend to repeat itself if the souls come back in similar life scapes to try to evolve better and repair karma, but get caught in past life bleed through and repeat what its darker side was convinced would meet its needs.

I know its a stretch for some, but just for the fun of it - who in past history would you say these GOP players could have been in a past life?

something to think about when there is absolutely no way this makes any sense.

[Hekate]

24. Cockroaches. Or, as the Dalai Lama observed in a reflection on both our overpopulation & violence..

...on the planet, perhaps we had created many more human bodies than there were human souls ready to inhabit them. Perhaps some were the souls of beasts not yet ready...

The man is a philosopher, among other things. As far as I could tell this was a one-off musing.

But it makes at least as much sense as my "cockroaches" theory.

Exited to add: what with climate, population, and the rise of authoritarian/fascist regimes, I'm rather in fear of a Kali-yuga.

[Ligyron]

18. @#%&$ !!!

When are the Dem's drafting actual charges again?

[yaesu]

20. Greenland's Premier is anti immigration, I'm sure they would have gotten along fabulously

if he didn't go tRumpy nuts.

[Hekate]

22. Charles Pierce...

[FakeNoose]

27. This crazy crap is happening because there's nobody with any sense working in the White House

There used to be people who told him "No you can't do that!" but they're all gone now. They've either quit or been fired, but Chump got rid of them all. Now he's the Emperor (with nothing on) strutting around the Oval Office doing shit like this all day.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

33. European feces may strike the air-mover now....

Daily insanity updates from The Guardian......

Trump attacks Danish prime minister, describing her as 'nasty' – live
President said hecanceled trip to Denmark because Mette Frederiksen criticized his attempt to buy Greenland

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/aug/21/trump-news-today-live-greenland-trade-china-jewish-democrats-2020-latest-updates

Donald Trump has attacked the Danish prime minister, describing her as “nasty”. Trump said he cancelled his long-planned trip to Denmark because the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, criticized his attempt to buy Greenland as “absurd”. “I looked forward to going but I thought the prime minister’s statement that [Trump’s plan to buy Greenland] was ‘absurd’ [...] I thought it was nasty,” Trump said.

This guy is batshit crazy and getting worse. I'm beginning to believe his minders design one of these distractions once a week to keep American from noticing what they're really doing to destroy the government. This Greenland thing could have even been a total ruse because he suspected he would not get a good reception in Denmark.

KY............

[raccoon]

35. Too bad there aren't duels any more. Some danish official

Should call him out.

[raccoon]

34. That's kinda scary. Nt

[raccoon]

36. He insulted an ally and of course the dumbass Republicans

Will continue to enable him.