I assure you I paid as much attention to her at the time as I did all the other members of Arizona’s House delegation. 
I have to say I haven’t been paying attention to the way Fetterman has been starting to become a disappointment. Bit of an eye-opener of a [Fox News] quote, that one.
He is a troll and is surrounded by much bigger trolls, like Elon and now No-Moderation-Mark. He has made France take an official possition against his plans, whatever those are, just in case. France’s foreign minister has warned against changing European sovereign borders. Talk about not feeding the troll, and pass over the ketchup. In the meantime, tanTrump sends his slightly less stupid son (compared to the other one) to Greenland on a “private visit” flying “Trump Force One” (WTF?!?!), where he distributes Make Greenland Great Again hats. MGGA? Did I mention Musk already? From the last cited article:
Elon Musk also appears to support the idea, writing on X: “If the Greenlandic people want to be part of the United States – which I hope they do – they are very welcome.”
(Just as an aside question: to welcome someone as American you have to be American yourself, right? Does Musk count as an American in the meantime? But back to Greenland).
Considering that Greenland has a total estimated population of 56,583 (wikipedia), how difficult woult it be for Trump+Musk+Zuckerberg+Putin+Murdock to manipulate them and make them express their firm will to join beloved America? I don’t know who he is adressing, but what else could he mean when
Video footage appears to show Donald Trump Sr addressing a group over lunch during a call to his son’s phone, saying: “We’re going to treat you well.”
Anyway, the manipulation has already started:
Over recent months, tensions have escalated significantly between Greenland and Denmark. There is intense anger in Greenland over investigations into the forced contraceptive scandal of the 1960s and 70s, prompting the Greenlandic prime minister to accuse Denmark of genocide. There are also continuing protests in Copenhagen and Nuuk over the separation of Greenlandic children from their parents.
I don’t care that the same allegations have repeatedly been made against the USA, Canada, Australia, Russia and many other nations with respect to their treatment of the original inhabitants of their lands: there is room for sowing discord and for manipulation, and I think I see a path to fuking things up, and Trump and Musk and Putin are going to take that path.
So yes: I am worried. And this is just the start.
I think it’s very dangerous to call people like Trump trolls; that’s how you get blindsided when it turns out they actually mean what they are saying.
Or just manage to push matters farther than they originally intended; Trump is exactly the sort of insecure narcissist who could talk himself into a war because he decides backing down would make him look “weak”. And the ethical side of it wouldn’t even occur to him.
Thankfully Trump II left Greenland after less than a day. I guess it wasn’t as interesting as he hoped, and all of that white powder turned out to just be snow.
Musk is now an American citizen, along with also being a South African and Canadian citizen.
I don’t see a contradiction here. A troll can say obnoxious things and mean to do them, just to, well, troll you. Troll you by word first and troll you by deed to gleefully add injury to the previous insult. This is one of the aspects of Trump’s personality that makes me worry.
That, and him being stupid, and him being an asshole, and his ability to manipulate people. And, as I said in my previous post, this is just the start.
If he’s talking wars of aggression, it’s 25th time. Of course he’s trolling, but who needs a troll in the White House? Let Vance be president. I’m not scared of that doughy furniture aficionado. MAGA would lose interest in him post haste. He won’t inspire the love and devotion like (for God knows what reason) trump does.
Musk is an American citizen and has been from 2002
Surely it is clear to you by now that there is zero will in the GOP to hold Trump accountable. None at all. He really could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and they would do nothing.
This is skating on the edge of the Logan act. But shit. Congress and the JD won’t do jack shit.
And many in Russia, Putin included, firmly believe that Alaska is still Russian, as the sale was illegitimate:
So it may not be the best moment to open a can of worms, but the Orange Menace is not completely stupid or without a point. Again. He distorts and poisons the debate, but there is an issue here. Greenland will hold general elections in spring this year. The independist movement is gaining traction, partly for historically understandable reasons, partly because voters are morons all over the world and love disinformation (Hello Murdock! Hello Putin! Hello Zuck! And Musk! etc…) and think it is funny to poke politicians in the eye. Which indeed it is, when you don’t think about the consequences.
The USA needs Greenland because of the listening stations and military bases it has there, to keep an eye on the Arctic and because losing it would look dumb. Should Greenland become independent, problems would ensue. Particularly as China is positioning itself there, buying mineral rights, mining companies, fishing rights, planning deep sea ports and those kind of thing China likes to do (see Africa and South America, for instance, and Greece and Hungary, among others).
So if the situation gets bad Trump will be able to say “told you so” and his supporters will claim he is a genius with 20/20 foresight. But the ones that study Arctic Relations are very aware of the future threats. Here is a 42 page document analizing the political options in the region, in particular for the German government, written by the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik and the Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit (in German):
I am sure similar analysis are being written in the USA, China, Russia, Denmark… and one of those analists has got the fool’s attention with a very simple idea: buy Greenland. Well, that much he understood, and now he claims it was his idea from the start.
This is not going to end well.
I’m also sure that Trump’s determination to acquire Canada and Greenland has nothing whatsoever to do with Russia’s aspirations re Arctic oil fields and those countries standing in Putin’s way.
Perish the thought.
The problem with this talk is that the EU is no talking about itself as a separate body of military force aside from NATO. Thus undermining NATO. Greenland is a de facto part of NATO via Denmark already which the US is a part of.
Is Denmark thinking of ordering US bases to close in Greenland? Is the independence movement in Greenland likely to gain traction?
Maybe these things are true and this is some 4D chess by Trump. On top of which he encourages European countries to spend a bit more on defence.
So if I were charitable I could say there was a strategy behind these words from Trump and of course he has no intention of attacking a NATO ally. But this is Trump we are talking about and all bets are off.
NATO’s importance is massive to countries of Europe and the far East. And it allows the US to project power across the world, influence it’s allies and sell it’s military hardware. But Europe can and should contribute more and I wonder, I hope, this is the motivation behind all of this.
I just can’t see how Congress would ever allow Trump to undermine that with real action though.
In general, I agree. That said, I think that the more that he says things like this, the more he makes China’s position on Taiwan look reasonable and the more likely it is that China launches an attack on the island, leading to the deaths of many, the loss of many of the planet’s most advanced technologies, and the subjugation of millions by a tyrannical leader.
Please tell me at least one Greenlander looked at that and said, “M(i)GGA, please!”
Yes, this, and also it legitimates Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine (and Georgia, and Chechenia). It’s the new New World Order! Greenland, Canada and Panama for Trump, Ukraine, Georgia, the Baltic States and Poland for Putin, and Taiwan and the South China Sea for Xi! Genius!
I would love to, but can’t find a cite.
Sorry, do not get it.
It’s my theory that Trump doesn’t understand how the Mercator maps distort land-sizes, and he wants that HUUUGE island.