# Why threatening to go to war with Denmark may be a bad idea **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 20, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838 "2026-01-20T03:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/141 "2026-01-22T20:18:30Z")
If it simply was a case of Rutte finally getting him to understand the “Reality for Slow Learners” version of existing agreements, then you may well be right. ---
**Author:** ![FriendOfRoland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendofroland/32/20626_2.png) [@FriendOfRoland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendOfRoland)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/142 "2026-01-22T21:47:00Z")
Oh yeah… that’s one thing you can bank on. I’m seeing a trend here… ---
**Author:** ![FriendOfRoland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendofroland/32/20626_2.png) [@FriendOfRoland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendOfRoland)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/143 "2026-01-22T21:50:26Z")
Right… next, I suppose we’re expected to disbelieve our lyin’ eyes… and ears… that all those statements by Rutte were AI. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/144 "2026-01-22T21:53:45Z")
What statements? ---
**Author:** ![FriendOfRoland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendofroland/32/20626_2.png) [@FriendOfRoland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendOfRoland)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/145 "2026-01-22T21:54:36Z")
_What statements???_ That figures. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/146 "2026-01-22T21:54:55Z")
> [@FriendOfRoland](#): > > everything positive that had come out of resolving whatever this imaginary quarrel was with NYC. So why did Trump bother picking this imaginary quarrel with NATO about Greenland in the first place? And why should we be expected to view Trump’s “resolving” this “quarrel”, by backing away from it and letting it drop, as something “positive”? Trump wasted everybody’s time and attention so he could spend a couple hours in Davos posturing and bragging about a huge raft of imaginary accomplishments that never actually happened, and pretending that he’s entitled to claim a huge chunk of territory from a NATO ally just because he wants it. Personally, I don’t “feel pretty good” that that’s the sort of useless bullshit we can now expect from the US President in the context of international diplomacy, and I’m not sure why you do. The “actual players” in this situation, meaning [the leaders of European countries, certainly don’t seem to be “feeling pretty good” about Trump’s insane theatrics:](https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-leaders-donald-trump-greenland-summit-davos-relief/) > [@](#): > > European governments have reached a difficult conclusion: The Americans are the baddies now. > > As leaders of the EU’s 27 countries assemble in Brussels for an emergency summit Thursday, that assessment is predominant across almost all capitals in Europe, according to nine EU diplomats. […] > > The U.S. president’s designs on Greenland, which he set out earlier in the day in Davos, Switzerland, demanding “immediate negotiations” to obtain the island, have come as a last straw for many leaders. Throughout the first year of his second term, they had clung to the hope that their worst fears about the country that has underpinned European security since 1945 wouldn’t be realized. > > But the moment for making nice “has ended” and “the time has come to stand up against Trump,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO secretary-general and ex-Danish prime minister, [told BBC radio](https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cjrzjqg8dlwt?post=asset%3Aa2b1755f-6ed7-4571-9ada-3065b1c6cf5e#post). […] > > The assessment that the U.S. is no longer a reliable ally has come gradually. The scales first fell from Europe’s leaders’ eyes when the Trump administration published its National Security Strategy in early December, [in which it vowed to boost](https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-warns-europe-faces-civilizational-erasure/) “patriotic European parties” to the detriment of the EU. (Which may go some way to explaining why some EU leaders, like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, are still clinging to Trump.) > > Then, Trump renewed his rhetoric about taking Greenland, the U.S. ambassador to Iceland called himself the governor of the [52nd U.S. state](https://www.politico.eu/article/iceland-us-ambassador-billy-long-donald-trump-52nd-state/), and Trump sent a [letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre](https://www.politico.eu/article/norway-pm-store-says-us-trump-peace-prize-snub-for-greenland-ambitions/), in which he said that his failure to be awarded the Nobel Peace meant he would “no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.” Nope, European leaders are not currently feeling good about the US’s idiotic, blustering bully of a President, no matter what that President’s supporters may be telling themselves to save face. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/147 "2026-01-22T21:56:01Z")
Please link to them, I haven’t seen any. ---
**Author:** ![FriendOfRoland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friendofroland/32/20626_2.png) [@FriendOfRoland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendOfRoland)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/148 "2026-01-22T22:29:45Z")
> **Hijack Hidden** > > It appears that I’ve made a terrible mistake here, a mistake typical of a noob. I should have a done a LOT more reading before posting. I foolishly made the assumption that SD was pretty much going to be the same as it was back in the day. And maybe it is… I don’t know… maybe it’s me or my perspective that’s changed. > > But, either way, it seems to _ **me** _ – and that’s really all that matters here – that this message board has devolved into nothing more than just another echo chamber of willful negativity rather than the free-thinking forum for _rational_ Socratic debate that it used to be, an escape from the mind-numbed robots that populated the interwebs everywhere, a welcoming fresh-air oasis in the marketplace of differing ideas. > > Nope… I see no “diversity” here anymore… none at all… will not be recommending SD to anyone looking for respite from the doomsayers. > > And the worst part is that it’s unapologetic. No one holds themselves (or each other) accountable for their obvious lack of accuracy… no one takes into account or acknowledges how wrong they were last month, or last week, or even just yesterday. No one even pretends to see that there were, there are, and there always will be two or more sides to virtually every issue, and that mathematically, one side – the same side – simply cannot always be right… or wrong. > > See… that’s the clue right there. The maths don’t lie. This is a fatal flaw. > > Roland was nothing if not logical, and today he would be very sad. Whoever it was, probably someone’s Italian grandmother, who said that _bees don’t waste their time trying to convince flies that honey tastes better than shit_ was right. > > Fellas… enjoy your shit. 73 ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/149 "2026-01-22T22:31:39Z")
> [@FriendOfRoland](#): > > No one even pretends to see that there were, there are, and there always will be two or more sides to virtually every issue, and that mathematically, one side – the same side – simply cannot always be right… or wrong. There simply isn’t two sides to “Trump is a fucking disaster in every way.” That’s the problem. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/150 "2026-01-22T22:32:36Z")
Are you leaving? ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/151 "2026-01-22T22:32:46Z")
Trump apologia is difficult work. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/152 "2026-01-22T22:36:04Z")
I think the terrible mistake was thinking that by this time we would have turned MAGA too. At least they avoided having to point out all those inaccuracies that were claimed. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/153 "2026-01-22T22:47:30Z")
> [@FriendOfRoland](#): > > No one holds themselves (or each other) accountable for their obvious lack of accuracy… no one takes into account or acknowledges how wrong they were last month, or last week, or even just yesterday. Feel free to point out any specific statements made by any poster here that you consider to exhibit “obvious lack of accuracy”. > [@FriendOfRoland](#): > > … will not be recommending SD to anyone looking for respite from the doomsayers. Aw, darnit, we’re not going to get an influx of rosy-spectacled Trump supporters desperately seeking some soothing validation of their obstinate denial of reality. Shucks. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/154 "2026-01-22T22:48:17Z")
I would like _you_ to be the person to hold me accountable for my lack of accuracy. Please! We’re all here to grow and learn and fight ignorance. I’ve skimmed through some of Rutte’s comments from Davos, and also a fair amount of coverage, and if he’s confirmed he existence of the deal Trump mentioned, I simply haven’t seen it. But there’s a lot of information out there and I only have so much time to process it. Please, please hold me accountable and point me to the statements you’re referring to. I promise I will own up to my mistake and graciously accept the new information, as we all should. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2026, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/155 "2026-01-22T22:48:54Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Please, please hold me accountable and point me to the statements you’re referring to. I promise I will own up to my mistake and graciously accept the new information, as we all should. Sure, can’t say fairer than that. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/156 "2026-01-23T12:45:29Z")
I’m pretty new here. Was it the custom of the Dope, in the days of Yore, to insult the members, rather than attempt to refute their arguments?? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838/157 "2026-01-23T19:16:44Z")
**Moderating:** @FriendOfRoland, I’m not going to quote your whole post, but it’s wildly inappropriate for this thread, especially in P&E, where hijacks are more strictly moderated. If you do return and want to discuss board culture or the rules, please make an effort to check the updated TOS and forum specific rules, and then post in ATMB, not in a directed thread. In addition, asking for cites is pretty time honored historically as well, and your dismissive comments to @steronz were also inappropriate, though I give _them_ credit for responding appropriately to the forum. To other posters, as @FriendOfRoland has indicated they will not be returning, let’s drop that discussion, I have hidden their off-topic comments, and if they return to them, please flag the hijack rather than responding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-threatening-to-go-to-war-with-denmark-may-be-a-bad-idea/1026838.md?page=7)