“he’s threatening to attack our allies” is at the top of my list of why his recent statements have been really bad for the US and for the world. But there are plenty of other reasons.
It sure does look like Putin is influencing Trump. If NATO has to defend against the US, it’s not going to have as much energy to defend Ukraine, just for the appetizer.
But also, i think Trump wants to be remembered as a president who did a big thing. Expanding the US into a giant territory (bets on whether he’s looking at Mercator projections of the world?) would give him a legacy. I don’t think he understands that he might fail.
Trump claims that he must take the world’s largest island to protect it from Russian invasion. Here’s a translated excerpt from the Russian Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Does it sound like Putin is upset about Trump’s plans?
I don’t understand attacking other people who agree with you that attacking Greenland is a really bad idea. Their list of reasons may not be ordered precisely the same as yours, but they are still your ~cough cough~ allies. Why must everyone weight their anxiety about this monumentally stupid, wasteful, greedy, disaster of a “policy” the exact same as you. We all agree it’s a horrible idea. Does it matter that much which perspective someone sees it from?
It does seem like an odd primary reason for the OP to fix upon. For sure, the lack of available, affordable insulin would be a very serious concern for those who need it, but to make it the primary reason why going to war with our NATO allies would be a bad idea?
I mean, if the OP had been ‘One of the many reasons why threatening to go to war with Denmark may be a bad idea’ or ‘A possibly overlooked reason why threatening to go to war with Denmark may be a bad idea’ it would make more sense. The OP even ends with ‘Anything to add or subtract?’. Yes, plenty to add. Know what else would affect the availablity and affordability of insulin, as well as every other medication? Getting in a war with our former NATO allies, having our economy collapse, and becoming an international pariah on par with rogue states like North Korea.
I didn’t think @Czarcasm meant it is the main or only reason. He didn’t outright say the biggest reason, but I understood it was implied. He did say dump was attacking Americans. He is attacking Americans with this lunacy not just with pharmaceuticals, but in about a million other ways. Perhaps I read it too broadly?
Well, they did end their post with ‘Anything to add or subtract?’ which seemed odd, but maybe I initially took it wrong, and it was meant as a mildly sarcastic invitation to discuss all the other many, many reasons why it would be a bad idea. As in “I can’t think of any other reason why it would be a bad idea; can any of you? ”
I think that any sane geopolitical philosophy would start with “it’s a bad idea to threaten to go to war with your allies”, as a fundamental axiom. Why is it a bad idea to threaten to go to war with Denmark? Because it’s threatening to go to war with Denmark. Period, enough said.
I’m far from an expert. But if NATO collapses, Europe is going to be feeling significantly less safe from Russian incursions, and NATO’s collapse will also be associated with a collapse of trade agreements between Europe and the US. Both of these create power vacuums that China can take advantage of.
As I see it, the world balances on a knife’s edge right now. Trump is only able to do what he’s doing because of his razor-thin majority in Congress; and that majority depends on the continuing support of a handful of politicians. If three Republican House members removed their support, and four Republican senators removed their support, all of this could be brought to a crashing halt. Of the 8 billion people on earth, literally less than one in a billion need to change their voting patterns in order to change world history.
There are 261 people in that pool of Republicans who are eligible to make that change. Most of them are True Believers, sure–but there are some that are vacillating.
The more pressure that can be brought on them, the likelier it is that seven of them will change their minds and stop this madness. And if that change happens because diabetic Americans are terrified about their insulin, that’s fine. I don’t give a goddamn why they change their minds; any pressure on them to do so is good.
Or, even, if some of those congresspeople are themselves diabetic, and are worried about their own personal supply of insulin. Sure, with their means, they might be able to get black-market insulin… but do they want to bet their lives on that?
If trump lost his majority in Congress it would prevent him from getting away with anything and everything he wants to do, but isn’t he already operating largely by Presidential decree and bypassing Congress altogether for the most part? The Venezuala invasion, incursion, whatever you want to call it, was executed without the knowledge of Congress. Invading Greenland without getting permission from Congress per the War Powers act would clearly be illegal and unconstitutional, but who’s going to call him out on it if he just goes ahead and does it?
Not to mention that a future president will give it back. The next Democrat elected, certainly, but almost any Republican that succeeds him, too. Even Vance, probably - he may be evil and weak, but he’s not crazy. The United States’ occupation of Greenland will be remembered as a short, embarrassing period in American history.
Sort of. He’s not doing what he’s supposed to be doing, because he knows Congress won’t say anything. Congress can absolutely hold him to account. That requires a majority vote.
Surely at least 2% of Republicans in the House know that this is batshit insane and risks another world war. But they’re scared. They need to put on their big kid pants and show some courage.
”