Trump really wants Greenland

{"text":[[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":5.33,"text":"Though a teetotaller, Donald Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality”, according to Susie Wiles, his chief of staff. Addictive personalities tend to be compulsive risk-takers. Doing what makes you feel good suspends the pain."}],[{"start":21.810000000000002,"text":"In Trump’s case, that pain is increasingly domestic and the cure foreign. The more dire his situation at home — his poll numbers are bad and show no sign of improving — the greater the temptation of getting a fix abroad."}],[{"start":39.55,"text":"That almost every US president shifts to foreign policy as their time wears on offers little guidance on Trump. He has learned that it is far easier to skirt the polite fiction of international law than US court rulings. In explaining why he ordered the abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro last Saturday, Trump cited a US warrant. He sent the sheriff into the jungle to retrieve a fugitive from American justice. It worked like a charm. As long as the target is outgunned, success is assured."}],[{"start":76.03999999999999,"text":"Trump is increasingly confident of his unchecked control over America’s war machine. Denmark’s anxiety is thus justified. Without prompting, he raised Greenland at his post-Maduro appearance last Sunday. He has several times since then affirmed that “we need” Greenland. Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, says “it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need to take over Greenland”. To which Trump simply repeats that Greenland is essential to US security."}],[{"start":111.53999999999999,"text":"“You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland?” he asked. “They added one more dog sled.”"}],[{"start":119.42999999999999,"text":"Such is Trump’s fixation that he appointed a Greenland envoy — the Republican governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry — just before Christmas. “It’s an honour to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US,” Landry said. Last year Trump dispatched his vice-president, JD Vance, uninvited to Greenland to survey the territory. Anyone who is confident that Trump is merely trolling should book a holiday in Caracas."}],[{"start":150.57,"text":"But why Greenland? First, because it would be easy. Much like “Operation Absolute Resolve” in Venezuela, Trump could annex Greenland from the performative comfort of the situation room (he created a look-alike in Mar-a-Lago). It would take an hour or two and risk no US casualties. That way Trump can keep emulating Barack Obama, those iconic pictures of whom watching the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden he so envies. Though Danes are no pacifists, resisting the superpower would be suicidal."}],[{"start":187.82,"text":"Second, adding Greenland to his column would be lucrative. Trump’s libertarian friends have been eyeing it for some time. Peter Thiel, who wants to set up crypto-empowered “network states” on undeveloped territory, has invested in Praxis, a start-up that aims to do just that and which has scouted Greenland. Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery, was a co-founder with Thiel and Elon Musk of PayPal. Silicon Valley is awash with billionaires invested in one kind of networked venture or another. Greenland is high on most lists. Unlike Mars, occupying Greenland is doable."}],[{"start":228.35999999999999,"text":"On top of pleasing the libertarians, taking Greenland would go down well with Maga ideologues, since it would kill Nato in one swoop. Denmark could invoke article V in which an attack on one is an attack on all. Since America leads Nato, the treaty would be void. No ally would come to Denmark’s defence. Were Denmark to accept the fait accompli, the result would be the same. Either way, geography, not law, would do Trump’s explaining. Though a slice of Greenland sits in the eastern hemisphere, most of it lies in the western."}],[{"start":267,"text":"It is plausible that developments in Venezuela could keep Trump’s focus on the Caribbean rather than the Arctic. A strike on a Colombian coca plantation, or a Mexican fentanyl site, would not be a shock. Cuba, likewise, should watch its back. Though Trump also covets Canada as America’s 51st state, he has largely stopped airing that ambition since Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister last year. On the spectrum of Trump’s public musings, Canada is at the trolling end. The stars and stripes, on the other hand, could rise over Greenland at any time."}],[{"start":312.95,"text":"The betting among Trump’s domestic opponents is that he will risk more as his fortunes decline. Trump’s lawlessness is inversely related to his political woes. Democrats are expected to retake the House of Representatives in November. The pressure to release the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files will not abate until Trump has done so, which he has made clear he never will. No good publicity can come from the impression that he is hell-bent on suppressing what he is legally obliged to make public."}],[{"start":347.43,"text":"Even the normally pliant US Supreme Court could deliver bad news soon if it strikes down the bulk of Trump’s tariffs. Courts regularly block his deployment of the US military in American cities. So far Trump has largely complied with judicial rulings. By contrast, there is no court that can realistically check his use of the US military overseas. Nor, as in his first term, are there any voices around him counselling restraint."}],[{"start":380.58,"text":"As a source of shock value, mission accomplished and moneymaking, Trump always has Greenland. His temptation is only likely to grow."}],[{"start":397.10999999999996,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1767752814_9045.mp3"}