President Trump appears to have an irrational fixation on Greenland. Many of his quirks are harmless, but many are not: witness his love affair with Putin and other dictators, and his stubborn and ill-informed attachment to tariffs which have brought about considerable disorder in the international economy and hurt American industries that they were supposed to protect.
His determination to obtain Greenland from Denmark, including by force if necessary, could blow apart our most important alliance and set in motion a series of events that could lead to global disintegration and armed conflict.
Western tacticians have known for a century that Greenland is important to the security of the United States. That is why we have had a military presence there for decades, and Denmark and the U.S. have always worked closely on defense matters, much of the time through NATO.
However, for the Trump administration, NATO is another of Trump’s hostile fixations and is not enough to guarantee our safety. Like the mad president in the 1965 novel “Night of Camp David,” he appears to think that only absorbing Greenland and making Canada the 51st state would improve our security and stand as a fitting tribute to his imperial ambitions.
Trump’s obsession with Greenland is most dangerous because it has no real constituency. Our NATO allies oppose it, our neighbors are firmly with Denmark, and according to recent polls some 75% of Americans also oppose any attempt to annex it. He made similar overtures during his first term, but then there were responsible adults in the room who told him “No.” Evidently there are no such adults in this administration.
The Danes are not going to hand over Greenland, and Greenland is not going to vote to become part of the United States. It has reached the point that Trump is threatening tariffs over the matter — the only diplomatic/economic approach with which he appears comfortable — and the British and German governments are moving troops into Greenland as part of “joint defense exercises” with Denmark. Is Trump really going to use military force against our NATO allies? It would be a nightmare for all parties with the exception of Vladimir Putin. For him it would be the culmination of his fondest dream.
We are already overstretched militarily by Trump’s chaotic threats. Ships that should be in the Gulf or Asia are engaged in blowing up fishing boats and removing a dictator without, unfortunately, removing the dictatorial government that is still in control.
Alliances and trade aren’t just about tariffs. They are about influence and trust. Right now the message coming out of Washington is clear: Agreements are optional, allies are expendable, and reliability is negotiable. For a country that once anchored the global economy, and had both overwhelming military and soft diplomatic power, that is a strategy that will result in us being left in the dust.
The world will continue to reduce any form of dependence on the U.S. until the next president, at this rate presumably a Democratic one, reengages in alliance building. Unfortunately, this time around other countries will hold ALL Americans accountable because 77 million of our brethren voted for Trump knowing that he was ready, perhaps anxious, to disrupt the global economy, use the military to impose his policies domestically as well as internationally, and destroy global institutions.
This will not be forgotten soon, nor will the complicity of a substantial minority of American voters. And there goes the U.S. position in the global order, perhaps for decades to come.
Andrew T. Morehead is a Greeley resident and a former Foreign Service officer.
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