For the taking: The world is Trump's smorgasbord

In a 2021 interview, Trump explained his thinking on Greenland. "I said, ‘Why don’t we have that? You take a look at a map. I’m a real estate developer, I look at a corner, I say, ‘I’ve got to get that store for the building that I’m building,’ etc. It’s not that different. I love maps. And I always said: ‘Look at the size of this. It’s massive. That should be part of the United States.’"

As massive as Trump's vanity. Or nearly so.

In an interview this month, Trump framed it in terms of personal desire. Asked why ownership was important instead of just fortifying Greenland, he said,  "Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success." Asked if he meant psychologically important for himself or psychologically important for the country, he said, "Psychologically important for me."

Always the narcissist, our president.

Trump the narcissist wrote this on Sunday to Norway's president: "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America."

A slight rewording: "Considering you didn't stroke my vain cravings for adulation, I'll stroke them myself by taking Greenland." Except he would have insisted on having Greenland regardless.

It's remarkable how much Trump has spoken of taking this past year. Canada, for example, which Trump opined should be the 51st state.

Or Gaza, which Trump insisted the U.S. would own and develop. "It would be a beautiful piece of land," he said. "The Riviera of the Middle East." Trump acknowledged that the actual owners of the land would have to go elsewhere. Forcing them out, of course, would be ethnic cleansing, which I wrote would be a criminal monstrosity.

"Forced deportation or transfer of a civilian population is a violation of international humanitarian law, a war crime and a crime against humanity," wrote The New York Times. "The prohibition against forced deportations of civilians has been a part of the law of war since the Lieber Code, a set of rules on the conduct of hostilities, was promulgated by Union forces during the U.S. Civil War. It is prohibited by multiple provisions of the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II defined it as a war crime."

Or the Panama Canal, about which in his inaugural address Trump said: "We didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back." Trump has falsely claimed that China is operating the Panama Canal. Now he claims China will take Greenland if we don't take it first.

And of course Trump recently took Venezuela. For the oil. He actually said so. Trump has indicated the U.S. will have to "run" Venezuela for years.

One Trumpian idea is to take money from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and use it to buy Greenland. At one point, according to an administration official, Trump suggested the U.S. just trade Puerto Rico for Greenland, because "Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor."

Our NATO allies are having none of it. Asked what was his higher priority, obtaining Greenland or preserving NATO, Trump said "it may be a choice."

Which, in the context of all Trump's blathering about security, is really really moronic.

In a recent column Maureen Dowd noted that Trump, when asked if there are any limits on his power, replied, "My own morality, my own mind."

To which Dowd simply said: "God help us all."

 

Copyright (C) 2026 James Michael Brennan, All Rights Reserved 

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