Doug's Darkworld

Once again, President Trump has outdone himself. This is regarding his planned visit to Denmark. Denmark was one of the founding twelve members of NATO in 1949, so it’s been a US ally for a long time. As an aside, Denmark is one of the few countries in Europe that managed to get their Jewish citizens safely away from the Nazis. Pretty cool, but that’s a story for another day. They are a modest country with a population of just under 6 million, similar to Wisconsin or Maryland. Greenland is a territory of Denmark though, and it’s important strategically, and may well have a lot of natural resources. So Denmark is an important US ally, even if not in the same league as the United Kingdom or Japan.

So, some time back Queen Margrethe II of Denmark invited President Trump to visit Denmark. He agreed, and preparations were made. Nothing other than a polite visit between heads of state to express solidarity between allies, the US and Denmark had no issues to resolve I am aware of. Then it comes out a week or so ago that Trump has entertained the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark. Apparently discussing it with aides etc. It made the news and the people of Greenland and Denmark were a little concerned. And the government of Denmark stated very politely that Greenland was not for sale, and there was no need for further discussion of the issue.

OK, already pretty weird, but here’s where Trump went off the rails. He cancelled his visit to Denmark, stating it was because Denmark had “no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland”. And that the idea of the US purchasing Greenland “was essentially just a real estate deal.” He in fact tweeted the above image saying that “I promise not to do this to Greenland.” There’s so much wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start. Some have even cast doubt on Trump’s sanity because of this. No, it’s not insane. It is however clueless, self-centered, and immature on an epic scale.

It’s like someone being invited to someone’s house for a friendly supper, and then speculating aloud that they would like to buy part of the host’s yard. And when the host politely declined to discuss the sale of the yard, the invited guest refuses to go to the meal in a fit of pique. Hard to imagine a host that wouldn’t find that insulting. Because it is insulting. It’s childish and insulting.

And beyond that, it’s also clueless, arrogant, and insensitive on a grand scale. It really shows just what disdain Trump has for regular folks. 90% of the population of Greenland are native Inuit. Apparently Trump is still living in the nineteenth century where the western powers bought and sold territory with zero regard as to what the inhabitants of said territory. White privilege on an epic scale. Trump really does think that money can buy anything.

I considered going into some of my Trump social media sites to see what his supporters think. I couldn’t stomach the thought. Some combination of insulting and belittling socialist (gasp!) Denmark no doubt. There are limits to the research I can stomach.

As an aside (I like asides) Green was colonized six times that we know of, but only two of them succeeded. There were two pre-Inuit people in ancient times, both failed. Then the Inuit tried, it failed. Then along came the Norse, shortly followed by a second try by the Inuit. The Norse Greenlandic settlements famously failed, still one of history’s big mysteries. The second wave of Inuit settlers did succeed, their descendants still live on the Island, though quite a few live in Denmark now. And the Norse returned in 1712, which is why Greenland is a Danish territory. It is home ruled though, and more so all the time.

In any event, I apologize for the late and extemporaneous post. I was going to write last night, but a friend’s plane was late and I didn’t get home until after 11pm. When I was young I could stay up till 6 AM, catch a few winks, and make it to a 9 AM class. Yeah, my health is improving, but those days are never coming back. I have a number of posts I am working on, and barring disaster will start posting normally again on Friday.

Copyright © 2019 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: A Trump Tweet. Credit: Donald Trump. By US copyright law anything the President says or tweets is Public Domain.)