On the verge of the Supreme Court decision over Trump’s purported use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, Trump’s hurt feelings over not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that he so desperately desired got the better of him. While threatening to invade Greenland and take it for his own, he imposed yet another set of tariffs, this time against European NATO allies who are prepared, along with Canada, to honor their duties under Article 5 of the NATO alliance, to come to the aid of any NATO member threatened by hostilities. The hostilities, of course, come solely from Trump.
Trump sent the president of Norway a letter, which he ordered distributed among ambassadors of other NATO nations so they would all appreciate the great and powerful Trump.
Dear Ambassador: President Trump has asked that the following message, shared with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, be forwarded to your [named head of government/state]
Dear Jonas: 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. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT
For the moment, Trump has imposed tariffs of 10% on European NATO countries, to be raised to 25% on June 1st should they not acquiesce to Trump’s “complete and total control” of Greenland, apparently because he didn’t win the Nobel Prize and no longer gives a hoot about being the Peace President for the sake of something gold and shiny. Of course, the prize isn’t awarded by the president or government of Norway, but by the Nobel Committee, but that detail doesn’t factor into Trump’s calculus.
The putative claim for authority to impose tariffs by Executive fiat is economic emergency, even if the statute makes no provisions for tariffs at all. Trump’s Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, has asserted that if the Supreme Court rules against Trump’s use of tariffs on a whim, he will simply assert a different reason under a different statute to claim authority to impose tariffs on a whim. In other words, he will ignore the Court and use tariffs as his cudgel one way or another.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, was sent out to the Sunday morning shows to provide an rationalization for Trump’s latest foray into tariffland.
The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency,
Props to Bessent for saying this with a straight face, the national emergency to be avoided by the impetuous imposition of tariffs being Trump invading a sovereign nation that also happens to be a NATO ally because Trump wants it and didn’t win a prize. In other words, Trump’s justification for imposing tariffs is that it’s better than the war Trump will otherwise start.
While the lessons of Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 are instructive to most people with a modest grasp of economics, there are times and situations where tariffs can serve a salutary purpose. A problem here is that Trump is imposing them without authorization by Congress, and under claim of emergency that has not merely been the norm for the past half century, but has served American interests extremely well over time.
Another problem here is that the claim of emergency is, at least in many instances, purely a subterfuge for Trump’s impulse to punish or reward other countries for either giving him gifts or being mean to his friends, like Jair Bolsonaro.
And yet another problem is that between the tariffs and the threat of a military invasion, Trump has alienated American allies and stands on the precipice of blowing up NATO, an alliance which Trump dislikes because he sees it as other nations taking advantage of the United States by not contributing as much as they should.
The final problem is that the basis for Trump’s claim that America needs Greenland for national security or else China or Russia will take it, as if the same implications of NATO defending its members doesn’t exist, is bizarre and irrational. There is no threat of China or Russia seizing Greenland, and there can be no threat that wouldn’t result in World War III. The only threat to Greenland is Trump.
Should the United States go to war, military or economic, with our European and North American allies over a non-existent threat over Greenland born of Trump’s humiliation by not being given the Nobel Prize for wars he pretends to have “solved”? We are on the edge of blowing up an international order that has made the United States the most wealthy and powerful nation on earth. Did we have it too good that we’re ready to ruin it to salve a pudgy little man’s bruised ego?
*Tuesday Talk rules apply.
Discover more from Simple Justice
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
It will be renamed ‘Trumplandia’.
Taking advantage of “Tuesday Talk” rules, this pc “Trump’s Confabulations are More Serious than Just a Response to a Bruised Ego” is a good summation of Il Douche’s demented behavior;
https://sonar21.com/trumps-peace-delusions-and-fragile-ego/
OT1H, his outrageous claims/ behavior will almost certainly cost him/ the GOP the mid-terms.
OTOH, I fear he’ll try to cancel the mid-terms.
That is my fear. Too many are waiting things out for the mid-terms. I have serious doubts there will be a 2026 election. Or, if there is, somewhere along the way, he’ll claim massive fraud and send in the ICE goons and seize ballot boxes in blue and purple districts. Do not underestimate the actions this regime will commit.
Nixon’s Madman theory was to appear irrational and unpredictable to our adversaries to keep them unbalanced and gain concessions when negotiating with them. Trump’s twist to this technique is to apply it to our friends and allies. Here the idea is to get Europe and Canada to come to the aid of Greenland by deploying troops and ships. This signals to Putin that NATO is fractured and divided and not a threat. He can safely make concessions to Trump on Ukraine. Trump gets his Nobel Peace Prize after all. The Iranians are terrified. If Trump seizes Greenland, what will he do to Iran? ForChina this Greenland business just underscores their belief that occidentals are as inscrutable as they have always believed them to be. They will now take no action on Taiwan. Notice how North Korea has been quiet lately. No one is talking about that though, are they? What to do with Greenland? Well, once you take it, you will need to deport all those illegal aliens, they will simply have to go back to Denmark. This solves the domestic problem of what to do with the excess of ICE agents, especially after things cool down in Minneapolis. The Golden Dome can finally be built, high end luxury Trump licensed condominiums can be constructed and sold at great profit. A new Disneyworld sized theme park can be built in Greenland and a new tourism industry will be born. No more Trump time watches sold onTV, now it will be arctic condos and family vacations to the new arctic playground. These are deep, deep chess moves. The genius of Donald Trump! Not since Nixon. Better than Nixon. Because one Nixon within our collective lifespans was not enough.
Well played. I’d been betting on “Crazy” and wondering if you’d go w/ Willie’s or Patsy Cline’s version.
Why not both?
Patsy Cline’s version *is* Willie’s (he wrote it).
It’s not. She sang it.
Listen to the above.
TIA
So if NATO goes to war with itself, do the nations choose up sides like with a PE softball game?
If that’s the case, I bet that Europe really regrets not letting Russia into NATO all those years ago.
On a more serious note, I’m seeing analysts claiming that this is all Trumpian 11D Chess and designed to a) get his name in the history books for the land grab* and b) bust up NATO for good, giving the US an excuse to finally ditch the ties to Europe.
*final thought – if the next president gives Greenland back, wouldn’t that make a case for, say, the Cherokee and the Mexicans (and a multitude of others) to ask for THEIR bits back?
It’s unadorned “might makes right.” We gave a complete narcissist control of the most powerful military on the planet who rightfully will tell him that yes, we can invade and take Greenland by force, and there’s little to nothing that anyone can do about it unless we’re heading to nuclear apocalypse. The reasoning about why we don’t have to at all and shouldn’t is beyond POTUS’s severely limited attention span.
The international order post WWII, which saw the second large scale transfer of wealth from Europe to the U.S. and gave rise to our global hegemony, is over. Now we’re on the downward spiral that empires tend to go through, I’d wager. Trump’s irredentist return to imperialism and colonialism seems to be what the right wants in the hopes it will halt the backslide? I can’t tell. All I can say is he’s making everything far worse far faster.
Can the letter to Norway be the last straw please? Can we impeach this fuck and get him out already? Invading a NATO ally over something personal and putting in writing that he reasons at best like a petulant child as our head of state and commander in chief? He can’t even warmonger correctly. It’s pathetic.
The unthinkable coming soon: allies demand the removal of a president before one member of Congress gathers the balls to do the same.
In fairness Ossoff, Markey and others have called for Trump to be impeached.
While far too many in Congress have proven to be cowards, there are a few who have shown some spine… though sev’l paid the price in the last election.
Greenland is only a distraction. It’s Tuesday so here is a link to the charter of Trump’s Board of Peace:.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-charter-of-trumps-board-of-peace/
The charter says the board will be chaired by Donald Trump, personally, and that only Trump can designate his successor. The next US President will not become chair of the board, or even a member of the board’s executive committee when Trump leaves office. Trump will continue permanently as chair unless he resigns or is removed by a unanimous vote of the BoP Executive Board appointed by Trump, including Rubio, Witkoff, Blair, Trump’s son-in-law and other cronies. Even if Trump is removed he is succeeded by Trump’s designated successor, not the next US President. Trump has veto power over decisions of the BoP or its executive board, any amendments to the BoP charter and Trump is the final arbiter of any disputes over the interpretation of the charter. The BoP exists forever as long as Trump or his designated successor and their designated successors renew it every two years. And the BoP charter sets up the BoP to manage international conflicts with no mention in the charter of Gaza or any limitation.
This is kinda like what Augustus did to the Roman republic.
Remember when Trump told his Evangelical supporters that 2024 was the last time they would have to vote? We should have paid attention.
Well, I’m confused.
Half the world is telling me Trump is crazy like a fox. The other half says he’s crazy like … a crazy person.