President Donald Trump has shifted his focus to a potential United States takeover of Greenland, a territory currently under Danish control. This has been a consistent sticking point for the President, for reasons apparent only to him.
For the sake of a morbid argument, let’s humor the president for just a moment and try to envision this takeover. Many believe that Trump will be able to work out a deal to purchase Greenland. These people have clearly been willfully ignoring the extensive list of Trump’s business failures.
However, let’s assume he does work out such a deal.
Firstly, it certainly would not be with his own money. This ego-driven purchase would be supplemented by American taxpayers, not unlike his many other bad decisions.
Secondly, who would reap the benefits of this purchase? That would assuredly not be felt by the taxpayers who financed it.
This hypothetical also runs into problems, as Denmark is not exactly willing to give up Greenland to satiate the ego of our President. This has led Trump to openly consider the second possible option, a takeover of Greenland by force. However, a few days ago, he denounced taking the country by force, despite having floated the idea for some time.
This violent option has all the same problems the first option, with a treasure trove of even more disastrous consequences.
Firstly, the cost of a military takeover of Greenland would be an immense burden on taxpayers. Along with the financial cost of a military takeover, such a move would also come at great human cost for all sides involved. The United States would likely have to fight against far more than just the Danish military. An invasion of Greenland, which is an attack on Denmark, would be a military attack on a fellow NATO country.
In the event this ever were to take place, Article 5 of NATO would be activated, which would turn all of the country’s most vital military and economic allies against the United States. Unfortunately, it does not seem that upending peaceful relations between allies is a dealbreaker for the president, who has recently suggested that since NATO countries didn’t award him the Nobel Peace Prize, peace is no longer a priority for him.
After examining all of the possible courses of action, I have intentionally omitted a crucial reason Trump shouldn’t even be considering this takeover of Greenland. That is, of course, that the people of Greenland do not want to be U.S. territorial subjects. In a sensible world, this is the beginning and end of the conversation.
Just like it should be for Venezuela, just like it should have been for Puerto Rico and just like it should have been so many times over, for the many violations of sovereignty throughout the blood-soaked history of the American empire.
