Patterico's Pontifications

8/20/2019

Follow-Up on President Trump And Greenland

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:16 pm



[guest post by Dana]

A few days ago, I posted about Trump’s interest in purchasing Greenland. After reports came out that the president was giving it serious consideration, critics expressed concern that the Trump administration would lay waste to the territory as it went after its natural resources and minerals. Trump even retweeted an amusing post about it:

In spite of Trump’s interest in purchasing the territory, Greenland made it clear that it was not for sale:

“We have a good cooperation with USA, and we see it as an expression of greater interest in investing in our country and the possibilities we offer,” the island’s government said on its website. “Of course, Greenland is not for sale.”

The country’s foreign ministry insisted that it was “open for business, but not for sale.”

“Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism,” the ministry said in a tweet Friday. “We’re open for business, not for sale.”

And Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen echoed Greenland’s response:

“Greenland is not for sale. Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously [referring to Trump’s interest],” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the newspaper Sermitsiaq during a visit to Greenland.

Trump had been invited by the Queen of Denmark on an official state business next month. The scheduled visit was set to include meetings with Prime Minister Frederiksen of Denmark and Prime Minister Kim Kielsen of Greenland to discuss the Arctic.

However, tonight we are learning that Trump has postponed the trip in response to the Danish prime minister’s remarks:

Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump tweeted. “The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”

All of which confirms two things: Trump was indeed serious about purchasing Greenland, and Trump doesn’t like to be told “no.”

–Dana

48 Responses to “Follow-Up on President Trump And Greenland”

  1. Taking my ball and going home…

    Dana (fdf131)

  2. You gotta be kidding!!!1!

    nk (dbc370)

  3. Bør Danmark blive fornærmet eller lettet?

    Kishnevi (72bb0b)

  4. Ingen af dem. Ligeglade.

    nk (dbc370)

  5. https://twitter.com/USAmbDenmark/status/1163924406198030336

    Ambassador Carla Sands
    @USAmbDenmark
    Denmark is ready for the POTUS @realDonaldTrump
    visit! Partner, ally, friend

    2 hours prior to Trump’s tweet

    Davethulhu (bc6fa6)

  6. I’m willing to believe a lot of things about Trump’s Swiss cheese of a brain, but I refuse to believe that he is so cuckoo that he seriously thought buying Greenland was even a remote possibility. That’s bananas by the boatload.

    nk (dbc370)

  7. He probably thought it was. Remember in Trump’s world everything is for sale. The only question is the price.

    Kishnevi (72bb0b)

  8. It’s truly the dog days of August. This has to be the stupidest story ever, and the Trump fanboys fell for it hook, line, and sinker (not here of course, on other sites).

    That said, under what Constitutional authority can Trump buy anything on his own? The only way the House would approve is part of a package deal that would include statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Fat chance of that happening.

    Ripmurdock (c3c4b7)

  9. Tell us what the Trump fanboys were saying, Ripmurdock. I missed it.

    Dana (fdf131)

  10. Dana-

    Here

    Ripmurdock (c3c4b7)

  11. Like the Babylon Bee said, he was just going to put in hardwood floors and clean it up a little so he could flip it.

    harkin (d17996)

  12. Shes a lefty, but a hawk on immigration.

    Narciso (222325)

  13. And then there’s Joe… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWkuBNvdjo

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  14. Greenland is Denmark’s back door out of the EU. It never went past the EEC stage. It’s party to trade agreements with the EU but not subject to post-1979 EU laws.

    Denmark as a whole is considered a “reluctant” EU partner. It was invited to join the EEC in 1963 but refused until Britain was also admitted in 1969. Like Britain, it kept its own currency and did not join the Euro.

    Maybe it’s only wishful thinking, but I seriously doubt that the reason for the cancellation of the state visit is pique over Greenland. I suspect much more serious things involving NATO, the Iran sanctions, and even Brexit.

    nk (dbc370)

  15. If it was any other president, maybe…

    Dana (fdf131)

  16. BTW, I’m sure I’m not saying anything that this brilliantly informed commentariat does not already know, but the image in the tweet at the top of the post was not created by Trump. It was made to mock Trump and he picked it up and added the “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”

    nk (dbc370)

  17. I think you’re right that everyone knows that already, nk, and I also think I should’ve made that clear in the post and will do so now.

    Dana (fdf131)

  18. OTOH, maybe somebody finally put their intel finger to the air and got wind of which way that wind is really blowing what with w/four Russian radioactive particulate contamination monitoring sites mysteriously going ‘silent’ after their atomic-powered missile exploded.

    You want that orange hair to shine for the TeeVee, not glow, eh, Captain, sir?!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  19. From a developer perspective, I think Trump is of the opinion that slapping gold tinted windows, a marble lobby with a giant gold “T” in it can fix even Greenland.
    My opinion was that if Denmark would sell Greenland, it’d eventually prove to have been a good buy.
    Never hurts to make an offer, particularly when it costs Denmark 500M annually to keep the lights on

    steveg (354706)

  20. Little Rocket Man’s next “beautiful” letter will offer to sell him the Brooklyn Bridge, and at a very attractive price!

    Dave (1bb933)

  21. This is a tweet from the WaPo. I can’t access the whole WaPo article:

    Internal planning was so far along they had begun to even think about the financial cost.

    White House officials had discussed taking over Denmark’s $600 million annual payment to Greenland, and also giving Denmark some sort of financial sweetener.

    Dana (fdf131)

  22. I think the funniest thing coming from Trump’s interest in Greenland was Chris Cilizza at CNN attempting to teach history and saying that the U.S.’s purchase of Alaska in 1867 (for $7.2 million, about two cents an acre) “didn’t work out so well”.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cillizzas-folly-cnn-edits-article-criticizing-purchase-of-alaska-in-greenland-debate

    harkin (d17996)

  23. “Never hurts to make an offer, particularly when it costs Denmark 500M annually to keep the lights on”

    This is the kind of fiscal responsibility that I expect in the new Republican party.

    Davethulhu (bc6fa6)

  24. What a dope. John Wayne, Randolph Scott, and Marlene Dietrich all in the same movie, alone was worth it.

    nk (dbc370)

  25. Denmark — its leaders and citizens — were surprised by Trump cancelling his visit and are not amused.

    DRJ (15874d)

  26. He’s not a well man mentality.

    Time123 (d54166)

  27. Hey… HEY! Hallo!

    Perhaps… bear with me here… this is Trump negotiating tactics?

    ON serious note – if the true reasons why he canceled the visit is Russian’s disaster… why not just say that?

    whembly (fd57f6)

  28. Perhaps… bear with me here… this is Trump negotiating tactics?

    So…who’s he negotiating with? Not the Dane’s, not the Greenlander’s, so who exactly is he negotiating to buy something not for sale with?

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c)

  29. 29. His negotiations with Vera Coking worked out quite well, didn’t they?

    Gryph (08c844)

  30. I shall reiterate, who’s he negotiating with?

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c)

  31. I think this seems as likely a reason as any for Trump canceling his trip to Denmark: Obama is scheduled to visit Denmark next month. Would Trump want to risk being upstaged in the same month by a former president who still remains immensely popular throughout the world?

    Dana (fdf131)

  32. And he continues to make things worse:

    President Donald Trump does not appreciate Denmark’s rejection of his idea to buy Greenland.

    The American leader told reporters on Wednesday that “all they had to say was, ‘No, we’d rather not do that.’”

    Instead, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the idea “an absurd discussion” and said she was “disappointed and surprised” that Trump canceled his Sept. 2-3 visit to Denmark in a tweet earlier in the day.

    Trump, leaving the White House for an event in Kentucky, said Frederiksen’s comments were “nasty,” adding “You don’t talk to the United States like that,” at least during his presidency.

    Fredericksen said the U.S. remains one of Denmark’s close allies. Denmark’s royals had invited Trump but the palace says they were blindsided by the tweet canceling the trip.

    Dana (fdf131)

  33. Fredericksen should first call him a “dotard” in public, but then follow it up with a beautiful letter to him. That will make everything all right.

    nk (dbc370)

  34. Nah, on second thought, that won’t work. She’s not his type.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. #32 I think this seems as likely a reason as any for Trump canceling his trip to Denmark: Obama is scheduled to visit Denmark next month. Would Trump want to risk being upstaged in the same month by a former president who still remains immensely popular throughout the world?

    Dana (fdf131) — 8/21/2019 @ 10:54 am

    There it is… that’s why.

    Nailed it Dana.

    whembly (fd57f6)

  36. We should just acknowledge that Trump is right. The Danes’ centuries-long exploitation and interference in our hemisphere has to stop. We need to liberate Greenland and the time is now.
    Their escalating provocations can no longer be tolerated. Danish naval vessels cruise in our waters with impunity. They are trying to seize additional territory from our ally Canada, whom we are committed to protect.
    Trump has made them a reasonable offer and they have refused in the most offensive manner. The last time another country refused our reasonable offer we took it by force and paid them less than 50 cents on the dollar of the original price. Historians rank President Polk highly for what he did and history will judge Trump the same way if we act in a bold and decisive manner right now.
    We should also not forget the lesson of 1945 and the race for Berlin. It’s true that the Canadians are our allies while the fight is on but they’re also a bunch of perfidious revanchists and we need to get in there before they grab it themselves. It’s going to be prime real estate. Some day.

    Paul Montagu (a2342d)

  37. Paul, wouldn’t that mean that Denmark would then trigger an Article 5 of NATO, and we’d be obligated to attack the invaders? That might get confusing telling the Air Force to bomb themselves at their base at Thule, those pukes would definitely screw it up.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c)

  38. Mere details, Colonel. Those Danes need to atone for their ethnic cleansing–dare I say genocide–of the Norse on Greenland. And you know what? The Danes have still not handed over their weapons of mass destruction. And yet the blame-America-first crowd remains blind. They will not understand until it is too late.

    Paul Montagu (a2342d)

  39. 6. nk (dbc370) — 8/20/2019 @ 7:34 pm

    6.I’m willing to believe a lot of things about Trump’s Swiss cheese of a brain, but I refuse to believe that he is so cuckoo that he seriously thought buying Greenland was even a remote possibility. That’s bananas by the boatload.

    Its been reported that he has been asking people in his administration about it since 2017 (where he got the idea that it was possible has not leaked, if anybody knows)

    And it looks like the people working for him in the foreign policy/national security area finally decided to stop fighting him about this because…

    1) The aspiration is not evil,

    AND

    2) The best and quickest way to end this is to let him discover its unrealism for himself.

    Sammy Finkelman (b47846)

  40. Apparently Trump joked last year about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland. Something has convinced Trump we need Arctic access and he is convinced the best option is Greenland. And now every country knows he thinks that, too.

    DRJ (15874d)

  41. If only we had Obama Back. Now there was a “Conservative” !

    rcocean (1a839e)

  42. If only we had Obama Back. Now there was a “Conservative” !

    Comparatively speaking, it’s not unambiguously untrue. On domestic social policy he was quite liberal, but he wasn’t as out of step on foreign or fiscal policy as Trump is. Part of it was Congressional Republicans had a spine, or at least pretended to care about “conservatism”. Trump does not believe in allies, liberal democracy, capitalism (he’s a mercantilist at best), and oddly pro-authoritarian; although I don’t think he actually cares, or knows, enough to actual be an authoritarian, plus he’s a giant nancy-boy.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (6e7a1c)

  43. Sen. Tom Cotton discussed purchasing Greenland before Trump did:

    Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a fierce Trump ally on the Hill, raised the possibility of a U.S. purchase of the island territory in August 2018 when Danish Ambassador Lars Gert Lose dropped by his Senate office, according to two sources briefed on the conversation. Cotton has also discussed the matter with the president, these people said.

    Dana (fdf131)

  44. This was back when Rafael Edward Cruz had a pair.

    “I don’t know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button,” Cruz continued. “I mean, we’re liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark. That’s not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe.”

    Paul Montagu (a2342d)

  45. I saw a cartoon in the Daily News that shows someone woth Trump and the caption is something like :

    Would you be interested in ourrchasing Jeffrey Epstein’s island/

    Of course the United States (as a country) already ownes Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

    And had bought it. From Denmark. A little over 100 years ago, in 1917. The purchase of the Danish Virgin Islands was negotiated by President Woodrow Wilson.

    Sammy Finkelman (b47846)


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