The president of the United States wants to buy a continent-sized Arctic island with so few inhabitants that nearly all could fit into Busch Stadium and which, incidentally, isnt for sale. Tell us again how Donald Trump is such a brilliant businessman?
There is a bit of irony to this idea of buying Greenland: That massive island-nation sits at the front lines of human-caused global warming, a phenomenon most of the advanced world is trying to address, but which Trump and his party refuse to acknowledge is real.
Such a sale isnt going to happen, of course. The fact that Trump thinks it might and that the ostensible grownups in the administration feel compelled to humor him is, in a word, chilling.
As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, and Trump himself subsequently confirmed, he is pressing top aides to explore purchasing Greenland from Denmark. Sitting northeast of Canada, Greenland is the worlds largest island, but with a population of just 58,000 and a surface environment consisting mostly of ice.
Strategically its interesting, Trump told reporters. Its essentially a large real estate deal.
A few problems: One, this isnt the 19th century, when America undertook the Louisiana Purchase from France and the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Though Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, today it has an autonomous democratic government. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made clear it cant be bought like cod at a market. Greenland belongs to Greenland, she noted, adding: I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously.
As for its strategic importance, its true Greenlands proximity to Russia makes it logistically important to American security. Thats why the U.S. has maintained a major military presence there for decades, at the invitation of both Denmark and Greenland. On that front, Trump the Dealmaker is offering to pay handsomely for something America already has.
If by strategic, Trump was talking about things like trade routes and access to Greenlands significant mineral deposits, hes right: Both have become more easily discoverable and exploitable due to melting Arctic ice caused by global warming the otherwise ominous phenomenon this administration refuses to acknowledge.
Soren Espersen, a spokesman for the Danish Peoples Party, put it best: If Trump is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof that he has gone mad. Reporting indicates that White House officials are, as The Washington Post puts it, bewildered at Trumps fantasy but obligated to treat it seriously. As if on cue, Trumps economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, defended it to Fox News by observing that Trump knows a thing or two about buying real estate.
Obviously, 21st-Century America isnt going to buy an autonomous democracy from a post-colonial kingdom. Everyone understands this except Trump. But to his endlessly sycophantic inner circle, the emperor is always splendidly clothed.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
