Harrop: Attention news media, Greenland is a Trump red herring

By Froma Harrop / Creators.com

Donald Trump had a rough couple of weeks. Members of his own party sunk his attempt to escape a vote on the debt limit for two years. Some of Trump’s picks for top jobs weren’t received with universal applause. A revolt by Republican senators against his choice of Matt Gaetz as attorney general forced the Florida Republican to withdraw from consideration. Then there was, yuck, the Gaetz report.

If you were Trump confronted with this unwanted evidence of limited political potency, what would you do? You would throw out some dazzling nonsense to distract the public’s attention from your difficulties. You would make outlandish comments on such matters as buying Greenland and taking back the Panama Canal. You’d suggest that Canada become the 51st state.

And what has much of respectable media done with this fusillade of goofy chatter? Unfortunately, they jumped at the bait with unseemly speed and moved their focus to Trump’s muttering about plans to stomp on the sovereignty of friendly countries. They led news reports with serious discussions of the international ramifications.

“The U.S. is unlikely to take control of any of these regions,” the BBC wrote with a straight face, “but these statements could indicate that Trump’s ‘America First’ vision includes flexing the superpower’s muscle beyond its borders for U.S. trade and national security interests.”

We’ve been here before.

In August 2019, then-President Trump told reporters of the “strategically interesting” idea of buying Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark. The Danish prime minister called the proposal “absurd.” Trump then canceled a planned state visit to Denmark, citing such remarks as the reason.

But to show what a ha-ha headbang that attention-grabbing stunt really was, Trump tweeted a photograph of a skyscraper in the middle of an Arctic setting with the Trump logo at the top.

He wrote: “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”

He just dusted off the ridiculous idea again, writing on a social media post that the U.S. “feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for reasons of national security and global freedom.

Media again snapped at the floating lures.

The Wall Street Journal offered the headline, “Trump Threatens to Take Control of Panama Canal, Greenland.” The New York Times headline was “Trump’s Wish to Control Greenland and Panama Canal: Not a Joke This Time.” The article asserted: “Over the past two days, President-elect Donald J. Trump has made clear that he has designs for American territorial expansion.”

Not a joke? Trump’s son Eric posted an image on X showing Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada in an Amazon online shopping cart.

The Danish prime minister’s office simply brushed off the latest provocation. It blandly remarked that the government was “looking forward to working with the new administration” and left it at that.

As for the Panama Canal, one serious news source noted that Trump would be able to use “the world’s largest military” to back up his demands. The irony of discussing such rash international adventures without noting that Trump routinely accused his political opponents of being war-mongers was lost.

Greenland is still not for sale, but if it were on the market, it would be a big-ticket item, to say the least. Some analysts put the value of its natural resources alone in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Taking it by force would be a costly military operation.

How would starting the United States on a round of territorial expansion fit in with vows to chop $2 trillion out of the budget? Not well and another reason to dismiss the clown show.

At the very least, Trump should have to come up with new material.