Donald Trump’s apparent obsession with annexing more land coupled with his irrationality could easily result in him ordering an attack on a couple of NATO territories. What happens then?
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When the newly elected president started babbling about taking over Greenland and/or making Canada a US state, everybody figured that was just Trump being Trump. Of course, when people (including Republicans) say that “Trump is being Trump,” what they really mean is that he is a crazy coot who is spouting whatever nonsense pops into his head at any given moment.
Sadly, he is not just some guy who looks out the window on a flight from Europe and mutters, “Someday we’ll get Greenland, one way or another” to himself. Or that weird relative who doesn’t like the maple syrup they serve with the early bird special at IHOP and keeps saying insane stuff like, “We have to do something about Canada. That border is just too straight.”
In that case, it might be pretty entertaining… until he announces that he is “gettin’ his shotgun to show that fancy pants Canadian governor that America doesn’t need those hosers,” at which point relatives will start having some meetings to plan the next steps for Pops.
Unfortunately, this is not some hypothetical situation, and that old lunatic is the president of the United States, which poses some problems that go beyond trying to figure out when to take away Grandpa’s keys.
Trump, apparently beset by imperial delusions, keeps bringing up Greenland and Canada as ideal candidates for territorial expansion. It’s tough to know what’s going on in his damaged mind, but he probably wants to rule over the world’s largest country in the hopes of cementing his place as the greatest president of all time.
And this is not just some random thought that occurred to him once. This is clearly stuff that is on Trump’s mind all the time.
On Thursday, for example, he responded to a reporter asking him about the “potential annexation” of Greenland by saying that he thinks “it’ll happen.”
Mind you, he said that during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, not while getting high with his buddies.
“I didn’t give it much thought before,” said Trump of the thing he has been talking about a lot, “but I’m sitting with a man that could be very instrumental. You know, Mark, we need that for international security.”
How did Rutte respond? We’ll circle back to that in a moment. First, let’s look at what Trump said about Canada becoming part of the US just minutes earlier.
“If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it between Canada and the US, just a straight artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many, many decades ago, and [it] makes no sense,” the president ruminated, without specifying how he thinks borders should otherwise be drawn. “This would be the most incredible country visually.”
Even though Trump seems obsessed with the idea of making Canada a “cherished state,” he also said that the country really has nothing the US needs, which is odd since he’s talking about this hostile takeover a lot.
It should be noted that the president magnanimously added that Canada could keep its national anthem, “but it’ll be for the state,” which could become “maybe our greatest state.”
Again, if some dude wearing a MAGA hat and getting blasted at an airport bar said these things to a Canadian tourist, it would be mildly amusing.
But Trump (we can’t reiterate too often) isn’t a crazy relative, he isn’t some dude on an acid trip, and he isn’t a drunk salesman. He is the president of the United States, which means that he can order an attack on another country.
And then what?
This is a question that a lot of people should be wrangling with — and they better have an answer if this happens.
Now, you may say: “Nobody can be that much of an imbecile,” which would be a fair point… if Trump weren’t that much of an imbecile.
Among those who need to know right now how they would react if that order to mobilize comes are congressional lawmakers (who have the sole power to declare war), military leaders (who can refuse orders if they think they are illegal or unconstitutional), and foreign heads of state (who have to react to this aggression).
Now, we don’t have high hopes for the GOP-controlled Congress to do anything about Trump deciding to attack Greenland or Canada.
We have even lower hopes that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will do anything other than enthusiastically send his “warfighters” into battle. As for the legality of these orders… Well, let’s just say there is a reason why Hegseth fired some of the military’s top lawyers as soon as he took charge of the Pentagon. He also has a history of supporting soldiers accused of committing war crimes, and he isn’t a fan of the constraints that the Geneva Conventions place on US soldiers.
So, even if he is sober, Hegseth is still going to be a rubber stamp.
That leaves Canada’s leadership, European heads of state, and NATO leaders. Are they prepared to act if Trump orders American troops to take Canada (or Greenland) for the glory of his empire?
To their credit, Greenland’s leaders have had it with Trump’s BS. Mute Egede, Greenland’s prime minister, is convening the heads of all parties to address the US president’s latest annexation fantasy and to reject it.
Of course, Greenland isn’t particularly well equipped to deal with American aggression. Fortunately, because it is part of Denmark, Greenland is protected by NATO. As is Canada, of course.
There is no provision in the NATO charter that stipulates what to do if one member state attacks another. And why would that be in there? After all, it would take a complete lunatic to attack an ally who is part of the same defensive alliance.
Well, you may see where the problem is with that line of thinking.
So, what is NATO going to do? Trump has already talked about moving more US troops to Greenland, so the alliance’s top brass should have an answer.
Which brings us back to Rutte, who sat next to the US president when he was fantasizing about increasing the size of his Reich. His response was not encouraging.
“I don’t want to drag NATO into that,” Rutte said when asked about Greenland joining the US, which is a thing Greenland emphatically does not want.
Well, guess what, Mark; NATO will be “dragged into that” one way or another if Trump makes a move, so you better know what that response will look like.
Because, and this is abundantly clear, just because something sounds crazy does not mean that Trump won’t do it.
