Donald Trump isn’t even in office yet and the stupidity season has already begun | Sydney Blumenthal

DDonald Trump’s stupid season has already caused irreparable damage to U.S. national security. Even though he hasn’t been in office for a while, Trump has made it clear that in his second term the United States will be an unreliable partner, influenced by his personal whims, that he has no respect for historical alliances and disdain rules-based alliances. the international order that the United States has led since the end of World War II to prevent the re-emergence of catastrophic collisions between great powers.

Since his “Merry Christmas everyone” tweet that he wanted to take over the Panama Canal, Canada and Greenland, Trump has not given in to his absurd claims, going so far as to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of Mexico. ‘America. His disregard for the sovereignty of independent nations – including two NATO allies and Panama, a member of the Organization of American States – has undermined the credibility of opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s ambition to take over Taiwan. America’s soft power, ultimately founded on its democratic example and respect for the international order, has been rejected by Trump’s Manifest Destiny fantasy, which is just the latest wrinkle in his isolationism . He’s not really the Rough Rider, if Trump had acted as an agent of Putin or Xi he couldn’t have kowtowed more for their benefit.

Some have suggested that Trump is designing his ridiculous claims to distract from his broken campaign promise to lower prices, which was the central basis of his election. “Inflation will disappear completely,” he promised. He has repeatedly said: “We are going to bring these prices down significantly. » Then, on December 12, he revealed that most of his campaign had been false all along. “It’s hard to knock things out once they’re in place,” he said. “You know, it’s very hard.” He also acknowledged that his tariffs could drive up inflation. “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow. Oh, and, in his only true statement: “Things change.”

One of the changes Trump has made since the election in his endless three-card monte game has been to make Greenland his new border, that of “national security”. In fact, the U.S. military has operated its northernmost base in the Arctic Circle, Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, in Greenland, since 1951, rent-free, in cooperation with our NATO partner.

Some believe that Trump is engaging in the “crazy” theory deliberately staged by Richard Nixon, of intimidating people into accepting his terms, whatever they may be. Still others wonder if this is all performative to entertain its masses with spectacle. His grandeur is certainly a constant expression of his malignant narcissism. Attributing his atavisms of imperialism and brutal customs tariffs to a theoretical exercise in reflection aimed at returning to the 19th century invents an intellectual acuity that does not exist.

On the other hand, it may simply be that Trump is the one likely to repeat half-baked ideas he hears from billionaires richer than him over burnt steak at Mar-a-Lago – in an ear and in his mouth, without mental filtration or reason. then added like ketchup. The idea of ​​buying Greenland, for example, was originally brought to him by Republican Party funder and cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, a prominent art collector, particularly of German art from the period. of Weimar, who should know better than to be so irresponsible as to dangle a shiny object in front of Trump’s hooded eyes. Trump’s latest chief of staff, Susie Wiles, inevitably doomed, will only do her job as manager if she can lock Trump in a silent isolation booth. “God help us,” said former General John Kelly, a former victim in the lineage of his impotent Joint Chiefs of Staff, who ultimately concluded that Trump was instinctively a “fascist,” about from the prospect of a second Trump term.

If Trump’s dream were to actually come true, it would break the country’s political polarization and install Democratic governments for generations. Trump considers Canada, the entire country, to be “the 51st state.” But Canada has 10 provinces and three territories. For Canada to become part of the United States, its Parliament, composed of a Senate and a House of Commons, would have to dissolve its federal nation. It would also have to end its ties with the Commonwealth of Nations, made up of 56 independent countries which were British colonies still linked by economic and political cooperation. Canada could forego leaving the Commonwealth if, as the price of entry into the United States, the United States, as a former colony, joins. But that would require a constitutional amendment to recognize King Charles III as head of the Commonwealth and a de facto rejection of the Declaration of Independence.

Canada’s admission to the United States would be accompanied by at least 10 new states. That would mean the Senate would add 20 new members and the House of Representatives about 57. In short, Congress would become reliably Democratic by an insurmountable margin well into the distant future. National health care the Canadian way would be one of the first items on the agenda.

Trump is by far the most unpopular public figure in Canada. If Canadians had been allowed to vote in the 2024 election, Harris would have beaten him by a 3-to-1 margin, according to a Canadian poll.

Only 13 percent of Canadians want to be part of Trump’s United States. Another poll showed that the news that makes the majority “the angriest” concerns Trump’s election victory and his proposed tariffs.

If Trump somehow annexed Greenland, a self-governing, self-governing part of Denmark, would it become a state? And why not? With a population of 56,000, the disparity factor compared to Wyoming, which has approximately 584,000 residents, is only 10 times smaller, while Wyoming’s population is 66 times smaller than California’s, while it still has two senators and one representative. Could admission as a state of the District of Columbia, whose population is about one-fifth larger than Wyoming’s, continue to be blocked? This would add two additional Democratic senators and one representative.

The state of Greenland would naturally increase Democratic majorities. Prime Minister Mute Egede, also head of the Inuit Party, is a socialist from the European social democratic tradition. The Inuit tribe makes up the majority of Greenland’s population. Egede favors full independence for Greenland. In the face of Trump’s bluster, Egede took a political approach. Its government issued a calming statement: “Greenland looks forward to working with the new US administration and other NATO allies to ensure security and stability in the Arctic region. »

The Greenlandic leader’s tone contrasts sharply not only with that of Trump, but also with that of Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who tweeted an outburst of chauvinism on January 8: “Our country was built by warriors and explorers. We tamed the West, won two world wars and were the first to plant our flag on the moon. President Trump has the biggest dreams for America and it is un-American to be afraid of big dreams.” This compressed historical illiteracy, culminating in the seizure of Canada and Greenland and castigating criticism as treason, was too embarrassing even for House Republicans, who deleted the tweet shortly after it was posted.

Trump’s escapade to Canada and Greenland is a reverse twist on the plot of the 1959 satirical film, The mouse that roaredwith Peter Sellers. In this zany comedy, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick declares war on the United States in order to receive their generous financial support. Through a series of ridiculous circumstances, the Duchy gains control of a doomsday bomb, the Q Bomb, becomes the greatest power in the world, and the superpowers disarm their nuclear weapons. The bomb is actually just a dud, but that is being kept secret.

Peter Sellers plays Duchess Gloriana XII, Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy and General Tully Bascombe. Unfortunately, Sellers, who died in 1980, is unavailable to play three of Trump’s cabinet nominees.