Democracy is weakness! Truth is opinion! Justice is optional!
Everyone else views the world the same way I do. It is a feature, not a bug, of men like Donald Trump and minions in his orbit. The world is zero-sum, transactional. For me to win, you must lose. Cooperation is for losers, like sacrificing one’s life to save the world from men like him.
That view is on display this morning in a message Trump sent to the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre (Reuters):
Trump has linked his effort to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought “purely of Peace” as the dispute over the island threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe.
Trump intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark by threatening punitive tariffs on countries which stand in his way, prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures.
Trump’s message begins:
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” Trump finished. Denmark “cannot protect” Greenland from Russia or China, Trump wrote, adding: “Why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago.”
Might Makes Right
Støre confirmed the authenticity of the message in a published statement:
It came in response to a short text message from me to President Trump sent earlier on the same day, on behalf of myself and the President of Finland Alexander Stubb. In our message to Trump we conveyed our opposition to his announced tariff increases against Norway, Finland and select other countries. We pointed to the need to de-escalate and proposed a telephone conversation between Trump, Stubb and myself on the same day. The response from Trump came shortly after the message was sent.
Støre adds (emphasis mine):
‘Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter. We also support that NATO in a responsible way is taking steps to strengthen security and stability in the Arctic. As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to president Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government,’ said the Prime Minister.
But for Trump that last part does not compute. Trump expects independent news networks, universities, D.C. architecture, and culture to reflect his tastes. He expects all to bow to his whims and threats. He views the world through an autocrat’s lens. Ergo, he assumes that things work in countries like Norway the way he now operates the U.S. Leaders dictate decisions like the Nobel Peace Prize. The country, not the independent Nobel Committee is to blame for his snubbing. All of Europe must pay.
Alain Berset, secretary general of the Council of Europe, reacts to Trump’s demands that Denmark surrender Greenland “the easy way” or “the hard way” in the New York Times. Trump’s threats have strained relations with Europe.
The 46-member Council of Europe was born from the ashes of World War II, “founded on the idea that law, not raw power, must guarantee the dignity and rights of individuals and the sovereign equality of states.” Trump threatens that postwar framework:
Democracy, multilateralism and accountability once defined the postwar order. These words are increasingly dismissed as elitist, woke or dead. We need to ask ourselves, on both sides of the Atlantic, if we want to live in a world where democracy is recast as weakness, truth as opinion and justice as an option.
Given how he treats American citizens in Minnesota, Trump is not interested in living in that world. Americans had best decide, and swiftly, if that’s a United States we will accept before Trump has a chance to consolidate totalitarian control. We too must decide if we want to live in a country where democracy is recast as weakness, truth as opinion and justice as an option.
As goes the U.S., so goes the postwar order. Americans once again have a responsibility for protecting the world from men like Trump.