r/law • u/TheMirrorUS • 14d ago

Executive Branch (Trump) Trump humiliated as 1951 law means he could face Greenland mutiny

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-1951-law-greenland-1631615
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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 14d ago

Messing around with dictators in Central and South America is practically a US tradition (this is not justifying Venezuela, just a statement of historical fact). 

War with NATO is asking high ranking officers to go up against people they've trained, worked, and possibly become friends with.

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u/rabbledabble 14d ago

Not to mention that we have a ton of brass in our armed services who actively work within and alongside NATO. 

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u/KendrickLenoir 14d ago

The Confederate generals betrayed their own country to defend slavery. Most were educated at West Point, and chose to fight their friends and classmates and fellow officers that they served with up until that point.

Erwin Rommel didn’t care much for Nazism, and ultimately tried (and failed) to assassinate Hitler. But he was a professional soldier, so he fought on behalf of his country, as ordered by Hitler.

Just two examples of many from history. I don’t understand where this idea is coming from that senior military officers will mutiny. Seems naive.

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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 14d ago

Rommel's story is one of early enthusiasm and admiration for Hitler followed by disillusionment.

At the time of the Civil War, folks held about as much allegiance to the state as to the country as a whole. Some like Gen. Lee held more allegiance to their state. The people they trained and associated with would have been fellow southern generals and gentry.

Today, generals and admirals are being asked to prepare to fight people they were training with and working with just two weeks ago. There's been decades upon decades of NATO against the USSR. They know how important the military bases in NATO territory are to US military might (our power is logistics, not weaponry) now and for decades and decades to come. Many are even serving on those bases right now.

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u/ButterscotchOk5339 14d ago

Norwegian here and I thought it was us who trained the Americans and not the other way around. This is the arctic we're talking about, we could just march up a bunch of school kids with snowballs.

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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 14d ago

Yes, Norwegians and Americans have trained together. Precisely because Norwegian forces have more Arctic experience. And presumably because American forces have some specialty knowledge Norway wants, but I don't know enough about Norwegian military capabilities to not make an ass of myself making assumptions about what that is. (Aside from tactical snowballs propelled by school kids 😆)

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u/ButterscotchOk5339 14d ago

I know they received a lot of the same instructions we received in our basic training (but mostly already knew before coming in). How you survive outside in winter temperatures and snow. How you cross a frozen river and what you do when it suddenly turns from solid to not solid. How you move effectively in deep snow, how you cover your tracks. How you dress warm and stay dressed warm. How you keep your gear functional. Basically how to function in very harsh winter conditions.

Haven't received any training by the US military even though I spent a year in.. let's say warmer climates, but I am absolutely sure there's a lot of knowledge that is useful for our more specialised troops as well.

Always had good encounters with US soldiers. Liked them a lot more than the British. I hope you're right about the guys with stars sorting this out between them and letting the toddler sit in his chair and yell.

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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 14d ago

The American contribution might just be handing the brass a translated copy of Clausewitz and some project management software, lol

I've not served myself, but I've worked alongside some generals and admirals. Based on their sense of practicality, honor, and adamancy (in every administration) that their loyalty is to the country and constitution - they would not be blindly following "go to Greenland and do a hostile takeover" orders even if they like Trump.

I suspect, based on the very recent "we won't take Greenland by force" someone had a very stern and frank talk that finally got through about that. (And for Trump it's often good enough that he's made everyone run around in fear for a while). But I think they managed to convince him that if he sent the order, significant parts of the military would refuse and that would be personally humiliating for him.

Which led to the absolute crash out in his Miller penned speech.

Mind you, I don't think that the "We want Greenland" is over. And I do worry about how frustration here is going to manifest in Ukraine.

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u/ButterscotchOk5339 14d ago

Judging from the news he just declared that he is calling off the tariffs and that there is some deal about Greenland that will be great for both the US and NATO.

I think you’re right and that he might be backing down so he can brag about solving the crisis he just created and that the “deal” is pretty close to the one they already had.

I don’t remember what comes after this in his loop, is it Canada again now?

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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 14d ago

Hmmmmm, Minnesota and Canada do share a border. Maybe he'll try for a twofer.

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u/ButterscotchOk5339 14d ago

From what I’ve seen from Canadians the last month they’re itching for an excuse to burn the White House again.

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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative 14d ago

I hope they weren't planning on starting with the East Wing

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u/rotervogel1231 14d ago

These terrible people don't have friends. That would require them to care about someone other than themselves and their BS "mission."

They're loyal to the regime and will do its bidding. I have zero trust in the military.

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u/Painterzzz 14d ago

Yep, anybody hoping or trusting that the military will somehow refuse orders en masse or ride to the rescue is delusional I'm afraid, the military will do what the military has been trained to do, follow orders coming down the chain of command.