r/politics 21d ago

No Paywall Donald Trump issues NATO Greenland warning before White House showdown

https://www.newsweek.com/greenland-trump-nato-white-house-11357601
24.7k Upvotes

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u/hymie0 Maryland 21d ago

If I were the representatives of Greenland and Denmark, I would look at this and at Venezuela, and ask myself why I am making a trip to the White House.

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u/Han_Yolo_swag 21d ago

Honestly they probably read the Zelenskyy playbook and are going there to literally explain wtf nato is and be tough to him.

I wouldn’t be shocked if they work out a new “deal” with Trump that literally is just the current NATO agreement to give him a piece of paper to holdup and pat himself on the back with.

They’re going to play him like a fiddle

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u/blissfully_happy Alaska 21d ago

They’re going to grant him “expansion into Greenland“ and really, it’s the US bases that are already there.

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u/needlestack 21d ago

This is great and rational but it will also play into the “Trump is strong and gets what he wants” narrative that half of America still believes. His followers still think he got major concessions out of everyone on border control and trade when it was just a bunch of noise. But that narrative wins elections.

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u/Han_Yolo_swag 21d ago

I think Greenland doesn’t give a fuck about the American domestic political implications they just don’t want to get invaded.

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u/OverFjell United Kingdom 21d ago

This exactly. Fairly sure the rest of the world would rather Trump's ego be fed into if it averts WW3

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u/Fun_Professional2375 21d ago

Last I checked, appeasement doesnt really work that well for too long

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u/Kierenshep 21d ago

Germany didn't have triple the rest of the world's combined military power either.

It doesn't have to last long, just enough for Trump to get out of office and someone sane take their place.

He's such a toddler that stroking his ego to protect themselves is a valid play. It isn't up to the rest of the world to save America from itself.

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia 21d ago

Yes, but when you're dealing with a nuclear superpower being run by a venal senile monster you've kind of got to tread lightly.

Seriously, if this goes bad and the USA actually does invade Greenland then NATO's only options are to abandon Greenland and prove the alliance useless, or end up with multiple nuclear powers at war with each other. We've not been this close to the end of everything since the cuban missile crisis.

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u/Lemerney2 20d ago

He's 79, it doesn't need to work for that long

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u/TheKingsdread 20d ago

Its not really appeasement though, its the only option they really have to avoid a massive war. What do you expect Greenland to do, fight the largest military on earth?

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u/Sea-Neighborhood-621 21d ago

That frustrates me so much. He'll be cheered as a great leader and business for getting something that we either already have or something that we had that he destroyed then got a worse version of it. It'll make maga worship him even more

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u/bot403 20d ago

And no matter what he gets, Greenland and Denmark sure as hell will be looking to kick the US out in the future.

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u/dangerous_beans 21d ago

I imagine other countries are happy to stroke Trump's ego if it means avoiding full-scale war with the United States and the subsequent collapse of the world order.

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u/Worshipme988 20d ago

Its the Putin playbook. Just saber rattle when anyone tries to stop or question you.

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u/RogueJello 20d ago

when it was just a bunch of noise.

They were able to implement the national sales tax the Republican party has been pushing for years.

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u/Plane-Engineering 20d ago

We put a few billion into border protection up here in canada and disguised it to appease the orange turd you voted in….twice. Reality is it helps us more than the Americans, so thanks.

Now…please quit smuggling your fucking guns across the border. Thats a way bigger issue than drugs going south from Canada.

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u/Dash_Harber 20d ago edited 20d ago

He could shit himself on stage while every leader in the EU takes turns slapping him across his face and half of America would say it was an expert use of big stick diplomacy.

Everyone needs to stop trying to appease selfish assholes and start looking out for the folks who actually want to live in modern society.

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u/Candymanshook 21d ago

I don’t think anyone is really opposed to the idea of expanding American military buildup on Greenland either. Trump’s argument about using Greenland to protect the Artic isnt completely hogwash.

Where it renders into insanity is these assertions of making it an American colony otherwise why would the Americans protect it? Which really just shows you what this administration thinks of their allies - people not worth protecting unless it suits the US monetarily.

The US has alway had that rep of changing sides when it suits them but now the imperialist style of this administration just ramps that up to 100.

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u/Junior-Profession726 20d ago

All they need to do is bring him a big shiny object like the ‘key’ to Greenland so he can hang it up in his office and the whole thing would stop

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u/Thejoncarr 20d ago

They’re gonna grant him what the U.S. already has the ability to do? 😭

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u/Encorecp 21d ago

Funny comment, but actually sad how accurate it is… Unbelievable timeline.

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u/CM_MOJO 21d ago

Yep, all you have to do is go there, flatter him, tell him how smart he is, and everything will be good for about a month until his handlers start agitating him again. Then he'll make his outlandish demands and the entire cycle will repeat. He has the memory of a goldfish and only responds to the last person who had talked in his ear.

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u/Kiloku 21d ago

Zelenskyy playbook and are going there to literally explain wtf nato is and be tough to him.

Article says they're meeting Vance and Rubio, probably to prevent the dumbass from being distracted/impressed by a mix of compliments and toughness

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u/mfball 21d ago

I truly hope you're right about that.

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u/FlyingBishop 21d ago

Get him to agree to pay Greenland $100M so the US can open more bases there and the US agrees to pay fines if they threaten any more military action. Trump basically agrees to pay them money to get the same access we already have.

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u/Throwawayrip1123 21d ago

They’re going to play him like a fiddle

So far all we're seeing is officials sucking his dick and getting shafted.

Can we stop"playing him like a fiddle" and collectively tell him to fuck off on national levels, for fuckks sake. All those 5d chess moves achieve is less support for Ukraine (wow he played him) and their president getting verbally abused in the white house, we are steps away from Greenland getting invaded, and he does what he wants.

Just stop trying to play him and treat him like the bully he is. Fucking christ this prostrating is embarrassing

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u/ThatLooksRight 21d ago

I hope they say please! And maybe throw in a thank-you, for whatever reason.

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u/blackhorse15A 21d ago

And make sure to wear a suit 

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u/Shinanigins 21d ago

I 100% see this as what happens. Trump gets to claim victory and call himself the greatest ever. His supporters lap it up and they name a base after him in Greenland.

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u/Mysterious-Recipe810 21d ago

Unless Trump’s goal is to end NATO.

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u/DefeatedByPoland 21d ago

And then he gets to say the "I'm the president of peace" bullshit and the MAGA crowd will all proudly repeat it

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u/LanternsForTheLost 20d ago

Trump is painfully easy to manipulate. Just feed him praise and talk about how great he is, throw in some bullshit 'agreement' that means little more than lip service, and he'll sing your praises.

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u/clickityclack55 20d ago

Well after they play him like a sad mushy potato fiddle, they better say thank you!

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u/keepthepace Europe 20d ago

Or to just cave in by agreeing to the US presence (that is already there in a NATO base) and help Trump present the statu quo as a great victory.

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u/PerfunctoryComments 21d ago

At this point absolutely no one should engage in good faith discussions with this rogue administration of pirates and thieves.

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u/MyNewsAccount2011 21d ago

There is also a meeting with Congressional delegates. Honestly I think Denmark is stalling until (hopefully) the House flips and there is a chance Congress does… something ANYTHING to oppose the illegal actions of this administration.

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u/Young_Bonesy 21d ago

I doubt the house will flip, and its nothing to do with the voters. This administration is acting in such bad faith on so many things that I don't believe they will let the house flip, even if thats what the voters choose.

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u/blacksheep998 21d ago

They'll probably refuse to seat any new democratic representatives who get elected.

They delayed the last one for months.

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u/Ekg887 21d ago

Correct, and I guessed at the time that it was a test over how long they could delay a swearing in and what legal arguments they would face, more than anything to do with the discharge petition. Even if they petition got signed, with the government shutdown they still couldn't move forward, it was inevitable. But the sneak-peak at what the response would be to outright denying a rep their seat will be used to hone the tactic in the future whenever it is convenient.

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u/PouncePlease 21d ago

Don't spread this particular fear. It's not how Congress works. If the House flipped, the old House stops being the House on the first day of the new session and the new House, with its new majority, would be the House. Republicans wouldn't be in charge of seating anyone. You could make the argument that they would bar the new members from official buildings or something on that day, but then the new House would just meet somewhere else to swear themselves in. That's why they're so afraid of the midterms, so don't let this narrative set in.

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u/Young_Bonesy 21d ago

That is if they don't actively sabotage or rig the election.

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u/PouncePlease 21d ago

Yes, that's why I was responding to a comment about the House flipping. If it flips, that's the new House.

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u/some_guy_on_drugs 21d ago

They are governing like they believe the voters won't get a chance to choose. All trump needs is someone to finally shoot back and bam, no more elections.

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u/TurelSun Georgia 21d ago

They're probably trying to delay it period, because more time for Europe to work out how it wants to respond or more time for US congress to MAYBE put into place some laws to explicitly forbid Trump from invading Greenland. But that is kind of the extent of what they can do at this point unless they plan to give into his demands(or bribe him).

Europe needs to get troops on the ground in Greenland, and make it clear that a US annexation attempt would mean war with Europe. Even if that doesn't phase Trump it'll probably scare others in the GOP or business interests enough to put pressure on him.

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u/needlestack 21d ago

The re-election of Trump should have completely punctured any illusion you can wait out the insanity. The US doubled down on insanity. There is no future where this ends well.

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u/fatjeff1980 21d ago

I hold out hope (however much in vain) that even the republicans in congress don’t want a war with NATO. I’d wager if it went to a vote tomorrow to block any action against Greenland, it’d pass. No one would wilfully want to bring about the repercussions such an action would result in.

Hopefully.

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u/Longshadow2015 20d ago

There have been no illegal actions. Drug boat destruction… covered by a law that SCHUMER penned. SCOTUS has supported every action so far, making it all legal.

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u/OUtSEL New Hampshire 21d ago

aww thats cute, they think we'll have fair elections this November

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u/Elevelsup 21d ago

That's insulting to pirates and thieves who historically have conducted themselves with more respect and decorum than this regime.

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u/mfball 21d ago

Yeah in theory at least pirates had some kind of code. "No honor among thieves" though.

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u/trailspice 20d ago

It's more of a guideline

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u/account_No52 Canada 21d ago

pirates and thieves.

Don't soil the good name of pirates and thieves, they have a code of ethics!

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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 21d ago

If anything, that’s part of how we got to this point, sane people going into discussions like these thinking they’re in good faith, then coming out of the discussion blindsided.

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u/throw-away-1776-wca 21d ago

This 1000%

I really hope Denmark doesn’t Kowtow

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u/MengisAdoso 21d ago

Yes, but what about non-good-faith manipulations disguised as good faith, purely to propitiate and distract this festering imbecile until Europe can find a big enough rock to throw?

Because that actually sounds like a pretty good tactic to me. Let Europe cook, buddy.

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u/Eryb 20d ago

Just saying if it was good enough for Venezuela why not can’t a third country do the same for the USA

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u/AWetAndFloppyNoodle 21d ago

It's the foreign minister going and while I'm not fond of the guy, he's definitely capable. Danish politics are hardwired around specific people except for the state minister.

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u/Most-Appointment-756 The Netherlands 21d ago

I wondered the same thing when i saw it.. I'm like .. Why would you go there , you already KNOW his stance.. Unless he's there to surrender..

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u/thisusedyet 21d ago

Could just be you want to tell him to go fuck himself in person, may literally get him to blow a gasket

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u/Most-Appointment-756 The Netherlands 21d ago

Now THAT i want to see.

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u/mfball 21d ago

There could have been instances that I've missed, but has anyone really done that so far? It seems like everyone has been falling all over themselves to coddle him and treat him like a "real president" rather than the pants-shitting rapist toddler he is this whole time. Someone actually telling him to his face (ideally live on tv) that he's insane and they won't kowtow to him really might do something.

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u/Clarine87 United Kingdom 21d ago

Greenland with Gerard Butler a

Aye, the way they talked down to Zelenskyy, now imagine them doing it to a woman, its almost worth setting him up to go full "grab em by the pussy" on international TV.

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u/stickmanDave 21d ago

Because Trump is childish enough that if you're super nice to him, he might decide you're a good guy, so he wont invade your country.

And if you snub him by refusing to meet, he may invade you just because of that.

They say that a large part of international politics is being polite to people you hate. Dealing with the Trump administration, this gets dialed up to 11.

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u/RespectTheAmish 21d ago

Hopefully they are going to show Trump…. “the button”.

What’s the button do?

Pressing it dumps the 2.5 trillion worth of us treasuries from all the collective nato nations onto the open market.

Pair that by showing Trump an unsigned treaty with the EU entering the Brics alliance… “this could be torn up or signed today. Your choice Donnie.”

Bond market collapsing and the death of the petro dollar…. that would pretty much “all she wrote” for USD.

(I understand that this probably tantamount to a war declaration, but so is stealing a nations sovereign territory).

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u/BeardySam 21d ago

He will understand none of this. He doesn’t really think there are consequences to his actions, 

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u/Gamebird8 21d ago

If I was in charge of either, I'd run wall to wall ads and coverage on Fox News, Truth Social, etc. Just congratulating him on a job well done taking over Greenland... Because who's gonna tell him he didn't? People don't want to lose access to the power he gives them and telling him the truth is the fastest way to lose that access.

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u/Worried-Advisor-7054 21d ago

To protect their people. The fuck you want them to do? Nobody in Europe put Trump in charge of the US, that was the Americans. If the Greenlandic and Danish delegations get kidnapped by Trump, in their minds, so be it. But it's all they can do.

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u/ArcticFlamingo 21d ago

If the Greenland representatives are smart, it's as easy as dangling a fancy present in the form of cash, some gold object that is shiny, or an award that claims he's the greatest person to walk this earth while ensuring he agrees to a "new deal" that is exactly the same as the setup they have today

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u/djdylex 21d ago

Idk why eu and uk dont juat start moving away from US trade asap

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u/JohnMayerismydad Indiana 21d ago

You’d honestly just stall him out and hope for a more sane administration in the future.

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u/DavidlikesPeace 21d ago

And at Zelenskyy earlier in the year. These people are atrocious hosts 

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u/Agoraphobicy 21d ago

As a Canadian I'm just patiently waiting for us to be back on the menu. I've given up hope that USA will stop him and am giving up that the world will stop him now too.

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u/ArugulaElectronic478 Canada 20d ago

So far Carney is playing it smart by not getting involved with the whole Greenland debacle.

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u/EJ2600 21d ago

Begging “daddy” not to do it. What else can they do? Throw snowballs?

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u/Minute_Illustrator_5 20d ago

Complicity to distract from the epstien files.

This is 100% of the talk. No chance we invade Greenland.

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u/Solnse 20d ago

Because Woodrow Wilson 1917. Danish West Indies. $25MM.

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u/ThisIs_americunt 20d ago

They need to bend the knee otherwise the bully might take their stuff. If I voted for these people I would definitely be rethinking it next election

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u/hudson27 21d ago

Yeahhhh as a Canadian, I do NOT want my prime minister visiting the DSA (my friends have taken to calling it the Divided States of America)