Jim Geraghty of National Review Online examines President Donald Trump’s recent text to the leader of Norway explaining plans to target Greenland.
Oh, where to begin? The president’s diatribe is unhinged, false, or bonkers in at least ten ways.
One: The Norwegian government does not award the Nobel Peace Prize; the Nobel committee does; its members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament; current members of the Norwegian government or parliament are barred from serving on the committee.
Two: The nomination deadline for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was January 31, 2025. Even if you think Trump’s accomplishments in his first year warrant him receiving a Nobel Peace Prize, he had only been in office for eleven days when the nomination deadline passed. (Yes, Barack Obama was named the winner in 2009, in a move that was widely seen as an embarrassment for everyone involved. Then–White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel chewed out the Norweigan ambassador over it.)
Three: Trump has not “stopped 8 wars plus.” Let’s give him credit for Israel and Hamas, and Israel and Iran. Everything else is an exaggeration, either about the intensity of the conflict or the U.S. role in ameliorating it. Trump’s persistent boast that he ended the shooting war between India and Pakistan is a serious, and entirely unnecessary, irritant to the Indian government.
Four: When Trump writes, “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,” that country won’t have to protect Greenland alone, so long as Denmark is a member of NATO. If Russia or China were to attack Greenland, the United States would be treaty-bound to help defend it and repel the invaders.
Five: Despite what the president claims, there are indeed written documents affirming Danish sovereignty over Greenland.
In 1916, the U.S. government formally recognized Greenland as Danish territory. …
