By now you have probably heard all about how Donald Trump wanted to buy Greenland. It’s a preposterous idea, and only believable because of how preposterous Donald Trump is. Trump was scheduled to travel to Copenhagen at the beginning of September, but Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters that “Greenland is not for sale. I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously.” She added that the idea was absurd, attempting to give president Trump the benefit of the doubt, saying, “Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there." But the Donald didn’t “leave it there.” He decided to tweet out his new foreign policy plan.
I’m sure our country’s Secret Service, which preps for weeks in advance of presidential visits, is happy to know the white supremacist in chief is such a thin-skinned idiot. Danish lawmakers were vocal about their disappointment in Trump, telling reporters that this whole public relations disaster showed that Trump “lacks even basic diplomatic skills.”
It was suggested that the Greenland kerfuffle might just be one of Trump’s distraction techniques—a sideshow to redirect attention away from his more insidious anti-Semitic statements over the past few days. You know, the ones where he called the overwhelming majority of Jewish Americans “disloyal.” But, as some reporters have pointed out, there is another possibility: Trump is terrified of President Barack Obama.
President Barack Obama is well liked by many, not only in America but abroad. Obama came into office with the dual purpose of fixing the Republican messes in our economy at home, as well as the perception of America abroad due to Republican chicken-hawk illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, a new Republican is in office, highlighting just how much nicer it was to have an actual intelligent American president who could comport himself like a person. Maybe Trump simply wanted to talk with them to get his buddy Vladimir Putin back into the G7 (making it a G8). But it turns out that while President Trump was planning his visit to Denmark, President Obama was also planning on visiting the Danes at the end of September.
Did Donald Trump want to buy Greenland? Was that the only reason he was going to visit Copenhagen? Maybe Donald Trump and his small hands, his obviously paper-thin orange skin, and look-at-me hair were supposed to visit one of our allies at a time when discussions of trade and defense in the Arctic region of the planet are a top priority for many in our business and military communities. Maybe it was the idea that whatever disaster he kicked off would be compared to the Obamas’ triumphant return to the country after a couple of years out of office? As The Local reports, Danes give out quotes like, “President Obama is one of the people I look up to most in the world, so I’m hugely looking forward to meeting him.” Meanwhile, Trump visits elicit news stories about protesters and blimps that look like Donald Trump in a diaper.
It is probably more than just that. It might be due to someone like adviser Stephen Miller telling him that being pictured with all of these “globalists” that Q-Anon conspiracy theorists love wouldn’t be good optics for Trump going into his election year. But our current president is someone who … says he canceled a trip to an ally because they weren’t interested in a made-up, ridiculous idea that no one would conceive of—at least not outside of a bad science fiction novel.