Trump's Davos Dump

Photo credit: Elon Musk.

As it absorbs the scene from Davos yesterday, the world seems to be asking two questions: “What is wrong with Donald Trump?” And, “What is wrong with America?”

These are not, of course new questions, but they seem to take up a new urgency as the President of the United States, the Puissant Leader of the Most Powerful Nation on Earth, the Former Leader of the Free World, the Successor of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR, and winner of the FIFA Peace Prize, took to the global stage, stood before a nervously waiting world, and dumped upon it a load of steaming bollocks.¹

“Where does one start in summarizing such a speech?” asks the Atlantic’s David Graham. “The straightforward racism? The economic illiteracy? The determination to alienate allies? The many moments where the president said things that were blatantly, provably false?”

Tragically, we have no H.L Mencken, or Twain, or Orwell, to chronicle the fiasco. But, because God loves us despite our sins, we have Matt Labash, who leaves this account for (our utterly amazed) posterity.

Evidencing all the deflated charisma of a sack of laundry — one that looks like it had been smeared in orange pancake makeup applied by a paint roller — Trump’s manner suggested to the rest of the world, which he seems to think exists solely to field and react to his whims, that they should be grateful he’s decided not to start a war of aggression against a harmless island, or to blow apart a 76-year-old NATO alliance, or to destabilize the international order.

I swear I could see people checking their phones, looking for Google translations of how to say “f-ck you very much” in Greenlandic. (It’s “illit assut fucke,” for the record.)

Of course Trump suggesting he wouldn’t invade Greenland is one of the only semi-sane things he said in his near hour-and-a-half-long Dadaist ramble. Maybe he’ll even stick by it, though he changes his mind as often as he changes his Depends, even if they have not yet invented the adult diaper that protects us from Trump’s incontinence of the brain, forever spraying shit upon the world.

Please subscribe to Matt to read the whole thing. Happy Thursday.

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Trump’s TACO: Invasion out (for now). Coercion is not.

Michael Sellers puts Trump’s latest pivot on Greenland in perspective: Trump seemed to rule out a military invasion, but (1) he hasn’t changed his goal of swallowing Greenland, and (2) is still threatening European allies.

“People thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.,” Trump said.

But the read rest too:

“I’m seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland,” he told world leaders, arguing that only the U.S. could secure the island and that discussions should begin now. “Only the U.S. was capable of securing Greenland,” he said, framing its acquisition as a strategic necessity.

He even warned, “You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and we will remember,” underscoring that opposition would not be forgotten.

Notes Sellers:

The message was clear: the objective stands; the method changes.

In place of force, Trump emphasized pressure: negotiations framed as unavoidable, alliance expectations framed as obligations, and the implicit availability of economic or political leverage. The reassurance was tactical, not structural.

This matters because inside alliances, the line between persuasion and coercion is not cosmetic. It is foundational.

BUT…

Meanwhile, Our Message to Denmark:

This will air in Denmark next week: “To the people of Denmark: millions of Americans will stand in the way of any attempt to seize what is not ours.”

The New Times/Siena Poll

More bad news for the sundowning Donald: “Few Voters Say Trump’s Second Term Has Made the Country Better, Poll Finds” - The New York Times

Less than a third of voters think the country is better off than it was when President Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with a wide majority saying he has focused on the wrong issues, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Siena University.

A majority of voters disapprove of how Mr. Trump has handled top issues including the economy, immigration, the war between Russia and Ukraine and his actions in Venezuela. And significantly, a majority of Americans, 51 percent, said that Mr. Trump’s policies had made life less affordable for them.

All told, 49 percent of voters said the country was worse off than a year ago, compared with 32 percent who said it was better.

Exit take: I doubt that an invasion of Greenland would have improved his numbers.

Today’s podcast

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Thursday dogs

Moses and Auggie from the 2019 polar vortex.

Flashback: Old Pete always knew how to dress for the cold weather.

1. Andrew Sullivan shares this bit of presidential rhetoric:

“When they go out into those boats, they want to take over a billion and a half dollar tanker, load it up with oil, and they say, “We’re going to blow up your boat, they have powerful weapons.” You hit the side of the boat, you blow the whole thing up. The insurance companies are petrified, so they say, “Just give them the boat, we’ll give them money instead.” And I don’t do that. We blow them right to hell out of the water. We see them going out, we blow them out of the water. We don’t have any pirates so much anymore. We do. They won’t be there long. We’ve cut down with the hitting of the boats that are loaded up with drugs, including submarines. Can you believe they actually buy some, they call mini subs. very fast. They’re meant for drugs. We’ve knocked out to them the Democrats. They were fishing. You have ruined somebody’s fishing. We can’t, I would say, a submarine is not a fishing boat. You don’t fish. But we’ve knocked down drugs by water. The oceans, the sea, by 97.2%.”

Comments Sullivan: “He’s out of his mind. And it’s getting worse by the day. Impeach of or remove.”