{"id":160955,"date":"2026-01-17T12:22:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=160955"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:22:44","slug":"greenland-has-become-emblematic-of-the-trump-regimes-sickness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/17\/greenland-has-become-emblematic-of-the-trump-regimes-sickness.html","title":{"rendered":"Greenland has become emblematic of the Trump Regime’s sickness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something that started as a “ha ha, doesn’t he say the darnedest things?” moment years ago — the idea of the US taking over Greenland — is becoming more and more a sign of how out-of-control and downright un-American Donald Trump and his coterie of yes-men and evil genius-wannabes have become.<\/p>\n

Let’s start here:<\/p>\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don\u2019t back US controlling Greenland<\/div>
resident Donald Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don\u2019t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.<\/div>
www.stripes.com\/theaters\/us\/2026-01-17\/trump-threatens-tariffs-us-control-greenland-20432348.html<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Trump is a bully. If he has power over you, he will wield it. If he thinks bribes will work, he’ll offer them. If he thinks threats will work, he’ll instantly pivot and issue them.\u00a0 There is no principle involved, except for force.<\/p>\n

Here we see the next step.\u00a0 First he muses out loud about what shiny thing he’d like to have. Then he says he hopes someone will give it to him. Then he starts issuing threats.<\/p>\n

Trump loves tariffs (so far — there’s a vague chance that SCOTUS might actually grow a pair and say that his arbitrary imposition of them is illegal, but we’ll see). The (appear, to him) to give him money, and it lets him punish people by taking their money, so it’s a win-win for him.<\/p>\n

There’s a significant escalation, of course, between tariffs as a means of balancing asserted economic imbalances, and tariffs as a coercion to back his latest whims.<\/p>\n

Trump doesn’t care. Either he’ll get what he wants (support for absconding with Greenland), or he’ll get (as he sees it) a bunch more money, punish those who didn’t say nice things about his policy,\u00a0and<\/em> still move forward to abscond with Greenland.<\/p>\n

If he can do it, he will. If he can’t — well, who’s ever to say he can’t?<\/p>\n

Which brings us next to this little gem.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Miller amid Greenland push: Nations not entitled to territories \u2018they cannot defend\u2019<\/div>
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Friday doubled down on the Trump administration\u2019s argument that acquiring Greenland is \u201cessential\u201d for U.S. national security.<\/div>
thehill.com\/policy\/international\/5694105-stephen-miller-greenland-acquisition-defense\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Stephen Miller is sort of the eminence grise<\/em> of the Trump Regime — or maybe its toxic dump, always lurking in the background and leaching poisons into the surrounding land and water. Trump listens to what he has to say to an appalling degree.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/a>
He practices this expression in the mirror, I suspect.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this case, he clearly expounds on his guiding principle which lines up perfectly with his boss:\u00a0 If we can take it, we will take it, and, in fact, we should take it.\u00a0<\/em>Or, framed another way,\u00a0Might Makes Right.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, I am not so naive as to think that this attitude is not unique to Miller, or to this moment in American history.\u00a0 The US has always had voices whispering, “Take it! Do it! You’re powerful! You’re proud! It should be yours! Take it!”<\/p>\n

But, at the very least, Miller, and Trump, and the rest of the gang of imperialists, have shifted to saying the quiet part out loud.\u00a0If we want it, we can take it. If we can take it, we should take it.<\/em><\/p>\n

He added that because Denmark \u201ccannot defend\u201d Greenland, citing weaknesses in their military and economy, that it should not have claims to the land.\u00a0\u201cTo control a territory, you have to be able to defend a territory, improve a territory, inhabit a territory,\u201d Miller said. \u201cDenmark has failed at every single one of these tests.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If a land is not covered with mines and factories and highways, clearly it’s being neglected, and therefore should be taken.<\/p>\n

If a land is not bristling with fortresses and air bases, clearly it’s not being defended, and therefore should be taken.<\/p>\n

(Never mind that Greenland has existed in its current state for many, many decades, and during much warmer conflict between the US and the Soviet Union, and yet was never invaded by the Russians, nor annexed by the US. We had more military bases there — but, remarkably, that’s not currently seen as an option now.)<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s political adviser claimed the U.S. was already on the hook to spend \u201chundreds of billions of dollars\u201d to defend Denmark as a NATO ally.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a raw deal, it\u2019s an unfair deal, and most importantly, it\u2019s unfair to the American taxpayer, who has subsidized all of Europe\u2019s defense for generations now,\u201d he told \u201cHannity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If we do something for them, they are morally obligated to give us stuff.<\/em> Which is a remarkable moral stance as well.<\/p>\n

But this is how the US government — at least the Unitary Executive — works. Kindness, compassion, even fairness — those are for wusses. Only force<\/em> — threatened, then used — garners respect and obedience and profit. Why should respect and obedience and profit be given? Because we say so.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bullying is not an uncommon human trait, sadly enough. The difference here is that the bullies themselves are asserting it as a moral imperative. They have (as they have demonstrated clearly over the last decade-plus) no shame. They will baldly point the gun, say\u00a0hand me your wallet,<\/em> take it, and laugh.<\/p>\n

It certainly plays well with the\u00a0The US is the greatest country on Earth, so we should be in charge<\/em> crowd of jingoists that we always seem to be afflicted with — and who never question what “greatest” means beyond just “powerful”? The questions before us are, will everyone else actually recognize the dangers of the Regime’s actions and motivations … and will we actually get a chance to correct it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When bullying is presented as, not just okay, but a moral imperative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,349,380,358,1071],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha","category-military","category-nationalism-exceptionalism","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Stephen-Miller-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":160938,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/14\/greenland-trump-and-backing-oneself-into-a-corner.html","url_meta":{"origin":160955,"position":0},"title":"Greenland, Trump, and Backing Oneself into a Corner","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Jan-26 10:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"The whole quixotic effort to annex Greenland is gonzo -- but that doesn't mean it won't happen.","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":160909,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/07\/national-security-or-financial-security.html","url_meta":{"origin":160955,"position":1},"title":"National Security? Or Financial Security?","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 7-Jan-26 9:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"It sure sounds like Greenland is in the crosshairs because there's a lot of money to be made there.","rel":"","context":"In "Climate Change \/ Weather \/ Disasters"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Change \/ Weather \/ Disasters","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science\/weather-and-climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":160865,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/04\/the-mafioso-foreign-policy.html","url_meta":{"origin":160955,"position":2},"title":"The Mafioso Foreign Policy","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Jan-26 3:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Nice country you got there. Shame if you forced us to kidnap your head of state.\"","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-and-Co-2026-01.webp?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":160960,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/19\/the-toddler-in-chief.html","url_meta":{"origin":160955,"position":3},"title":"The Toddler-in-Chief","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 19-Jan-26 12:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Watching a toddler throw a tantrum is sometimes amusing, often aggravating. When the toddler controls a massive military, it becomes terrifying","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trump 2026-01","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01-b.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01-b.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01-b.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Trump-2026-01-b.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":160901,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2026\/01\/06\/no-hemispheres-for-old-men.html","url_meta":{"origin":160955,"position":4},"title":"No Hemispheres for Old Men","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 6-Jan-26 9:58am","format":false,"excerpt":"The propaganda shop at State is working overtime these days.","rel":"","context":"In "Geopolitical Brouhaha"","block_context":{"text":"Geopolitical Brouhaha","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/geopolitical-brouhaha"},"img":{"alt_text":"Menacing picture of Trump with the words \"This is OUR Hemisphere\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Our-Hemisphere.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Our-Hemisphere.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Our-Hemisphere.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Our-Hemisphere.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/US-Our-Hemisphere.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38733,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/09\/when-greenland-was-green.html","url_meta":{"origin":160955,"position":5},"title":"When Greenland was Green","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Sep-13 8:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is not only a cool map, but a great potential place to stage (once you scrub the serial numbers off) your next fantasy novel \/ RPG session. Or, heck, SF, too.(h\/t +Doyce Testerman) Topographical Map of Greenland under the Ice Cap (Image: LiveScience)Greenland is covered with a sheet of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160959,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160955\/revisions\/160959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}