The Art of the Deal Goes to Norway

Great Moments in Twenty-First Century International Diplomacy

President Donald Trump apparently sent the following letter to prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway:

Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.

I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

President Trump also reportedly directed that this letter be shared with multiple NATO member ambassadors.

Comments

[SRG2]

No-one rational can defend such a preposterous letter, nor the mental state of its author.

[Botaglove]

He's a lunatic. An aging narcissistic weird one. So we now get to see who is really in the cult and who isn't.

[David Nieporent]

Yes; this is clearly a 25th amendment situation at this point. The man is mentally ill. Kristi Noem ought to put him out of his misery.

[David Nieporent]

No-one rational can defend such a preposterous letter, nor the mental state of its author.

If normal people had said in 2024 that this is what Trump would do if elected, MAGA would have sneered and called it TDS.

[Riva]

The art of the journalistic fraud comes to Volokh. This is not an actual communication from President Trump to any prime minister. Any actual letter is not part of the public record. This is not a real communication or a copy of any real communication. It is journalistic (make that yellow journalistic) commentary.

[Jon S]

Is this English?

[Riva]

If you actually have a copy of an original letter sent by President Trump, don't keep it to yourself.

[Glaucomatose]

“Nuh uh!”

The last, truest argument of Trump supporters.

[Jon S]

"There are no written documents" except for, you know, those treaties entered into by the United States and ratified by the Senate recognizing Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland.

[Botaglove]

I don't think this letter will do much to shake his support in Republican Congress. They've gone too far into the mud to back out now. They just hope He'll die or get distracted by something else.

We now know exactly what it's like to live in a monarchy, under an aging monarch.

[Longtobefree]

"We now know exactly what it's like to live in a monarchy, under an aging monarch."

That's true, but Biden and whoever was putting stuff under the autopen are gone now.

[Sarcastr0]

'But Biden' sure makes you look brainless and pathetic these days!

[Botaglove]

MAGA will never forget the unendurable tyranny of living under Biden and that memory will sustain them through the coming years of international and domestic conflict to cling to their God/Emperor.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No, his autopen and handlers did that. Anyone who thinks Biden was in control for four years is delusional.

[Sarcastr0]

Yes, Trump did bring that back up again, didn't he?

Good dog.

[M L]

Why won't it shake his support from Republicans in Congress? Because Trump has strong support from their constituents, that's the only reason. What you are learning is not what it's like to live in a monarchy, but what it's like to live in a republic/democracy where the original structure of decentralized federalism and enumerated powers has been long discarded.

[windycityattorney]

That's a lot of words to say we live in Idiocracy. Trump's intellectual deficits were on full display for years. Just listen to any of his hundreds of rally speeches for 5minutes. Or any of his verbal diarrhea press conferences.

What is amazing is that despite all that; his cabinet and other high ranking govt officials don't step in - but then again, they were picked for their loyalty to him vs competence. This is the predictable result.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

We had a sycophancy, then a senilocity, and now a vanity. What you partisans pretend to not notice is the common denominator -- government powerful enough to do what its politicians and bureaucrats want. Welcome to reality.

[Sarcastr0]

Hard to do small government stuff when it comes to foreign policy. You're barking up the wrong tree with you tired narrative.

Amazing how being above it all doesn't make you less of a fool for ideology.

[Martinned]

In today's political climate, very publicly changing your mind is costly, particularly for politicians who have frequently accused other politicians of hypocrisy (or something similar) when they changed their minds.

[ReaderY]

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

—Benjamin Franklin

“Democracy does not gives the people the best form of government. It merely gives them the government they deserve”

—Alexis de Toqueville, Winston Churchill

Truth of the matter is, if the people want a tyrant and a war-mongering bully, no constitutional structure, no set of checks and balances, can prevent them from getting one.

[David Nieporent]

Pretty sure you want H.L. Mencken: Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

[Judge Magney]

Trump does not have strong support from "their constituents." Trump has strong support from around half of their party base, which will turn on them in an instant; they are more afraid of this minority than they are of their more rational constituents who have not been quite ready, yet, to admit how dangerous Trump is.

[Joe_dallas]

Trump says a lot of stupid things, though fortunately he doesnt follow through and actually do very many stupid things. This one is doing a stupid thing.

[John 4]

Shameful, embarrassing, and morbidly hilarious.

[John 4]

“Trump says a lot of stupid things, though fortunately he doesnt follow through and actually do very many stupid things.”

Haha!

[Longtobefree]

As a team leader, I had to point out to many newbies that "if it 's stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid".

[John 4]

Oh is it working?

[Longtobefree]

According to my bank balance, yes.
According to my personal freedom meter, yes.
According to my life under Trump vs. the Biden administration, yes.

[Sarcastr0]

my personal freedom meter

Ever thought of looking at other people than yourself?

Amazing how out and proud ideologues can be that they're arguing for universal politics based around whether they personally benefit.

This isn't a market; you're doing it wrong.

[Longtobefree]

NATO was created to defend European nations from The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics.
Neither exists now.
Time to save a few bucks.

[SRG2]

That doesn't justify the US seizing Greenland, of course.

[Sarcastr0]

It also ignores international politics since the mid-90s, so not sure this guy is spitting facts to begin with.

[Martinned]

Senile

Trump dismissed the idea that Norway has no sway over the Nobel Peace Prize competition and that the decision is entirely up to the committee.

“Norway totally controls it despite what they say,” he told NBC News.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-greenland-use-of-force-nobel-norway-europe-tariffs-ukraine-rcna254786

[John 4]

He’s a fucking child. A poorly behaved brat.

[ReaderY]

Since Trump regularly implies (and acts as if) he controls everything in the US despite what others say, at least he’s being consistent.

From his point of view, this whole democracy/rights/alliances of friends/rule of law shit needs to be stomped out of people’s heads as soon as possible. People need to be totally disabused of their delusions. The rich and powerful need to put the weaklings, the suckers, and the losers in their place made to understand that if they want to continue to live they will shut up and do what they are told as quickly as can be.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

No, that was Biden who was senile.

[Martinned]

If you asked Biden today whether the Norwegian government secretly controls who gets the peace prize, I'm pretty sure you'd get a more coherent answer than this.

[SRG2]

You realise it's possible for both Biden and Trump to have dementia, right?

[Judge Magney]

I do not believe Biden had dementia. I do believe Biden's physical stamina deteriorated sharply during the second half of his term, and neither he nor his staff were willing to accept his limits. I worked at a law firm once where a very senior partner accepted his limits -- put in no more than "ordinary" working day, avoided contested court proceedings, etc, but was regarded as a very wise advisor/leader and one of the most valuable members of the firm. Biden should have been willing to relax into Reagan's workstyle.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

"What is amazing is that despite all that," people keep on saying they support him. Well, not really. There are reasons, just as there are reasons why self-selected Cabinet members stay loyal.

Trump must be rather unhinged for Adler to deign to comment about it. We will soon be back to regularly scheduled programming.

[Flight-ER-Doc]

President Trump is the President of the United States - not the world.

He is responsible to the United States - not Europe, not NATO, not anywhere else. The defense of Denmark is a rational concern.

[Longtobefree]

But I do wonder how bad it would be if Russia had a warm(er) water port, and took a few more countries in eastern Europe.
Let them deal with the Muslim uprising.

[SRG2]

That still does not justify the seizure of Greenland.

He is responsible to the United States - not Europe, not NATO, not anywhere else

And this isn't accurate. As president, he is bound to carry out the laws of the US. and the NATO treaty is part of US law.

[ReaderY]

And as part of his responsibility to the United States, it is his responsibility to try to avoid getting the United States’ major cities, including his own with himself in it, nuked to smithereens.

He has not exactly been taking his responsibility to ensure the United States’ survival seriously.

[dwb68]

Trump says something stupid; then the rest of the world comes along and overreacts with something stupider that makes them look weak and feckless, or worse, like anarchists.

I don't really understand the opposition to selling Greenland. Europe subsidizes it and (shock) arent developing it because that's how Europe is.

I could think of a lot of things I'd rather the government spend money on, and while I'd like .gov to reduce the deficit to zero or a surplus with spending cuts, I can't see the objection to buying Greenland either. It's strategic. The USA and/or Canada will do a much better job defending it and developing it. It'll be the next Alaska.

[ReaderY]

I agree Europe’s response has been way, way to charitable. I think Europe should make clear not just that Greenland is mot for sale at any orice and anyone who attempts to discuss the matter will be immediately ejected and never be permitted to enter European soil again, but that no leader who initiates an attack on NATO soil will ever be permitted to survive, and none of the leaders of a political party that supports leadership who initiates such an attack will be permitted to live. And if that requires nuclear strikes on the cities they live in, then the cities they live in will be destroyed with nukes.

I agree that this is the only kind of language Mr. Trump can understand, and hence the only way European leaders should speak it they wish to end the matter.

For once we agree on something.

I would have any US ambassador or official who so much as brings the subject up immediately put in shackles and escorted out of the country by armed guards with guns pointed at his head at all times. Or kept in prison and shot the next time Mr. Trump brings the subject up.

[M L]

Right.

I see people saying: the U.S. can already do everything it wants with Greenland. Military bases, energy development, etc. So there isn't even any benefit to U.S. buying Greenland or whatever Trump is talking about, and this is all just lunatic raving by Trump.

Ok. But then, if it doesn't make any difference, why is Denmark and others in Europe so opposed and freaking out about it?

[Botaglove]

Because being part of the U.S. means being subject to U.S. laws, not Danish ones or those passed by the Greenland parliament.

It's the difference between living in a democracy or a colony.

But for many MAGA minds the idea of actually caring about political liberty is beyond them.

[Absaroka]

"But then, if it doesn't make any difference, why is Denmark and others in Europe so opposed and freaking out about it?"

My neighbor is willing to loan me his ladder whenever I want. Why is he freaking out when I put a gun in his face and announce it's my ladder now?

[Josh R]

It doesn't make a difference to United States interests. It does to the people of Greenland.

[Absaroka]

"It'll be the next Alaska"

FWIW, Fairbanks in central Alaska is practically a tropical paradise relative to central Greenland.

As to the rest, I don't think there is much objection to Greenland becoming Upper Maine ***if Denmark wants to get rid of it and the residents agree***.

There is nothing the matter when you adopt an orphan. That doesn't mean kidnapping is OK. As the saying goes, 'one of these is not like the other'. This is true even if the kidnapping is because you really want a kid, as opposed to ransom.

[Botaglove]

MAGA doesn't think consent is something that matters.

[Brett Bellmore]

Indeed, I don't think we SHOULD purchase Greenland, but if we offered to pay each Greenlander $1M cash on the barrelhead, and they agreed to the deal, it would only be an ordinary foolish purchase, nothing more.

It's the threats I object to.

[Kords]

We're opposed to buying Greenland because Greenland isn't for sale and its people don't want to be a part of the United States. It doesn't matter if the United States could do a better job defending Greenland because Greenland isn't under attack or under threat from anyone except for the United States. And there's no strategic benefit to buying Greenland because the U.S. already has full access to the country and is permitted to maintain military bases there.

Also, it's silly to criticize Europe for "subsidizing" Greenland and then propose that the U.S. could take control and turn it into the "next Alaska" because the rest of the country is currently subsidizing Alaska. It receives $11B more in federal funds than it contributes to the federal government. Federal funds make up about 40% of Alaska's budget.

[Glaucomatose]

I bet you can’t understand your neighbor refusing to sell you his wife, either. He’s barely using her.

[Sisu]

While if we lived in a civil world, the letter would be inappropriate as a form of communication from the President of one sovereign nation to the impotent representative of the King of another nation, ...

Given the realities of today, including that almost all EU leadership and that of nearly all its once sovereign nation states want WWIII, ...

the "letter" does cogently capture (in the tradition of Gen. Anthony Clement "Nuts" McAuliffe, and the "emporer's new clothes" sense) the total lack of credibility the political leadership in Norway and Denmark do and can project.

Same for nearly every other political leader in Europe and by extension the EU and WEF: flatulent, arses lacking any courage or the resources to accomplish the first promise of any monarchy or other form of government, including tyrannies and theocracies, and alliances.

"Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway?"

If a country cannot protect its territory and subjects from invaders, the country does not exist and its leadership needs to be deposed.

WEF, EU, UK/Commonwealth all want a "new world order".

"[N]ature abhors a vacuum". ... And, that is what the "flatulent arses" have created in the WEF, EU, UK/Commonwealth "communities of group think"; and Greenland always has been.

And, no amount of "pissing into the wind" herein by so-called libertarians, social-demonrats, AWFUL & male karens, ... will fill those ever increasingly undeniable leadership and power vacuums.

[Sarcastr0]

Trump's terrible letter is the fault of Norway?

[ReaderY]

The bullshit is getting thicker!

Do you mean Mr. Trump is just a jolly, peace-loving guy who wants to do the Europeans this great favor by taking Greenland out of their hands, and these Europeans all out of the blue just want to attack the United States and start World War III?

Or do you mean that if the Europeans don’t immediately surrender to Mr. Trump’s World-War-III-starting threats and instead defend themselves, as they not only have every right to but should, then you are prepared to shit out of your ass that THEY are somehow responsible for World War III when Mr. Trump attacks them?

Same shit as the Ukrainians are responsible tor the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Poles were responsible for starting war in Europe in World War II, and we in the United States are responsible for starting the war with Japan in the Pacific?

Probably the same ass too.

[Kords]

You say "cogently," but I don't think that word means what you think it means.

What evidence is there that Denmark can't defend Greenland? The ability to defend Greenland is relative depending on who is attacking. Most countries couldn't withstand a full-scale hostile takeover from the United States, but does that mean that all those countries are illegitimate? The inevitable conclusion of your logic is the creation of one giant world government because any countries that can't successfully defend themselves against another country should cease to exist.

You seem to believe that the legitimacy of a government depends on whether another government can impose its will on the first. But the legitimacy of a government lies with the consent of the governed. Nothing else.

Regardless, one way that smaller countries can defend themselves is through alliances. You may have heard of NATO? That's why Germany, England, and France have all dispatched troops to Greenland in response to Trump's threats.

[Glaucomatose]

“The galactic stupidity of Trump’s letter to Norway just shows that Norway is stupid,” is a thing said by very smart people.

[Michael Molovinsky]

I think the question is becoming what kind of psychiatric department does Walter Reed have? No elected Republican representative of mine can remain silent and still get my vote come November. Every election I'm leaving more and more lines blank on my ballot.