The Greenland crisis

Trump's sudden eruption of befuddled neo-imperialism toward Greenland has the potential to be the most damaging episode of either of his terms as president, given its potential to isolate the US from NATO, divide the West, and trigger a devastating cascade of economic retaliation.  Pursuing this would benefit only the evil trinity of Russian imperialism, jihadism, and China.

In a real conflict, the US holds fewer cards, and Europe holds more, than Trump believes.  Europe's (the EU, UK, and other west European nations) holdings of US bonds and equities are twice as large as those of the rest of the world combined.  A serious selloff would cripple the US government's ability to keep financing the national debt, and do other serious damage to the US economy.  There is also Europe's "anti-coercion instrument" which would, if triggered, target a wide range of US economic interests.  The US has no equivalent economic leverage over Europe.  Even Trump's threatened 10% or 25% tariffs against European imports would, according to the Fortune link above, have little impact on Europe, and would also marginally increase US inflation.

France has been at the forefront of demanding strong economic retaliation if Trump doesn't back down on Greenland, and as of Tuesday Germany has joined it in doing so.  These two countries, the two largest economies in the EU, dominate the bloc.

And aside from what governments may or may not do, Danish consumers are organizing a boycott of US products in retaliation for Trump's threats to Greenland, much as Canadians did after he started threatening to annex their country.  If this boycott spreads across western Europe -- a vast market for US exports -- it could seriously impact the US economy.

What constraints are there on Trump within the US?  There are reports that US military leaders are trying to "distract" him from planning an attack on Greenland, but that's unlikely to work for very long, given his obvious obsession with the idea.  I don't know whether they would disobey a flat-out order from him to invade Greenland, but I wouldn't count on it.  Last week several Senate Republicans vowed to prevent him from taking over Greenland by force, and there have been claims that many Republicans in Congress would support impeachment if Trump actually invades Greenland.  This is not good enough.  Once an actual invasion had begun, it would be too late to prevent terrible damage to NATO.  If the Republicans want to prevent disaster, they must join with the Democrats in impeaching and removing Trump now.

Even aside from Trump's threats about Greenland, there are more than adequate grounds for doing so.  The gross ICE violations of core Constitutional rights in Minnesota, and Trump's repeated assertion of powers which the executive branch does not legally have, violate his oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.  He has accepted numerous gifts and payments that clearly qualify as bribery, a crime specifically mentioned in the Constitution as deserving of impeachment.  Actually removing Trump would require the votes of twenty Senate Republicans alongside all forty-seven Democrats, far from a sure thing even in the event of an invasion.  Without enough Senate votes for actual removal, impeachment would be a waste of time, merely empty posturing and message-sending.  But if twenty Senate Republicans are at last ready to fulfill their duty under the Constitution, then the time to act is now, not after the planes and missiles are already flying.

Trump's recent message implying that he's making a fuss about Greenland because he's mad about not getting a Nobel prize is just the latest in a string of petty, whiny fits of temper more suited to a toddler than to a national leader.  Over the last year he has lost almost all self-restraint about venting such absurd tantrums, a sign of his now-undeniable advancing dementia.  One could make a serious argument that he is literally insane.

As to the legal and practical status of Greenland, Trump is wrong in saying there are no written documents supporting Denmark's sovereignty over it.  The US recognized that sovereignty as part of the 1916 treaty covering the US purchase of the Danish Virgin Islands.  It is also untrue that Greenland under Danish rule is defenseless against Russian or Chinese attack.  Denmark is a member of NATO and any attack on Danish territory, including Greenland, would legally obligate the US and the rest of NATO to come to its defense.  And the US already has a military base in Greenland, as it has bases on the territory of many other allies.

Already, Trump has threatened and insulted a loyal ally and fellow democracy which fought alongside us in Afghanistan, and he has done irreparable damage to our relations with Europe; there will be no "back to normal" in trans-Atlantic relations even after he is gone.  It is long past time to remove him from the office of which he has proven himself so pitifully unworthy.  The only question is whether Congress can finally find the bipartisan will to do so.

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Boycott campaign against US goods in Denmark:

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