For the first time in what feels like a long time, I woke up this morning feeling hopeful. Perhaps it had something to do with the weather. It was sunny and today is the mildest day that we have had in a while. We are expecting a winter storm to come through this weekend, and we had two winter storms last weekend. So let's enjoy the day while we have it.
Yet, it was more than the weather. In fact, this was the most hopeful I have felt since...well, since that dark and dreary day in November when Trump secured another term in the Oval Office.
It seems that the leaders of Europe and Canada have learned their lessons from history. In particular, don't appease a dictator hungry for territorial expansion.
Trump had been ramping up the talk about the United States taking over Greenland quite a bit in recent weeks. Some of his mindless MAGA moron cult were beginning to get fired up about it, too, even though polls here in the United States showed a whopping disapproval of any military action in Greenland, with somewhere between 85% to 90% of Americans opposed.
Yes, Trump wanted Greenland, obviously. He referred to it as a "small ask" (those were his words) and insinuated in yet another unhinged speech that Europe owed him that much. Nobody, he claimed, had done more for NATO than he had. And if not for the United States, Europe would be speaking German now (he said this in a speech in Switzerland, a predominately German-speaking nation).
The thing is, the United States also just launched an illegal invasion and takeover of Venezuela. Trump has been rather open about his ambitions there, referring to himself as President of Venezuela. Now he was after Greenland, of course. But he had also suggested the Colombia might be next, and Cuba was ready to go. He had spoken earlier of going into Panama and taking over there, too. And Gaza, making it a new Riviera while making no secret of his desire to basically move the actual Palestinians off their own homeland. He also reserved the right to take military action on Mexican soil in the "war on drugs." And let's not forget repeatedly and relentlessly referring to the independent nation of Canada as the "51st state" and even offering Canada to join and become a part of the United States. As if things are just so great here, and Trump such a fine and wonderful leader, that this was a very attractive offer. A privilege that Trump was extending.
More than being just a little unhinged, this was dangerous. Trump was threatening economic war against eight European countries which stood opposed. In fact, he was threatening World War III, potentially, with his continued aggressions towards other sovereign countries. Making it seem like the United States is the victim. That he was being reasonable, with his "small ask" of Greenland. Meanwhile, Trump had basically admitted to being a dictator during his brief time in Switzerland, justifying it by saying sometimes a dictator is what is needed.
They say that history does not repeat, but it rhymes. We have seen a hungry dictator trying to sound reasonable with similar "small asks" before, haven't we? Hitler first rearmed the Rhineland, which was illegal, just to test how the Allies would respond. They did nothing. Next, he took over Austria with the Anschluss. Still, nobody said or did anything. Next, he demanded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, allegedly because Germans there were being mistreated. At the Munich Conference, the Allies agreed to give it to him, and infamously declared that this would mean "peace in our times." Hitler got the Sudetenland and, a little while later, went ahead and took over all of Czechoslovakia, not just the Sudetenland. Then Hitler claimed that Germans were being mistreated in Poland. Once again, playing the victim card. At this point, the French and British finally decided it was time to stand up. War was declared, albeit reluctantly. It was World War II, specifically. Germany quickly and decisively took over Poland. The, the next six or so months of the war were relatively quiet.
After that, World War II turned into the deadliest conflict in human history, particularly on the European continent. Germany invaded one country after another, at one point ruling pretty much all of Europe and much of Northern Africa. It had taken years to beat him back, but they ultimately had. Hitler's Nazi Germany, the empire that he boasted would last 1,000 years, was in ruins. Cities across Europe lay in rubble, including almost all German cities. Tens of millions of people had been killed, including the most brutal and bureaucratic mass killings that the world had ever seen.
Only in hindsight did the Allied leaders recognize that they should have stopped Hitler before he had gotten so strong. It would not necessarily have been easy or pleasant to take Hitler out much earlier, the first time he had clearly tried to incite them, test their resolve. But it surely would have been a whole lot easier than what they had to do to take him out after fighting a world war. Particularly appalling to many was the appeasement strategy. Clearly, giving Hitler what he claimed he wanted at the Munich Conference had not worked.
So the Europeans and Canada had a decision to make. Here was another dangerous and seemingly unstable leader of a powerful country, one who talked the talk of aggression. And acted on it, as he had ordered the invasion of Venezuela, than began threatening multiple countries. He was demanding that Europe and Canada agree to his "small ask" of Greenland. He had expressed confidence that the United States would indeed acquire it, one way or the other. He refused to rule out the options of so doing by military means.
Now mind you, Greenland did not want it. Almost everyone there opposed an American takeover, and wanted nothing to do with the United States. In fact, the most popular style of clothing in both Greenland and Denmark was a mock "MAGA" hat, only this one, if you looked closely, said "Make America Go Away." Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Trump to take over. Clearly, what Trump wanted was a hostile takeover, and Europe and Canada be damned if they stood in opposition.
It seems like Trump always assumes that he is the smartest person in the room. And the way that he talked about taking over places clearly showed that he, and MAGA by virtue of their unconditional support of him, had learned nothing from recent bad military experiences. Trump acted like the world was a map similar to a chessboard. All he had to do is move some pieces around, and surely he would win the game. It sure seemed like he felt it was all a game, one he was sure to win. Nor was he alone. Some Americans also began to hear the whispers of that internal imperialist voice. I heard some people referring to Greenland as the ultimate "deal" for Trump to secure. If ever there was a reminder needed of the dangers of allowing any one country to become too powerful, the 21st century version of the United States electing someone like Trump and empowering the mindless moron MAGA cult surely that reminder.
Indeed, it felt like Trump was looking at all of these places as prizes. Or perhaps, rather, he looked at them as a child might when going through a candy or a toy store. "I want that! I want that!"
Then if he does not get his way, he whines and yells and screams. He feels slighted for not getting the Nobel Peace Prize, so he puts considerations of peace aside to try and strong arm the rest of the world to go with his desire for Greenland. When European leaders resist, he tries to punish them with tariffs for daring to prevent him from all of those beautiful, shiny toys that he sees and wants. The spoiled child apparently never had a responsible adult to tell him "no." And that spoiled child grew up to be the most spoiled, entitled, and frankly out of touch leaders we have seen on our lifetimes.
However, Europe and Canada clearly have learned the lessons from history. Like a parent who knows not to give in to the petulant child's every whim, they stood firm together and told Trump "No! You cannot have Greenland." They understood very well what happens when you appease a dictator, and even Trump himself has basically already conceded that he is, in fact, a dictator. Sometimes, according to him, that's what is needed. The NATO allies understood, and remembered the lessons from history. Give in to a hungry dictator's demands, appease him, and you can expect similar demands somewhere down the road. Remember, Trump had already talked openly about militarily invading numerous other countries.
Denmark had warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mean the end of NATO. Trump hardly seemed worried, even apparently flirting with the idea of the United States withdrawing from NATO. Just before leaving for this conference in Davos, he seemed sure that it would be a huge success for the United States.
Now, he took the military option of taking over Greenland off the table. He agreed to a treaty that sure seems to respect the sovereignty of Greenland.
We shall see whether or not this lasts. Trump clearly is not one to be trusted.
However, there is one clear outcome from this summit. That is that the other NATO countries stood in unison against Trump, opposed to the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. No appeasement. No conceding Greenland or anywhere else. They seemed to know that the thing that you do against a bully - and leaders were openly referring to Trump as a bully by now - is you stand up and fight back. Push back against his relentless and never ending demands. You stand united and you fight.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the strategy that he felt middle powers, like Canada, needed to pursue from here on out. Sounding like an actual dignified and intelligent statesman (something which we Americans may already have forgotten that we should expect from a leader), Carney spoke candidly about how too many countries, including his own, had for too long relied too heavily on the United States. Now, they needed to try to stick together and form other alliances of need, specifically going around the United States in the process. Ending the reliance on the United States, in other words. To that end, Carney just had a big trade agreement with China just days ago.
I applaud Carney. Envy Canada for the strong leadership they have and they showed in recent days. Applaud Europe, too, for standing in unison against a strong bully. Not giving in. Forcing the bully to back down (at least for now).
Over time, surely, we will learn the specifics of how they got Trump to back down. My own guess is that European leaders reminded Trump that there are American military bases scattered across Europe, and that they might not be welcome there any longer. Also - and this is the big one - I suspect that they reminded Trump (or more likely, made him aware of something he probably did not know at all) that they had trillions of dollars worth of US Treasury bonds. Eight trillion, as I understand it. And they surely insinuated that maybe it was time to collect. To begin the process of everyone asking the United States to pay off all of that debt that it owes. Also, they might even have threatened to pull the American dollar as the standard, although I cannot be sure. Maybe they even threatened to pull out of the World Cup, or some other such thing which would have served as a huge embarrassment to Trump.
Now, I don't know all of that for sure. Honestly, I am just speculating, because there is no way right now for me to know the details. But one thing is clear: they pushed back by threatening something. Pushed back strong and united.
As strange as it seems to me, but I was rooting for those countries to stand up to my own country. I am proud that they stood firm and made Trump back down. Sadly, we elected a dictator and a bully here in the United States. He did not receive the majority of the electorate (he has never managed to do that, or to secure a majority approval rating), but it does not matter. Legally, he was given a second term, and his Republican party given control of all three branches of government. That is how to have what remains of our American democracy die.
Just because Americans volunteered to have this dictator take apart democracy, does not mean that the rest of the world has to stand by and watch him take apart the world to his liking. What they did was not easy. Surely, a lot of them were nervous to stand up to a country of such power and influence (for now) as the United States.
Yet, they did just that. I applaud their efforts. It restored some of my own hope, and instilled a belief which feels new that in these insane times, sanity might still at least have a chance.
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