I wrote this, and intended to publish it, probably over one month ago now.
Yet for some reason, I stopped midway, then promptly forgot about it.
Until I ran into it earlier today. So I took another look, tried to clean it up, update it a bit. And now, I am going ahead and publishing this today, even though it is a bit outdated. Indeed, all of the talk of Greenland has been suspended....for now.
Sooner or later, I suspect, it will start up again. But that's for later.
Still, today Trump launched air strikes in coordination with Israel. This feels, once again, like a "wag the Dog" tactic to me. His poll numbers were alarming before his State of the Union, so he predictably gave a very long-winded speech which appealed to his base and few others. Everyone suspects that he is guilty regarding the Epstein Files and the subsequent cover-up. Many feel that he is destined to lose the midterm elections, so there are concerns that he will somehow either delay or outright cancel them, or gain some control over them to the point that he controls their outcome.
One way or the other, however, Trump is a very unpopular politician right now. So he seems to be turning to that tried-and-true method of distraction, by waging a "Wag the Dog" kind of attack on another country, hyping up the supposed threat that they pose to us.
Remember, just months ago Trump and his team were trying to convince everyone who would listen that Iran's nuclear capabilities had been "totally obliterated." Those were his words, and they doubled down whenever anyone suggested that it was anything less. No, they insisted, Iran's nuclear capabilities had been "totally obliterated."
That was just a few months ago. Now, here we are launching an attack on Iran, based on the premise that their nuclear program apparently poses such an immediate threat that immediate, pre-emptory attacks were absolutely necessary.
WMD's, anyone?
Last month, Trump attacked Venezuela, then threatened to be on the verge of militarily taking over Greenland.
Now this month, it is Iran.
Let's see what March has in store.
Politically speaking, 2025 felt like a very long year. Indeed, it felt more like two or three years, so exhausting was the news cycle.
Seems like we're in for an even longer year now.
Anyway, I wrote this piece (not quite completely) at the height of the tensions regarding what then seemed like America's imminent invasion of Greenland. Now I publish this on the day that Trump launched air strikes on Iran, in a move which could quickly escalate to a much wider war. Iran retaliated with attacks on Israel, Qatar, and Kuwait. And they may launch attacks on a number of other countries, as well.
All so that Trump can distract us from the bad news because of his presidency, because he never got inflation under control as promised, because he is clearly hiding something regarding the Epstein Files, and because he is very unpopular with the American public right now. This is an extension of his "America First" policy, which indeed does feel like an "all or nothing" gamble.
Here is some of what I wrote about this approach a month and change ago:
Despite the Trump White House clearly showing signs of being ever more authoritative, and even seemingly making a point of drawing comparisons with Nazi Germany, I for one remain a bit hesitant to go to that extreme.
That said, the recently borrowed Nazi slogans and secret police force (ICE), as well as Trump's repeated calls now to cancel election (in 2020 and now in 2026, both times when the outlook appeared unfavorable to his political interests) sure make such comparisons feel a lot more legitimate.
But in what I feel is an even graver threat, Trump's seeming "all of nothing" gambling when it comes to taking over other lands feels like it is really right out of the Nazi German playbook. It began before he even took office for the second time, when he began to threaten military action in Mexico and Panama and Greenland, and then relentlessly undermined Canada's sovereignty as an independent nation by referring to it as the "51st state" and Prime Minister Trudeau as "Governor Trudeau."
Some people claim that Trump is entertaining. My guess is that those people thought all of this was hysterical.
To me, there is absolutely nothing funny about it.
Since taking office, Trump has expanded those threats. He still threatens military action in Mexico, still refers to Canada as the "51st state," and has claimed that the United States will take over Panama as well. But he also said that the United States will take over Gaza and make it a new "Riviera" under American control. Because, you know, we're just so popular in that region, and everyone knows how our wars in that region always go so beautifully for us, right?
Then came the invasion of Venezuela and the oil there.
Now, he is ramping up the rhetoric about Greenland.
Or was. This is where I am taking over on the day that Trump launched an attack on Iran. Greenland was more or less swept under the rug, at least temporarily. Seemingly because Europe threatened to start collecting American debts (to the tune of somewhere between $8 to $12 trillion) if he followed through with this plans. So he backed off.
Yet here we are again. The self-described "peace president" has launched another military attack on a sovereign foreign country. Don't be surprised if he claims that he will take it over, much like he did do with Venezuela. Much like he threatened to do with Greenland, with Panama, and with Gaza.
I cannot help but think of the region where this war is being fought. Another conflict halfway around the world, in the Persian Gulf. Because the last couple of wars we fought in that region around Iran just went so incredibly well for us. Everybody remembers the rousing success in Iraq and Afghanistan, right?
Here we go again.
When things were going well, Trump proudly proclaimed that he was the "peace president." But a year into his second term in office, and things are not going all that well. And surprise, surprise, he launches military attacks, while threatening more military attacks.
By the way, remember how those of us who warned that this man was and is unstable, and that this is why he cannot be trusted with such a high office?
Yeah, this is what we were talking about. An invasion of Venezuela last month. A seemingly inevitable invasion of Greenland which he backed off from only once he got serious pushback. Now, yet another invasion.
Who will we invade next? I did not support George W. Bush and his invasion of Iraq while we were already fighting in Afghanistan. And while Bush seemed to make overtures towards a conflict with Iran, he never actually went through with it.
Now this guy, this unstable MAGAlomaniac. He has us in Venezuela - mark my words: I suspect that our military involvement there is not quite done, even though we have (temporarily) forgotten about it - and then almost into Greenland, and now outright in Iran. Where next? Do you really think this guy will hesitate to launch yet another attack somewhere if he feels that he might profit (perhaps literally, and certainly politically) from it?
If you believe that he will hesitate, you have not been paying attention. This is the same guy who launched economic warfare against the entire rest of the world. The same guy who proclaimed himself "President of Venezuela" after last month's military intervention.
No, he is not a genius playing some intense mind games that we are too dumb to understand. This is a child playing with war toys, and trying to distract us with these actions to reinforce his "strong man" image at a time when he looked weak and vulnerable, domestically. Yes, he is capable of doing it again. Of fighting multiple wars all at the same time.
This feels like how superpowers and empires fall into decline.
Clearly, Trump believes that he can win. However, if we keep launching wars against other countries, I am not sure that we can win. I am not sure that this war, which he launched without the approval of Congress, will not last just as long as Iraq or Afghanistan.
In fact, I am not sure that we are not already losing our once privileged status as a respected superpower with this nutcase in control.
One of the things which I have always suspected of Trump, and which feels like one of his most dangerous traits, is this willingness - almost an eagerness - to gamble with everything. An "all or nothing" approach.
And if this guy keeps gambling like this, it might not be his scam businesses which spiral out of control and into chaos. It might be the country which does so. Because victory in yet another country in the Persian Gulf, so soon after the other wars ended pretty much disastrously, is not a recipe for success. It is the actions of a man who is desperately trying not to see his fortunes sink. These feel like the actions of a desperate man willing to take the whole country - possibly the entire world - down with him.
That is why each of these extremist actions by Trump feels so damn alarming.
Trump’s ‘American Dominance’ May Leave Us With Nothing by Anne Applebaum, January 5, 2026:
The president’s moves in Venezuela foretell a new global system.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/trumps-american-dominance-may-leave-us-with-nothing/685503/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=695e5fdfc0b969000157199c&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawPQBA5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeuFWLCe54DI_d8VuGbrHCK7oiXg6U5DOhLPxZwiXlRPMXZWRw3WYGhv9dwaA_aem_4P0VIMsp1Gzmz4Ja4y33XA
Trump’s ‘American Dominance’ May Leave Us With Nothing - The Atlantic
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