At Davos, the World Watched the Rantings of a Despot

"He announced a 10 percent tariff on eight European countries that had sent troops to Greenland for a military exercise. On Sunday afternoon, he composed a poorly punctuated, paranoiac note to the Norwegian prime minister in which he blamed the Norwegian government for not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said the rejection had liberated him to stop thinking about peace, and claimed that it had set him on the path to conquer Greenland to protect the United States."

"The note was distributed by the National Security Council to all of Europe's ambassadors to the United States, giving it something of the imprimatur of a formal policy statement. There were days over the past week where it seemed possible that US military personnel would be ordered into a firefight against NATO allies to fulfill Trump's fever dream of hemispheric ownership."

President Donald Trump turned his back on the liberal world order and provoked a rupture in the Western alliance comparable to the Suez crisis. He demanded that Denmark cede Greenland and imposed a 10 percent tariff on eight European countries that had sent troops to Greenland. He sent a poorly punctuated note to the Norwegian prime minister blaming Norway for not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and claiming the rejection freed him to stop thinking about peace and set him on a path to conquer Greenland. The National Security Council distributed the note to Europe's ambassadors. The actions raised the possibility of U.S. forces confronting NATO allies. Erratic public performances, including incoherent White House briefings and aggressive comments at Davos, amplified concerns.

Read at The Nation