The great Danes bite back
Greenland is the world’s largest island.
The semi-autonomous territory of Denmark has a population of 56,370.
It also has the highest suicide rate in the world.
That could’ve become much higher if Donald Trump had gotten his hands on it.
Fortunately, (for them – and us) that’s not going to happen.
When the subject of Donald Trump’s desire to buy Greenland first became public, it was largely thought to have been a joke.
It wasn’t.
During one of Trump’s impromptu news gaggles, he openly admitted he was looking into the possibility of buying a country.
No country buys another country, I thought.
If they did, we’d all be Chinese, I thought.
It didn’t take long for the Danes, and their territory, Greenland, to respond to Trump’s speculation.
They weren’t having any of it.
In fact, the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen called the notion “an absurd discussion.”
Well, well, well.
You know what happens when somebody doesn’t agree with Trump’s inner child don’t you?
He pounces.
To be more exact, he pouts, then he pounces.
He pouted by tweeting that since Frederiksen “would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time…”
He wasn’t finished. Here comes a tantrum.
He had a little free time last Wednesday when he stopped in front of reporters from around the world so he could let Frederiksen know that by calling his intentions “absurd” she was being “nasty.”
NOTE: Nasty is what Trump calls women who openly disagree with him. He’s called Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Meghan Markle (the Duchess of Sussex), Kamala Harris and Carmen Yul铆n Cruz (the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico) “nasty.”
He hasn’t given an official news conference in 920 days.
So, he stops from time-to-time in front of the assembled media, so he can air his grievances.
He’s always aggrieved about something.
He complained about Jewish voters who don’t vote Republican (he really meant for him); about the news coverage he gets (or doesn’t get); about not getting enough credit for “his” economy (and especially the supposed success of his trade war with China – hilariously calling himself the “Chosen One” for his decidedly unbrilliant effort in that regard); and he always sprinkles in complaints about the presidency left to him by Barack Obama.
He mentioned Obama 20 times in the 30 minutes he stood in front of reporters last Wednesday.
Trump’s defenders are quick to respond to his frequent verbal assaults, by calling him a counterpuncher.
You’d have to wonder why then, if Obama has never mentioned Trump’s name in public since he’s been out of office, would Trump counterpunch a man, who has never thrown a punch?
A noted conservative, David Frum, seems to know why Trump has it in for Obama.
“In his self-loathing heart, Trump knows Obama is bigger than he is, around the world as well as in the United States. That knowledge tortures Trump – never allows him a minute’s respite,” Frum recently tweeted.
While Trump frequently boasts about the success of his presidency, he’s never approached the popularity of Obama, in this country, or around the world.
Trump seems to think he’s a giant on the world stage. An extensive PEW survey of 22 nations around the world indicates otherwise.
In that survey, confidence in the U.S. president dropped from 70% in 2016 – under Obama, down to 20% in 2018 – under Trump.
That brings us back to Denmark – and why Trump mysteriously backed out of his trip there.
It seems that in September, Obama is scheduled to pay Denmark his second visit within a year.
A highly popular Obama, I might add.
The moderator of the event he’s set to speak at says, “President Obama is one of the people I look up to most in the world.”
Contrast that to the thousands of people who had signed up in Denmark to protest Trump’s visit.
The contrast may have been too much for our thin-skinned president to endure.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV-news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.