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Trump REALLY Wants Greenland - As Part of His New American Empire (and to emulate McKinley) [1]

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Date: 2025-01-08

Trump’s peculiar obsession with Greenland is nothing new. Back in 2019, he floated the idea of buying it from Denmark: No Joke: Trump Really Does Want To Buy Greenland (NPR, Aug. 19, 2019):

President Trump on Sunday confirmed that his administration has discussed buying Greenland from Denmark, comparing the idea to "a large real estate deal" and suggesting the island would be of strategic value to the United States. . . . Earlier Sunday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox News that the president had discussed the subject with his advisers. "I don't want to predict an outcome, I'm just saying the president — who knows a thing or two about buying real estate — wants to take a look at a Greenland purchase." [emphasis added]

NPR was right; it was no joke. Danish officials are being advised that Trump really means it this time: Danish officials fear Trump is much more serious about acquiring Greenland than in first term :

Danish officials are being warned by Trump allies and advisers that he is serious, multiple Danish officials told CNN. And they’re carefully weighing how to respond without sparking a major rupture with a close ally and fellow NATO member. “The ecosystem supporting this idea is totally different now” than it was in 2019, when Trump first proposed it, said one senior Danish official. “This seems much more serious,” said another senior Danish official. Trump said on Tuesday that “we need Greenland for national security purposes.”

Denmark is saying the US has to be respectful of Greenland, and Greenlanders are bewildered. France and Germany have issued stern warnings against invasion, though Trump is hinting he may use tariffs instead to force Denmark to hand it over — as usual, not having a clue how tariffs work, and in this case, his tariffs could cut off the US supply of Ozempic (Denmark is the main manufacturer).

Greenland has lots of strategic mineral resources, which will be easier to exploit as global climate exposes them. Global climate change also means Greenland could become a base for controlling expanded access to the Arctic ocean shipping routes.

But I don’t think that’s what’s really driving Trump. Look back at the first clip, to the bolded section. Trump sees himself first and foremost as a real estate magnate. He measures his personal success not just by how much money he has (or cons people into thinking he has), not just on how many people who used to snub now rush to kiss his . . . ring . . . but also in how much real estate he controls.

Trump talks a lot about President William McKinley. He wants to rename Denali back to Mt. McKinley. He admires McKinley’s use of tariffs — misunderstanding that history, too. Why Donald Trump talks so much about William McKinley:

Donald Trump has spent considerable time on the campaign trail this year invoking a president who has been dead for more than 123 years: William McKinley. The reason: McKinley and Trump's shared affinity for tariffs. . . . [Mckinley biographer]Robert Merry . . . notes that McKinley indeed built his reputation on protectionist policies but began to see the limits of tariffs near the end of his presidency. He concluded that for US success to continue, it would need a freer flow of goods and reciprocity with global trading partners.

But that article missed something else that Trump admires about McKinley: William McKinley (1897-1901): The Dawn of an American Empire:

McKinley’s presidency initiated a period of American imperialism. During the 1898 Spanish-American War, the U.S. exercised its military and naval power on a global scale for the first time in its history. . . . After ten weeks of fighting, U.S. victory compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba and cede control of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

McKinley also arranged the annexation of Hawaii.

See President McKinley : architect of the American century. “McKinley established the neocolonialism that took America global” (from the book jacket).

In the XX century, especially after WWII, American power has largely manifested itself in economic and cultural ways; we use our military not to take territory but to defend our interests. Even when we won a war (World Wars I and II, Korean War, Gulf Wars), we didn’t stay there, but gave the land back.

Since McKinley, no US president has added new territory to the United States, except for the Panama Canal (which McKinley started the process of acquiring), and the US Virgin Islands, which we bought from Denmark in 1917, and a few minor border adjustments. Trump wants to break that record.

Trump sees land almost like Scarlett O’Hara’s father did (“Land’s the only thing that matters, the only thing that lasts”). He measures empire not in economic terms but in the same way Putin and Xi do — in territory under their control.

So yes, he is serious about Greenland. And Panama. And Canada. This is madness, but it’s real.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/8/2295922/-Trump-REALLY-Wants-Greenland-As-Part-of-His-New-American-Empire-and-emulate-McKinley?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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