Trump’s Greenland Letter, Annotated

Let’s parse the finer points of the president’s insanity.

Being Donald Trump’s spokesperson is an impossible and unenviable task. Impossible because no person can possibly cover for the continuous stream of lies and conspiracy theories that come out of his mouth. Unenviable because as soon as you think you’ve done a good job putting a serviceable gloss on his BS, he goes ahead and undermines whatever it is you just said. I know because, for a time, I was his White House Deputy Press Secretary.

So I was not surprised when he put out a typically deranged letter, addressed to the Prime Minister of Norway, in which he threatens Greenland with military action on the basis that Norway didn’t award him the Nobel Peace Prize (Denmark, not Norway, controls Greenland). For those who haven’t yet read it, the letter is bewildering and horrifying.

It is also emblematic of the broader Trump strategy for controlling the narrative, menacing all opposition into a defensive crouch, and plowing through any guardrails that might still stand in his way. As such, it’s worthwhile to annotate the letter in full (it’s only three paragraphs) to see how this dynamic works in practice. As a one-time translator of Trump’s steady stream of self-serving propaganda, I’m up to the task.

The letter begins:

“Dear Jonas [Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway]: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

What stands out here is the dubious claim of “having stopped 8 Wars PLUS.” Is he thinking of Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas? Obviously, neither of these wars has “stopped,” much less thanks to anything Trump’s done. Ukraine continues to fight off the yoke of Russian aggression, in spite of Trump’s continuous verbal support for Vladimir Putin’s forces. And the Trump-brokered “ceasefire” in Gaza was violated by both parties within hours of being entered.

What Trump is referencing in terms of the other six-plus “wars” is anyone’s guess. He claims he ended a war between Azerbaijan and Albania, who weren’t fighting, prompting the leaders of those countries to joke about the “deal.” He’s never been a close observer of international relations, and famously had to be told that Finland is not part of Russia, and that the UK has nuclear weapons.

What he does like, however, is to be able to claim victory in resolving real or imagined international conflicts, and to slap his name on the ensuing “peace.” It’s essentially a branding exercise, like putting your last name on a building you don’t actually own.

On to paragraph two:

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.”

Trump’s invocation of Russia and China here is a tell. He’s spent years undermining American foreign policy in the apparent service of these authoritarian powers, and harbors a genuine lust for the absolute power wielded by their autocratic leaders. He openly sided with Putin over the US’s intelligence agencies in Helsinki in 2018. More recently, he browbeat Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a shocking and unprecedented White House meeting, as Zelensky was visiting Washington to rally more aid for his embattled country.

As early as 1990, Trump was displaying public admiration for China’s communist leadership, saying that its brutal repression of the Tiananmen Square uprising “shows you the power of strength.” Since then, he’s praised how Xi Jinping “controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. He’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.” And for all the tough-on-China talk coming out of this administration, Trump has repeatedly signaled his administration’s unwillingness to defend Taiwan, while simultaneously opening up critical US defense technology for the Chinese to capitalize on.

All of that considered, it’s not surprising that Trump is menacing Denmark and Greenland with the threat of Russia and China. The implication is: “If my favorite dictators come knocking, don’t expect any help from the US.”

And the final paragraph:

“I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT”

The exact opposite is true—Trump has done more to undermine NATO than any other person since its founding. His repeated threats to disregard the NATO Charter—specifically the Article 5 clause, which states that an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all—are a dagger aimed at the heart of the alliance. Trump has whined about NATO for years and shows open contempt for its members. Now, by repeatedly threatening to actually make war on a fellow NATO member, he is pushing the alliance to its breaking point.

This whole Greenland gambit is an embarrassment. Trump seems to be threatening another country’s sovereignty because he knows he’s losing on prices, the economy, the Epstein files, ICE’s masked thuggery, and a whole host of other issues. He doesn’t care about destroying US credibility on the world stage, as long as he’s able to bully smaller powers and distract from his own administration’s failings. This letter is just the latest evidence of that.

Sarah Matthews was deputy White House press secretary, and resigned on January 6. She is an Advisory Board Member and Spokeswoman for Home of the Brave, an initiative dedicated to exposing this administration’s corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness.