Greenland isn’t for sale, but that won’t stop Trump

This evening, while standing in the press cabin aboard Air Force One, the President of the United States gave one of the most disturbing interviews of his presidency. Unlike what we have seen from him in recent times, he appeared less confused and almost jolly. He was deliberate and stopped to laugh and make jokes between words that should never have been spoken by a sitting president. Surrounded by reporters as his plane cut through the night sky back to Washington, Donald Trump made clear he isn’t just hungry for power. He is mapping out exactly where he intends to take his terrorist takeover of the world next. He noted 6 countries he has his eyes on. A second possible strike in Venezuela, and potential new military action in Cuba, Mexico, Iran, and Colombia. When asked about Greenland specifically, an allied territory and a constitutional part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Trump said, without flinching,

“We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not gonna be able to do it... Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days... and the European Union needs us to have it.”

He smiled as he said it, and he laughed at times as well. What struck me was how unusually coherent he sounded as he spoke. There was something very odd about the whole exchange. I also realized just how disappointed I was with the reporters traveling with him. A year ago, they would’ve zeroed in on what he admitted: that he spoke to the oil companies “before and after” the invasion of Venezuela. That means they knew before Congress did. The follow-up should’ve been immediate: who is actually running this country?

And the joke about talking about Greenland in 20 days was oddly specific for a Trump comment and needs to be taken very seriously. Add to that, his most senior aide’s wife, Katie Miller, married to Stephen Miller, posted a redesigned Greenland flag colored in red, white, and blue, draped over Greenland with a single caption beneath it: “Soon.”

So this is how they’re operating now. This is the new diplomacy, annexation by meme and conquest by force. And the message landed hard across the Atlantic. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has never spoken like this in public about a U.S. president, issued a rare, direct rebuke. “I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people, who have very clearly said that they are not for sale,” and continued with “It is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland.” She went on to add, without hesitation, “It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland. The U.S. has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom,”.

Trump is testing which nations can be absorbed, coerced, intimidated, or controlled. Venezuela was never the end. It was just the test case.

In the same conversation, Trump circled back to the other sovereign countries in the Western Hemisphere he is considering as a potential target for U.S. intervention. He praised the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and bragged that the United States would now “run Venezuela until a proper transition of power.” Then he turned to Cuba and said, “I think it’s just going to fall,” implying the U.S. wouldn’t need to act unless it became necessary. He called Colombia “a sick country run by a sick man who likes making cocaine,” and said, quote, “Operation Colombia sounds good to me.” As for Mexico, he said, “You have to do something with Mexico,” and mocked their president, calling her “concerned” and “a little afraid.” These are not veiled messages. This is raw, imperial projection. One man announcing, out loud, which nations he sees as weak, available, or failing, and signaling that he may soon treat them the same way he treated Venezuela.

What makes this so much more dangerous than the threats themselves is that there is no resistance to them. Not from Congress. Not from the Republican Party. Not from his Cabinet. Not even from the Pentagon. No one said no. No one pushed back. No senior Republican condemned his comments about Greenland or his threats toward Mexico. No one in leadership called for hearings after the invasion of Venezuela. And now that Trump is openly describing it as a template, they’ve gone quieter still. Maybe he promised them power. Maybe he promised them titles, lands, ambassadorships in his new authoritarian government. Maybe they just want to survive politically for a few more years and think they’ll come out on the other side intact. Or maybe, and this is the more terrifying truth, they actually believe it. Maybe they agree with him. Maybe they’ve fully absorbed the new normal. Because this isn’t just about Trump. It’s about the total collapse of guardrails around him. We know who he is. But now we have to contend with what’s growing up around him. A movement and a state-within-a-state built on obedience, vengeance, and resource extraction.

I always want to be honest with you all. Today has been a tough one. I’ve said “Oh my god” so many times tonight I’ve lost count. Not because I’m surprised. Not because I didn’t expect this. But because of the speed of it all, the sheer boldness of saying out loud that the U.S. needs to take Greenland while also threatening Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, and beyond, is heartbreaking. It’s the escalation that catches in your throat. You can know exactly who he is and still feel the gravity of what he’s doing. These are not empty threats. They are trial balloons, and they are early drafts of future doctrine, and not enough people are outraged.

This is one of the most dangerous moments in modern history, not just American history, but global history. We are watching, in real time, a regime that is no longer pretending to follow the rules of democracy or diplomacy. They’re telling us what they intend to do. They are laying it out like a series of steps, each more illegal and destabilizing than the last, and waiting to see if anyone stops them. When Trump captured Nicolás Maduro, he didn’t act as if it were a reluctant act of war. He called it a victory. He stood in front of cameras and announced that we would now “run Venezuela.” His Attorney General, Pam Bondi, issued indictments and said the captured Venezuelan leadership would soon “face the full wrath of American justice.” He still had not asked for congressional authorization. He didn’t provide evidence of an immediate threat. He didn’t even pretend this was humanitarian. This was not about the Venezuelan people. It was about their oil. It was about power. And it was about showing the world that America, under Trump, can do whatever it wants without consequence.

And for now, he’s right. There is international condemnation. But no nation has the power to stop us, not when we hold the military, the reserve currency, the media echo chambers, and a collapsing set of global norms. Venezuela has formally requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. They’ve declared a national emergency. Their UN ambassador used the words “colonial war.” And he’s not wrong. They watched low-flying aircraft bomb both military and civilian sites. They watched an American president lie to the world and say he was bringing democracy while stripping their sovereignty. And the world knows it.

And I want ot make this clear, this was never just about Maduro. He’s a dictator himself. Venezuela does need new leadership. But that’s what made them the perfect test case. Easy for some to justify, even if it broke every international rule. Low-hanging fruit for a trial run.

But the world is walking on glass. No one wants to poke the bear. Not because they fear being wrong, but because they know they’re right. If they stand up to the United States under Trump, they will be next. They could be targeted economically. They could be framed as harboring terrorists. They could be told they’re next in line for a “transition of power.”

What happens when the international system has no way to restrain a superpower in decline, led by a man driven by vengeance and surrounded by people who believe they were chosen to dominate the world? What happens when domestic political opposition is too fractured, too slow, or too afraid to mount a meaningful response?

Where is the Democratic leadership offering a united front, standing side by side, calling this what it is, an unauthorized war, a grotesque abuse of power, a direct threat to the constitutional balance of power? I don’t want to hear one more strongly worded letter or statement. I want to see action. I want to see a wall of governors standing together, naming the danger. I want to see Democratic senators and representatives refusing to participate in business as usual. I want to see mass coordination from the people we elected to stop things like this from happening. I know impeachment won’t pass. I know Republicans won’t convict. I know the courts have been stacked and the military has been co-opted. But the record still matters. History still matters. Resistance, even if it feels futile, still matters. Because there will be a future. There will be a time after this. And we will need to show that not all of us went along with it.

And let me be clear: this isn’t just about war. It’s about the new American identity that Trump is shaping, piece by piece. His version of patriotism is submission. His version of strength is domination. His version of American exceptionalism is entitlement to anything he wants: land, power, bodies, resources. And he is not hiding it. He is standing in front of the press and naming the next countries. This is the president of the United States talking about conquering sovereign nations like they’re items on a menu. And his party is clapping. The men and women we thought might hold the line, those who made noise once about restraint or constitutional limits, are now silent or worse.

I think a lot of us thought the military would refuse what just happened. I think some of us believed that, deep down, there would be officers who said no, who looked at an unauthorized strike and said, this crosses a line. But no one said no. No one broke rank. And maybe that’s because they believe in the mission. Or maybe it’s because they’re afraid. Either way, the result is the same. We are now a country that invades other nations to extract oil. And the world sees it.

This is not a call to despair. It’s a call to clarity. We still have power. We still have numbers. We still have the ability to resist this, not with violence, but with truth. With organizing. With mass communication. With coordinated campaigns that make the truth louder than the lies. With messages on overpasses. With posters on telephone poles. With truth spoken everywhere can share it: We do not support dictatorship. We do not accept war crimes as policy. We do not let one man turn our nation into a weapon for his own ego. And if our leaders will not say it, we will.

Because America is not defined by him. It is defined by us. By the people who still believe in elections. Who still believe in truth. Who still believe that no man is above the law, not even the one sitting in the Oval Office. Especially not that one.

As expected, Trump knows the Epstein files are catching up to him. He knows his polling numbers continue to slide. He knows the elections last November showed he is not a popular leader. He is desperate, and like all desperate men clinging to power, he’s choosing chaos over country. He’s willing to burn it all down just to stay in control. It’s going to get worse.

But on the days I struggle the most, like today, I remind myself what our forefathers built this country on: the belief that power must answer to the people. That freedom only survives when we protect it. That democracy isn’t a guarantee, but a choice we make again and again. That our voice, our vote, is the heartbeat of this nation. Those promises are still here. They haven’t disappeared. They’re just waiting for us to pick them back up. And we will.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, chances are we see things the same way. You can make a difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. There is a free option and the option to help me reach a wider audience with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country.