After such a jolly week in the world, are we glad or miffed that the Canadian Armed Forces haven’t placed artillery in Windsor’s Dieppe Park aimed at Detroit’s downtown? Since we’re now the bad guys of the world, how should we feel?
For a while, it seemed close. But following the latest Davos conclave in Switzerland — which future historians might just decide to call “Munich 2” — so far, we remain at peace with our allies, especially Canada, after President Donald Trump promised not to use military force to acquire Greenland, or inflict tariffs on Denmark, saying he had secured the “framework” of an agreement to acquire the island. Though Trump might yet still decide to rip that peace into pieces. Why not? It would follow his “leadership” style.
Trump officially marked one year in office last week. He was rewarded with stunningly bad poll numbers, and more shocking images of our U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement storm troopers forcing a U.S. citizen to stand in his underwear in Minnesota’s freezing temperatures, or of a villainous 5-year-old in a floppy hats and Spiderman backpack being detained for our protection. He also succeeded in insulting much of the rest of the world. But none of that bothers him, or, tragically, so many of his misled supporters.
Dolla dolla bills, y’all
Why doesn’t it bother Trump? Maybe because he can afford not to be bothered. Reports in the Wall Street Journal show that in just his first year in office, he and his clan have netted an estimated $4 billion.
Has any other president gone into the job for the money? Even Warren Harding, arguably the worst president before Trump, didn’t make a dime, though his corrupt buddies in the cabinet did. (Does the Teapot Dome scandal register with anybody anymore?) All Harding got out of being president was a state funeral when he died in office.
And despite this week’s apparent de-escalation, we still may find ourselves at war with our allies. After all, if Trump is unhappy with whatever “lebensraum” is offered in Greenland (or Iceland, since our president gets them mixed up), or the Danes refuse to play Czechoslovakia in their part of Munich 2, he may still decide to attack that chunk of ice, which is almost as big as South America.
Windsor may yet point cannons our way, and watching the Red Wings play the Maple Leafs and Canadiens may still become a thing of the past.
War is peace
Not to worry, you say, just pony up $1 billion to be on Trump’s “Peace Board,” a body Trump started to oversee reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, but has morphed into what the president says will be a global-conflict-resolving body, on which select nations like Russia and China can buy permanent seats for a hefty price tag. (Canada is not invited.) And what peace will we see on this board, which could include that well-regarded pacifist Vladimir Putin? And once Trump replaces the United Nations, as he says his Peace Board might do, will he handle the demolition of its building?
Since Trump clearly is now so rich he can afford not to care, we have to ask why so many of our fellow Americans aren’t appalled at the shocking things underway in our nation and our world.
For these actions — wantonly killing a mother of three, apparently trying to drive away from a bunch of ICE agents, defending her killer, forcing an older man to freeze in his underwear, essentially arresting a 5-year old, arresting protestors for protesting at a church (look up what happened to the protestors at a 1969 protest at Christ Church Cranbrook), to threatening war and economic turmoil against our closest allies — are not intellectual differences over matters of policy.
No, these are vicious acts. In many ways, cruel acts.
They are acts which tell the rest of the world that Americans are the bad guys now. Beware of us. We are no longer trustworthy. As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said to the Davos conference: The world we all lived in, enjoyed, and relied on, a world led by the United States economically, socially, defensively and in all aspects of art and science, is gone.
Who’s laughing now?
I wrote about this once before, when a week before the 2024 election, an Australian fellow said to me: “Do you understand that yours is the only country that matters? That if your economy fails, everyone’s economy fails; that if you cannot defend yourself no nation can defend itself; and if your democracy fails, no country has democracy?”
We are actually seeing all this chap’s greatest worries play out before us. Stunningly, so many of our fellow citizens don’t care; in fact, are okay with this happening. The world’s biggest Trump fan, Laura Loomer, proclaimed she wanted a king. Right-wing radio hosts have called for comedians making fun of Trump to be housed in concentration camps.
We are seeing active efforts to stifle free speech. Jimmy Kimmel got fired temporarily, let’s not forget. CBS, with its new Trump friendly editor-in-chief, blocked a report on persons deported to an El Salvador concentration camp (it was aired in Canada and other places, and has since been broadcast here). The Federal Communications Commission is attempting to force late-night and daytime talk shows to give equal time to right-wing politicians. Even teaching some aspects of Plato have been blocked at Texas A&M University. And Trump, of course, has repeatedly said it should be a crime to criticize the president (had that been a federal policy, he would have been jailed long ago for comments about Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden).
Two Americas
Many serious individuals today are distinctly concerned Trump may try to find a way to block this year’s elections. We’ve already seen calls to block voting by mail, or even end all absentee voting (which will be a problem for deep red states like Utah, where all voting is done by mail). And Trump persists in claiming he was robbed of the 2020 election.
Our history of election purity is blemished. Millions of people — Black folks — were denied voting rights for more than century. Congressional Democrats refused to certify the 1876 election, leading to a compromise in which Rutherford B. Hayes was certified as president, and the world of Jim Crow was allowed to continue.
But we have never before had a president who actively wanted to disrupt and effectively destroy our electoral system.
So, after helping rebuild the world following fascist dictatorships, helping feed millions of starving people (CARE packages? CARE stands for Concerned Americans for Relief of Europe), helping build democracies across the globe, having created an economy that, until now, was unrivaled, and building strong economies in our sister nations, we’re done. It seems we just want to sit back on our ample butts, crack a beer and happily sing “Bad Boys, Bad Boys.”
At least, it seems that way for some folks. Some of us still believe our past accomplishments should lead us to greater efforts.
We’ll see eventually whose visions prevails.
Free Press contributing columnist John Lindstrom has covered Michigan politics for 50 years. He retired as publisher of Gongwer, a Lansing news service, in 2019. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump’s Greenland threat defused, but crisis isn’t over | Opinion
Reporting by John Lindstrom, Contributing columnist / Detroit Free Press
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