Is Donald Trump the Dumbest Block of Cheese in World Politics?

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Many of us said it as soon as Donald Trump got elected again — he was going to drive the USA’s standing in the world down so much that we’d never recover. It’s clear that the USA’s influence in the world has been on a slow decline and in a tenuous place for many years, but Donald Trump’s approach to international relations was so bad, so absurd, so counterproductive that we were in for a roller-coaster style drop. Also, the fact that we re-elected him after the first mistake and all the harm he did in his first term did away with the idea that it was a blip, or a mistake we’d never make again. Even after everything that happened internationally and domestically in his first term, he got back into office. That was the moment much of the world really started turning the page.

But did anyone see the extent of the self-sabotage that was to come? We’re only one year into this massive self-destruction in terms of our international position and Trump has talked repeatedly about making Canada the USA’s 51st state, has seriously proposed taking Greenland by military force, and is also engaged in who knows what down in South America. Well, he’s no longer threatening nuclear war with North Korea — I guess that’s a positive.

I put this title in an article draft a week and a half ago, but I don’t even remember what the article was going to be about. However, I knew it would be relevant again. Two weeks ago, before Trump did anything significant on the topic, I highlighted that Greenland may be top target of military intervention (invasion), because the psychopathic lunatic constantly by his side, Stephen Miller (and his wife), were clearly into the idea and had the opinion the US was going to head there next.

People who know this kind of thing is wrong and harmful to the US, but who want to have a more optimistic take on Trump and where this country is headed, are eager to say these threats are not serious, it’s just a negotiation tactic, and/or once we move past it, it’ll just be an isolated mistake that doesn’t have long-lasting consequences. Ha. That’s not how this works.

Trump has made it clear: our friends are now our enemies. Our alliances mean nothing. Our prior commitments — all of them — were written on wet paper and none of them really mean anything.

Well, the world is turning the page. I wrote yesterday about the need for an MLK Jr. type of character to rise up, but I didn’t realize how soon that would happen. Unfortunately, it’s not an American. It’s Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. If you haven’t listen to or read his speech to the world in Davos, you need to do so. It’s brilliant. One of the best political speeches I’ve seen in many years.

But it’s also depressing and chilling, because it tells us what we knew would happen, and why. The world is moving around the United States. Forget all the privilege we enjoyed for decades. Forget all the thanks for what we did to stop Nazism and dictatorships spreading in World War II. Forget other countries being afraid to go against our interests or go around them. We have become an unstable, irrational, unfair, unpredictable, and clearly dangerous bully. Let me highlight a few lines from Carney’s speech:

• “Let me be direct: we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”
• “You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.”
• “The question for middle powers, like Canada, is not whether to adapt to this new reality. We must. The question is whether we adapt by simply building higher walls — or whether we can do something more ambitious.”
• “Canada is calibrating our relationships, so their depth reflects our values. We are prioritizing broad engagement to maximize our influence, given the fluidity of the world, the risks that this poses, and the stakes for what comes next.”
• “To help solve global problems, we are pursuing variable geometry — different coalitions for different issues, based on values and interests.”

The message is clear: the world must build new alliances that go around the United States, that exclude the United States. Everyone can’t just be on the same disadvantaged, unlevel playing field where the USA makes the rules, blows the whistle, and gets an extra player or two. Instead of everyone making a deal with the US, more countries are going to make deals with each other and form groups that can negotiate more strongly against the US. If that wasn’t clear enough, here’s more:

“On plurilateral trade, we are championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union, creating a new trading block of 1.5 billion people. On critical minerals, we are forming buyer’s clubs anchored in the G7 so that the world can diversify away from concentrated supply. On AI, we are cooperating with like-minded democracies to ensure we will not ultimately be forced to choose between hegemons and hyper-scalers.

“This is not naive multilateralism. Nor is it relying on diminished institutions. It is building the coalitions that work, issue by issue, with partners who share enough common ground to act together. In some cases, this will be the vast majority of nations. And it is creating a dense web of connections across trade, investment, culture on which we can draw for future challenges and opportunities. Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”

It was clear that more and more countries were going to lean on China and partner with China as the US grew more unstable and destructive under Trump, but with the old man’s insane rantings and threats regarding Canada, Greenland, and others, we also now get a new response, a new phase in disconnecting from the US. “Middle powers” are going to unite more in order to gain more advantage over us. The EU just signed the European Union–Mercosur Partnership Agreement. Canada is clearly going to partner more with the EU and with Mercosur. It is also reorienting its relationship with China. Funny what threatening your neighbors and allies will do.

Vijay Govindan wrote the following earlier this week in response to another story on this global transition away from the United States: “45% of foreign direct investment into the US comes from Europe. Europe will slowly start selling their assets here, repatriate them to Europe. That means less demand and lower prices for US stocks, factories, bonds, and higher US interest rates. A boundary has been crossed for Europe.

“Greenland is the key for the techbros to break Europe and NATO. Europe told the techbros to go fish. The criminal, illegitimate President will continue the Greenland pressure as a distraction, as he runs from the many lies boomeranging back at him.”

Yikes. Indeed.

Wait until the results of all of these things start hitting. A speech is a speech. Pulling investments out of the US and avoiding future ones will hurt. Avoiding future economic partnership with the US will sting. Not picking up the phone when the US calls (sorry, new phone, lost number) will be sobering. “Oh, someone is attacking you? Sorry to hear that. Thoughts and prayers to you and your soldiers. Gotta go now, but good luck.”

It’s not just about international relations. The world saw the coup attempt when Trump was booted from office last time. They say the attempt to turn the United States into a dictatorship that didn’t have fair elections or respect the democratic transfer of power. And, no doubt, they see Trump’s moves to make a coup more effective next time. Speaking about the Insurrection Act, Trump has learned and noted “It does make life a lot easier. You don’t go through the court system. It’s just a much easier thing to do.” If I recall correctly, Trump lost 62 court cases in which he tried to overturn or block the results of the 2020 election. But if he invokes the Insurrection Act, he can take over the voting process and the process of counting the votes. He can stop an election, and the transfer of power. And how hard is it to engage in abusive, anti-democratic, inhumane actions around the country, stir up dissent, and then declare the need for the Insurrection Act and martial law?

If the US is going where it seems, who knows what to expect from the US economy? Better to disentangle oneself from it as much as possible and insulate oneself from its failings and decline ASAP.

Trump is struggling to maintain a Republican alliance, but he has proven time and time again that most members of his political party’s ruling class are spineless, corrupt people who can be bullied and bribed into submission. He has survived impeachment and survived what would have been immediate dismissals from the party and from US politics 15–20 years ago. Was threatening to take Greenland a step too far? I’ll believe it when I see it. More likely than not, he’ll just move onto another absurd distraction that hurts the country. And, again, who is going to expect that the US economy has a bright future when this is who we have leading the country?

Then we’ve got the series of absurdly false claims Trump made in Davos today, including:

• “Instead of building ineffective money-losing windmills, we’re taking them down and not approving any” (wind turbines are the second cheapest option for new electricity generation capacity globally now, only trailing solar panels — and most of the world knows this and knows Trump’s statement is idiotic).
• “Every major oil company is coming with us” to invest in Venezuela, Trump also said. That’s a blatant lie.
• He called nuclear power “cheap and safe,” even though it’s the most expensive option for new power capacity — multiple times more expensive than those “windmills” he mentioned above.
• Regarding China and wind turbines, he said, “They sell them to the stupid people that buy them. They don’t use them themselves.” China typically accounts for 65% to 75% of new wind power capacity additions globally now. Seriously — where is Trump getting his minsinformation?
• He went on and on with these claims, not realizing how much it made him look like a complete moron who had lost his mind.

I have to return to the title. Is Donald Trump the dumbest block of cheese in world politics?

Congratulations to Canada. You’ve got a real leader on your hands. Unfortunately, we have a psychopathic, demented arsonist down here who is constantly trying to burn down our house — and most of the neighborhood think he’s a genius and are cheering him on. Wish us luck, and enjoy your time with your new friends.