It’s no secret that Donald Trump is a bullying, anti-democratic, wannabe dictator who will use America’s military and economic might in any way he chooses.
And so, as Donald Trump takes his, uh, big stick to Davos, he has made his intentions clear. I’m not sure how to put those intentions in order, but here’s at least part of his to-do list as he comes to break bread — and maybe some heads — at the annual Swiss meeting of megabillionaires, world leaders and other assorted elites:
- Humiliate his European allies. In fact, dare them to stand up to him. Just look at these memes, here and here, that Trump posted on Truth Social as an exercise in middle-school juvenilia.
One has Trump, with JD Vance and Marco Rubio in tow, planting a U.S. flag in Greenland. The other has world leaders joining Trump in the Oval Office, looking at a map of the United States that includes — yes — Canada, Greenland and Venezuela. Funny, huh?
Want early access to
Mike’s columns?
Subscribe to get an
exclusive first look at
his columns twice a week.
- Upend NATO, which Trump has always despised, maybe because the NATO treaty demands, you know, cooperation.
- Upend the world order. His plan is to establish and, of course, lead something called the “Board of Peace,” which was originally meant to be part of a plan to oversee Gaza. Now Trump, who has set a billion-dollars-in-cash enrollment fee, wants to use the Board to involve itself in worldwide conflicts. Does it sound like he wants to take on the United Nations?
- Show that, like his buddy Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine, Trump’s obsessions — including his thwarted desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize — must also be the world’s obsessions. He told reporters Tuesday the fact that he didn’t win the prize is a “joke.” The real joke is that he accepted the award from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, as only a bully would, even knowing the award is clearly not transferable.
- Mostly, though, he’s there to grab Greenland from longstanding ally Denmark — by bullying European leaders with the further threat of tariffs, by threatening the use of U.S. military might, by (see above) humiliating those who would oppose him.
Asked at a news conference in Davos how far he is willing to go in his pursuit of Greenland, he said quickly, before moving to another question, “You’ll find out.”
Why is he doing this? Well, why does Trump do anything? Because he knows no one will stop him.
See: Trump’s violent takeover of Venezuela, where he is now free to steal their oil and, meanwhile, snub the dissidents who have risked their lives to oppose Nicolás Maduro.
See: Trump’s naked desire to go after Canada, maybe Mexico, maybe Colombia next. When asked by reporters if the Panama Canal is still in his sights, he said, laughing, “Sort of. That’s sort of on the table.”
See: Trump’s war in Minnesota, where he threatens to prosecute Democratic leaders and, of course, send the U.S. military next to reinforce his jackbooted ICE thugs and to defend the state from “domestic terrorists” like that mother of three, Renee Good.
See: Trump’s war in Colorado, where his obsession with freeing election grifter Tina Peters — the last MAGA prisoner — has led him to stealing bread directly from poor Colorado children’s mouths and clean water from 50,000 people, among other atrocities.
OK, sure, but why is he doing it?
One, because he didn’t win the Nobel, meaning he’s given up on peace — he says he’s solved “8 Wars PLUS” — and switched over to world dominion, or least dominion over what he sees as his part of the world. Let China and Russia divide the rest between them.
I’m sure you’ve seen the text that Trump sent to Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. It’s worth repeating in part — here’s the full text conversation — because it represents Trump’s take on foreign policy, and it’s also hallucinatory:
“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.”
He went on to say there were no “written documents” giving Denmark rights to Greenland, although there are, including ones signed by the U.S. that give it full access to Greenland to build as many bases there as it wants.
He adds: “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
See if you can follow the logic here. Because Norway — actually the Nobel Board of Directors, which is independent of the Norwegian government — didn’t give Trump his Nobel for however many wars he actually stopped, he’s basically giving up on peace and ready to wrest Greenland from Denmark, which, as it happens, is an entirely different country from Norway.
Let’s assume Trump knows that. Or not. Let’s assume he knows that a treaty assures the U.S. it can fortify the island in defense from Russia or China or anyone else who might want it. Or not.
Or maybe there’s a deeper reason, as told by Trump to Susan Glasser and Peter Baker in 2021, for a book the wife-and-husband team were writing about Trump in exile at Mar-a-Lago.
When the reporters, who work for the New Yorker and New York Times, respectively, asked Trump why he wanted to buy Greenland, Trump said he saw it as a business deal.
Trump’s reply: “I said, ‘Why don’t we have that?’ You take a look at a map. So I’m in real estate. I look at a corner, I say, ‘I gotta get that store for the building that I’m building,’ etc. You know, it’s not that different. I love maps. And I always said, ‘Look at the size of this, it’s massive, and that should be part of the United States.’ ”
It was big and Trump, who loves things that are bigly, wanted it. End of story?
Greenland wasn’t a big story then — more like one of Trump’s musings, which began, we’re told, at the urging of billionaire buddy Ronald Lauder — but it is a serious story now, and when Trump was asked this month by a group of New York Times reporters why he needed to own Greenland rather than just deploy forces to defend it, he offered this updated version:
“Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success.”
When asked if he meant psychologically important for himself or psychologically important for the country, he said, “Psychologically important for me.”
In other words, it’s psychologically important for Trump to have his season of imperial conquest. And who will stop him?
From Europe, we hear talk — mostly low key — of possible retaliation for Trump’s tariff threats. France’s Emmanuel Macron encouraged the European Union to potentially use the trade bloc’s so-called “trade bazooka,” which could presumably deny U.S. access to parts of the European trade market. Trump said Macron would back down as soon as he put a 1,000% tariff on French Champagne.
Even British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump’s European BFF, complained about Trump’s tariff threats to Europe. That led Trump to bash Britain for giving up its colonial-era sovereignty of Diego Garcia and other Indian Ocean islands in 2024, but keeping an important British-American base there. Trump, in his way, called it an “act of great stupidity.”
Naturally, Trump treats European objections with contempt, as signaled by his treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, who told reporters at Davos, “I imagine they will form the dreaded European working group” in reply.
And yet Trump is backing down — a little, saying he’s still willing to buy Greenland rather than use force. That was his original offer he thought no one could refuse. But Greenland, of course, is not for sale. Denmark doesn’t want to sell it. And Greenland, as every poll and every anti-U.S. demonstration indicates, doesn’t want to become part of the United States. It’s apparently not even legal for Denmark to sell it, not that a little illegality would bother King Donald of Orange.
If they don’t sell it — Trump insists the tariff threat will force their hand and, in the end, everyone will be happy with a deal — what will Trump do?
Here’s the message that Trump wants everyone in Davos, everyone in the still-compliant Congress, everyone in the world to understand:
When asked recently if there are any limits on his global powers, Trump answered, “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
To which the world’s reply so far is basically this: God, or somebody, help us.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.