Trump and His Cronies Are Picking Stupid Fights All Over the World

Before Donald Trump, the idea of a diplomatic spat between Denmark and the United States would have sounded outlandish. Even more than many of its European peers, Denmark has historically placed a premium on its alliance with the United States. During the George W. Bush administration, for instance, it was one of only five Western European countries to sign up for the “coalition of the willing” supporting the Iraq War (along with the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy). Of those five, only Denmark and the United Kingdom actually made a military contribution that was more than symbolic.

Given this history, it’s a singular achievement of Trump’s foreign policy that he’s managed the previously unthinkable: making the Danes mad.

On Wednesday, the Danish foreign minister summoned Mark Stroh, the top US diplomat in Denmark, demanding answers about reports that three associates of Trump had been caught trying to foment a secessionist movement in the Danish territory of Greenland. Trump, of course,has repeatedly called for the annexation of Greenland by the United States and refuses to rule out a military invasion. But this was the first inkling that these plans were something more than bluster.

Responding to the Danish government’s anger, a White House official told CBS News, “We think the Danes need to calm down.” Good luck with that.

The Danish feud underscores that, even more than in his first term, Trump’s diplomacy is now little more than a mixture of relentless arrogance, bluster, and recklessness. Actually, calling what Trump and his crew are doing “diplomacy” isn’t quite right. Instead, they’re using the world stage to show off their swagger.

While this kind of bullying might impress the MAGA faithful at home, it makes the United States look more and more like a rogue superpower—a nation that still has to be appeased because of its remaining economic and military power, but can’t be trusted as an ally or even a stable fixture in global politics.

The Danes are not the only foreign government unnecessarily alienated by Trump. As the Associated Press notes,

Stroh is the second American diplomat to be summoned by a European NATO ally this week as the Trump administration shakes up its approach to foreign policy. France had called US Ambassador Charles Kushner to its foreign ministry after he sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.

The fact that Kushner is ambassador to France is itself an insult to a major ally. Kushner is both a nepotism hire (the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner) and a convicted felon who served time for a sordid scheme involving hiring sex workers to blackmail his brother.

And on Tuesday, Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkey, sparked even more outrage by telling reporters in a press conference in Lebanon to “act civilized” and not be “animalistic.” The Union of Journalists in Lebanon lambasted these remarks, accurately noting they “reflect a deep-seated colonial superiority toward the peoples of the region and constitute a blatant violation of the most basic principles of diplomatic etiquette.” Barrack made those comments after meeting the president of Lebanon, who apologized to the press for these remarks. In the face of a backlash, Barrack himself also apologized on Thursday.

The boorish behavior of Barrack and other diplomats mirrors that of the president. Strikingly, even when Trump wants to make a deal, as he seems to when it comes to ending the Ukraine/Russia war, he is incapable of doing the diligent engagement with allies and adversaries that is necessary for a successful negotiation. Writing in Foreign Policy, Harvard international relations professor Stephen Walt observes:

Trump is a terrible negotiator…. He doesn’t prepare, doesn’t have subordinates lay the groundwork beforehand, and arrives at each meeting not knowing what he wants or where his red lines are. He has no strategy and isn’t interested in the details, so he just wings it.

As we learned during his first term, when he wasted time on those irrelevant reality-show meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, all Trump really craves is attention, coupled with dramatic visuals that suggest he is in charge. The substance of any deal he might make is secondary if not irrelevant, which is why some of the trade agreements he’s recently announced are less favorable for the United States than he claims.