And why Greenland?

"What we are seeing in this runup to the term of the 47th president is only a sampling of what will happen post January 20th. Where is the real important stuff in our country happening right now? Not the White House. Try Mar-a-Lago."

I have always been fascinated by the country of Greenland. Putting its Cold War strategic location aside, I love the name (even though there is not much green on this huge ice sheet), love how the people live (most fish), and up to recently, love how forgotten this massive island was from the rest of the world. Greenland, whose population on this huge island is less than St. Cloud Minnesota, has become of great interest to Russia and China, only because of what might be contained under their ice cap. Now this very large island with a very small population, might be a major player going forward in world politics. 

There are some odd facts about Greenland for sure. Hard to get to, as most flights need to go to Iceland or Denmark first and then catch a hop over to Nuuk (the capital of Greenland). Technically, it still belongs to Denmark, even though the folks who live in Greenland are ready for independence. It is part of North America, even though it still has strong ties with the Euro Zone. So why, oh, why then, has Donald Trump stirred up such a dust storm wanting to buy Greenland? 

Probably for similar reasons to why Donald Trump wants Canada to be a closer part of the United States. Wait - you mean when he told Justin Trudeau that Canada should be our 51st state? Trump, the negotiator was playing with young Justin. And he is playing with Greenland (sort of). Do we really want to buy both Canada and Greenland? Sure, if they were for sale at the right price. But they are not. There is, however, opportunities to move both Canada and Greenland MUCH closer to the US in trade and military security. Just like how the PI has become closer to the US with the recent adventurism of China, both Canada and Greenland could cuddle up to Uncle Sugar for mutually beneficial reasons.

During his first term, Trump joked about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland. I mean, what good is Puerto Rico to us these days, other than being a great vacation spot? Again, that was just Trump poking some fun back in those days. But the big game is as follows for what he has said about Panama, Canada and Greenland. We need to stiffen up our presence, our military alliances, and our trade posture with all of them. China has been sniffing around Panama, and we need to counter that - like yesterday. If anybody can sweeten the pot for all three countries, Donald Trump can.

What we are seeing in this runup to the term of the 47th president is only a sampling of what will happen post January 20th. Where is the real important stuff in our country happening right now? Not the White House. Try Mar-a-Lago. But is there a fly in the ointment? Sure - there always is. This time around the fly is the Republicans in the House. Even though they barely scratched out a majority this past election, the circular firing squad is at the ready. If Speaker Johnson is ousted, and the Speakership goes vacant for a while, we are screwed. Trump is screwed. What do the Republicans need to do? Grow up for a start. Face reality. To counter the Democrats, they need to stick together like glue - or like the Democrats do.

Once we get non-stop flights going into Greenland, the missus and I might like to visit there. Why? Because we can. And also, to keep Greenland strong economically, Greenland will need more tourism. That is what economic partners do.