Europe's elites are shocked - how dare he?
Well - let's take a look at this Denmark situation for one moment. It started when President Trump expressed tepid interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark - saying that it wasn't a front burner item - but that it was a concept he wanted to look into. And - just to be clear - this is not a crazy new concept that has never existed before on the planet. First - American leaders have expressed interest in Greenland more than once in decades past. Additionally, it is certainly not unheard of for nations to discuss the peaceful exchange of territories - as the United States has done with Canada over a detached section of Minnesota or Japan has done with Russia over the Kuril Islands.
Then the Danish Prime Minister - apparently so acclimated to the Eurosnob culture of disrespect towards the United States - and with the diplomatic delicacy and acuity of a rhinoceros - publicly denounced Trump's inquiry as "absurd" and stated that "I strongly hope this is not meant seriously." And this just weeks before his state visit.
Now - that being the case - would it not make sense from a Diplomacy 101 perspective for the Danish leader to relay that information privately - without insulting the leader of a major ally in public before your national press and the world? Granted - Trump's decision to cancel in the wake of her comments was abrupt (evidenced by the US Ambassador's tweet about the visit) - and it's a shame he could not still visit with the Danish Royal Family - but given how he was publicly embarrassed by Denmark's leader - what option did he really have? His tweets were actually remarkably polite and positive in contrast to the comments of the Danish PM - who then went on national television with a robotic series of platitudes about the great relationship that she just needlessly set-back by exhibiting the diplomatic skill of a dung beetle.
But hey - don't feel too bad for Madame Frederiksen: Not surprisingly - the Eurosnob betas and American Never-Trump media elites are circling the wagons and expressing the usual contrived shock over Trump's refusal to just eat their insults and keep stupidly paying for their defense like the clueless American sugardaddies of the past.
After all - it's always Trump's fault - facts don't matter - as evidenced by the phony grandstanding now being carried out by Obama's irrelevant ex-ambassador to Denmark - who is exploiting the incident to get what are likely to be his final 15 minutes of fame. At the end of the day - the Danish-American relationship will not change significantly on a day-to-day basis - but this is a prime example of poor diplomacy and European double standards.
UPDATE: Trump's latest comments and tweets are right on. Denmark's leader publicly mocked the inquiry as absurd - acted unprofessionally - and is part of a wider culture in Old Europe that takes the United States for granted - and (despite its relative wealth) feels completely entitled to shirk its spending responsibilities as part of NATO.
Endnote: We fully anticipate that PM Frederiksen will now be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Foreign Policy "Diplomat of the Year" award by her grateful idealogues-in-arms. Time Magazine Person of the Year could also be in the offing...At this point she is the front-runner for the newly created "Medienkritik Eurosnob of the Year" award...
Endnote #2: It looks like the two leaders made amends after PM Frederiksen put in a call to the White House and the President graciously took the call. This is a good ending.
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