Venezuela? Next: Greenland, MY Greenland

Once Trump announced in an interview that only his internal moral values would limit his right to deploy military and other actions overseas, I shuddered… as did a number of Republicans in Congress. His request to increase the military budget by 50% (to over $1.5 trillion) only made my condition that much worse: “The huge boost likely reflects how expensive some of Trump’s military ambitions are, from the Golden Dome air defense effort to his call for a new battleship design. Neither of those programs could be fully funded under current spending levels.

“The president provided few details in his post on Truth Social, other than to say the money would pay for his ‘Dream Military.’ Trump did suggest that tariff revenues could cover the increase, but even if he managed to circumvent Congress’ constitutionally mandated power over spending, existing tariff collections would still be several hundred billion short of what the president plans to ask for.

“While finding half-a-trillion dollars in new spending would prove difficult, Trump and some congressional Republicans appeared confident they could do so. The budget reached $1 trillion this year thanks to $150 billion in new money Congress voted to pour into Pentagon coffers via a reconciliation bill, although much of that will be spread out over the next five years on various long-term projects.

“Lawmakers have yet to complete a defense spending bill for this fiscal year, although a final agreement is expected to increase Trump’s budget request by several billion dollars… Some Republicans have long argued for significant annual increases in Pentagon funding, with a topline total of around 5 percent of GDP, up from the current 3.5 percent.” Paul McLeary, Connor O'Brien and Joe Gould, writing for the January 7th Politico.

After the Germany was humiliated from the concessions, limitations and reparations after WWII, Hitler rose to power based on his pledge to ignore his treaty commitments and build a huge new modern army to seek “Lebensraum” (basically land in which to expand). He attacked his opponents, took control of media (“propaganda”) and exploded that world with self-aggrandizing stories about himself and his dream for Germany. He blamed cadres of religious, racial and ethnic groups for the ails of Mother German, many of whom were soon targeted for extermination. Thoughts of parallels in contemporary America sent horrific chills down my back.

That picture above, labeling Trump as “acting president of Venezuela” was Trump’s own tailored announcement to the world that he was in charge of any land he chose. There was no regime change in Venezuela… only the removal of a dictator and a seizure of massive amounts of oil. But Trump’s demand for Lebensraum is now targeting a territory of a very friendly NATO partner (Denmark), one where the US has been able to operate, with military bases, for decades. And Trump use force to take Greenland, NATO and all other Western alliances would collapse… and we would look just like Russia in its annexation efforts over Ukraine.

But Greenland has defied easy extraction of its vast mineral wealth by a combination of rough terrain and horrible weather. That Trump could pull his off even if he did invade and conquer Greenland is a stretch, as Matt Egan, writing for the January 12th CNN, points out: “‘We need Greenland … It’s so strategic right now,’ Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One earlier this month.

“‘We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not. If we don’t do it the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way,’ Trump said Friday [1/9] at a press conference with oil executives… Although Trump has recently downplayed Greenland’s natural resources, his former national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News in 2024 that the administration’s focus on Greenland was ‘about critical minerals’ and ‘natural resources.’… But the reality is that Denmark’s ownership of Greenland is not what’s stopping the United States from tapping the island’s treasure trove. It’s the punishing Arctic environment.

“Researchers say it would be extremely difficult and expensive to extract Greenland’s minerals because many of the island’s mineral deposits are located in remote areas above the Arctic Circle, where there is a mile-thick polar ice sheet and darkness reigns much of the year… Not only that, but Greenland, a self-ruling territory of Denmark, lacks the infrastructure and manpower required to make this mining dream a reality.

“‘The idea of turning Greenland into America’s rare-earth factory is science fiction. It’s just completely bonkers,’ said Malte Humpert, founder and senior fellow at The Arctic Institute. ‘You might as well mine on the moon. In some respects, it’s worse than the moon.’.... Despite its name, approximately 80% of Greenland is covered with ice. And mineral extraction — or just about anything — in the Arctic can be five to 10 times more expensive than doing it elsewhere on the planet.”

Will he hit Iran to save all those protestors that are being killed… while pursuing a similar form of repression here, over obvious ICE excesses? A President who does not think we should not have elections should lead our country? Does a man who seems to be able sleep while standing up, who forgets his own words and is obsessed with planting his name (while erasing or minimizing others) on as many buildings and monuments he can and has serious mental and physical lapses… one who is putting the signature economic system of central bank independence, literally the financial backbone of our nation (the Federal Reserve) at risk – with serious consequences for our entire monetary and fiscal foundations (as the market plunge after his attack of Fed Chair Powell proves)… seem like the likely leader we need, telling the world he has no restraints on overseas actions, with an extra half trillion dollars in his military budget?

I’m Peter Dekom, and if Congress cannot stop his descent into egomaniacal stupidity, we may just be done as a democracy.