President Trump’s wildly overinflated ego and sense of self-importance is legendary at this point, and as his presidency unfolds he appears to be falling deeper and deeper into his delusions of grandeur.
That much was made clear when the Wall Street Journal‘s Rebecca Ballhaus reported on Thursday that President Trump has been expressing interest in buying the island of Greenland.
You read that right.
Greenland is a self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark and it’s unclear if they would be willing to let it go. The United States has already tried to buy the island twice, with President Truman offering $100 million back in 1946, but the Danes refused his offer.
Why we would want to buy it is another question entirely. It appears that our aspiring tyrant simply wants to do it just to say that he can:
One person described Trump’s interest in Greenland as less serious and more as a joke meant to indicate “I’m so powerful I could buy a country,” noting that since he hasn’t floated the idea at a rally yet, he probably isn’t seriously considering it. https://t.co/ukDBnGxlBZ
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) August 15, 2019
While he has reportedly talked about the idea with “varying degrees of seriousness,” he has directed his White House Counsel into looking into the idea, which is fairly significant.
Greenland is significant for strategic purposes, but the U.S. military already has “virtually unlimited rights” around the Thule Air Base. As the deficit spirals out of control thanks to Trump’s budget-busting tax bill, the last thing this country needs is a preposterous vanity purchase.
The president’s interest in Greenland appears to be mainly for his legacy. He needn’t be too concerned about that; his legacy as the worst president we’ve ever had is all but set in stone.
