ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

Trump Couldn’t Find Greenland On a Map. That Won’t Stop Him: Wolff

The president’s power-hungry administration has entered its imperial phase.

Opinion

The successful capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro—and, of course, Trump’s own starring role in the operation—has re-centered the White House. “It’s a new chapter,” one Trump insider explained, accepting that the no-foreign-wars White House and the geographically challenged president have entered their imperial phase. “We have a big stick,” Trump has been saying. “Nobody knows how we’re going to use it. We’re freaking everybody out. I’m unpredictable. I might do it. I might not do it. Nobody knows.” This, then, is the theory: By ramping up threats toward nations that would have no defense against U.S. military or economic power, they will willingly offer concessions and genuflection. In this, Trump gets to claim victory—a constant stream of victories, he foresees. It is a new foreign policy paradigm—not an existential face-off between superpowers, and that unsatisfying stasis, but superpower versus no power. Hence, Greenland. “Why?”—the United States already has a carte blanche military treaty and open invitation to exploit mineral resources—has quickly become “Why not?” With virtually no risk to American lives (or equipment, which Trump seems particularly focused on), and just some posturing and pronouncements, some “ownership” deal will be struck.

Click through to Michael Wolff’s HOWL to read more insight on what that deal means, and what comes next.