Jim Beam column: Trump is ‘going off deep end’
Published 6:07 am Wednesday, January 21, 2026
The more we read about President Donald Trump’s pursuit of taking over Greenland, the crazier the story gets. In a message to Norway’s prime minister, Trump linked his insistence on taking over Greenland to his grievance over not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump said, “Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
It has been explained to Trump that it is up to the Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government, to award the annual peace prize.
The Washington Post says this latest episode has added a new twist to Trump’s stoking of a trade war that is shaking NATO, the transatlantic alliance. The European nations involved are Britain, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden
Trump’s bid to buy or seize Greenland — effectively a demand to grab a NATO ally’s territory against its will — and to unleash a trade war with European leaders who disapprove, has sparked the greatest transatlantic crisis in generations.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday it would be “completely wrong” for Trump to slap tariffs on European nations in his push for Greenland — even as Starmer sought to preserve the relationship with the United States, which is vital to European security.
French President Emmanuel Macron has likened Trump’s declaration to a form of “intimidation.” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described it as blackmail. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, called it a “mistake.”
Trump has questioned the “ownership” of Greenland by Denmark, a NATO ally, and repeated his ambition for the U.S to take “complete and total control” of the autonomous Danish territory.
Trump has said controlling Greenland is necessary for national security reasons — a point disputed by allies and some members of Congress who rebutted the president’s claim that the Arctic territory faces imminent security risks from Russia and China.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, appeared to stir the pot by telling reporters that by taking action on Greenland, Trump stood to make history one way or another. Peskov said he would not comment about “our plans regarding Denmark and Greenland.”
NATO members recently sent troops to Greenland for joint exercises with the Danish military. European leaders cast the deployment as a sign of NATO’s commitment to protecting the Arctic.
Meanwhile, some Senate Republicans are vowing to block any effort by Trump to seize Greenland by military force.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said, “I’m going to remind them (administration officials) that we have co-equal branches of government and I believe that there [is a] sufficient number of (congressional) members, whether they speak up or not, that are concerned with this.”
News reports say Republican lawmakers are showing the most strident opposition to almost anything the Trump administration has done since taking office.
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, told The Associated Press, “When the most powerful military nation on earth threatens your territory through its president over and over and over again, you start to take it seriously.”
Key Republicans have made it clear they think that forcibly taking Greenland is out of the question. But so far, they’ve avoided directly rebuking Trump.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a resolution last Thursday that repudiates Trump’s threats to seize Greenland and warns that any U.S. military action involving the Danish territory would require Congress’s approval.
The nonbinding measure is led by Sens. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Reps. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Don Bacon, R-Nebraska. It affirms U.S. respect for the sovereignty of Denmark and Greenland and contradicts recent statements by senior administration officials suggesting the United States could seek control of Greenland, including by force.
Khanna said, “It’s time for Congress to wake up and do its job. This is a moral test for America and we have a responsibility to keep Americans out of dumb foreign wars and honor our relationships with our NATO allies.”
Charles Mosley of Morgan City in a Monday letter to The Advocate told Greenlanders what they should tell Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, Trump’s special envoy, when he gets to Greenland.
Mosley told them to tell Landry what Louisiana youths say, “We good.”
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at jim.beam.press@gmail.com.
