It’s Monday…
President Shitshow’s public schedule for…
CBS Sports (01/18/2026): The 2025 college football season is nearing its conclusion as the final game will take place Monday night in Miami when No. 10 Miami faces No. 1 Indiana in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship. The Hoosiers are seeking their first title in program history, while Miami is looking to claim its first championship since 2001.
Where to watch:
I’m sure the center of attention will attempt to make the event all about him.
Greenland
Let’s start by stating the obvious. The President is a whack job. His push to take Greenland is not normal. He is not normal. And Republicans in Congress are failing us by pretending this is just another quirky headline instead of what it actually is: a warning flare. And his own cabinet is treating this like routine business, as if threatening to absorb another country is just part of a busy Tuesday in American governance.
On Saturday, the Whack Job announced that since Greenland doesn’t want to be part of the United States, he will punish Americans by raising tariffs on February 1st. Not Denmark. Not Greenland. Us. Because nothing says “strong global leadership” like retaliating against your own country when a foreign nation declines your imperial daydream.
Image of the text:
The tariff threat:
Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.
Whack Job. 01/17/2026.
Whack Job still doesn’t understand how tariffs work.
150 years the US has wanted Greenland:
The United States has been trying to do this transaction for over 150 years. Many Presidents have tried, and for good reason, but Denmark has always refused.
Whack Job. 01/17/2026.
Last week, during his remarks about getting Greenland “at all costs” and claiming that the U.S. has been attempting to acquire Greenland “forever,” I went to Google to determine the facts versus Whack Job’s whacky statements.
USA TODAY (01/12/2026) asked in its headline whether Trump is the first president to try to acquire Greenland. The answer is no, but it’s also not the comfortable “this happens all the time” story they imply. Only one other president, Harry Truman in 1946, ever made a formal offer. The rest were exploratory memos, ambassadorial brainstorming, and expansionist daydreams by government officials.
In other words, this is not some recurring presidential tradition. It is a historical outlier. And unlike Truman’s Cold War calculus, this one comes wrapped in public tantrums and threats aimed at Americans themselves.
- In 1867, then-U.S. Secretary of State William Seward led the acquisition of Alaska from Russia, purchasing the largely unexplored piece of land for $7.2 million, as recounted by the U.S. Office of the Historian. With an interest in northern expansion, Seward began looking at Greenland. And in 1867, he ordered a survey of the country, which resulted in a detailed report published the next year. The report indicated Greenland had promise as a large island with abundant natural resources, from wildlife, whale blubber and coal, as outlined by the document available online. But Seward’s desire to acquire Greenland remained just that. The government official received widespread backlash for his acquisition of Alaska, as many didn’t understand what the landscape offered, which didn’t help in his case to purchase up Greenland. However, Seward’s Alaskan purchase would prove fruitful in 1898, with the onset of the Klondike Gold Rush, when more than 100,000 prospectors flocked to the area.
By 1910, another plan to acquire Greenland was in the works, but the United States needed outside help.
On Sept. 20, 1910, U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Maurice Egan penned a letter to the U.S. State Department, outlining a plan to acquire Greenland with the aid of Denmark and Germany. In his letter, available on the U.S. Office of the Historian website, Egan proposed the following:
USA TODAY (01/12/2026).
- Denmark surrenders Greenland to United States.
- The United States, in return, gives southern group of the Philippines, including Islands of Mindanao and Palauan, to Denmark.
- Denmark surrenders Philippine islands to Germany.
- Germany, in return, gives Denmark back a part of Schleswig-Holstein, which Germany acquired in 1864.
In the letter Egan noted the audaciousness of the plan which apparently the US State Department felt the same way as this plan never materialized.
In 1946; the United States tried once more to acquire Greenland, this time offering Denmark $100 million in gold for the world’s largest island, as reported by History, previously History Channel. But Denmark rejected it.
Though Denmark didn’t accept the offer of $100 million in gold, Denmark did allow the United States to establish Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base) in northeastern Greenland in 1951, according to travel resource Visit Greenland. At the peak of the Cold War the air base housed 10,000 American troops, as reported by History.
USA TODAY (01/12/2026).
In 1955 Eisenhower’s Joint Chief of Staff recommend the US acquire Greenland; Following the construction of Thule Air Base, the United States continued to discuss a potential acquisition of Greenland. Several memos drafted by the then Joint Chiefs of Staff, the most senior officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, recommended that former President Dwight Eisenhower try again to purchase Greenland from Denmark.
Eisenhower never made an official offer to purchase Greenland.
TL;DR – What the record actually shows:
• In 1867, Seward explored the idea during his expansionist spree after Alaska. It never became a presidential offer.
• In 1910, a U.S. ambassador floated a wild land-swap proposal. Again, not a president.
• In 1946, Truman did authorize an official offer. That’s the one real presidential attempt.
• After that, it’s staffers, memos, and think-pieces. No formal offers. No Oval Office push.
Bottom line: only one other president ever made a bona fide offer. Everything else is bureaucratic noodling dressed up as destiny.
On Sunday, the Whack Job continued to lie about Greenland.
There is no evidence to suggest that NATO, or anyone else, has been telling Denmark for “20 years” that it must “get the Russian threat away from Greenland.” No policy papers. No NATO statements. No historical record. What exists are media outlets repeating his words, not verifying them.
As if the “Lies Social” posts weren’t enough to show how unhinged the sitting President has become, PBS reported over the weekend on the existence of a letter sent in his name to European leaders. The report notes that the letter was circulated among multiple diplomats in Washington. Separately, Danish newspapers are confirming that the letter is legitimate.
NEW: @potus letter to @jonasgahrstore links @NobelPrize to Greenland, reiterates threats, and is forwarded by the NSC staff to multiple European ambassadors in Washington. I obtained the text from multiple officials:
— Nick Schifrin (@nickschifrin) January 19, 2026
Dear Ambassador:
President Trump has asked that the…
Image of the Tweet:
VG.No (01/19/2026). Translated by google:
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) confirms the message to VG:
– This is a message I received yesterday afternoon from President Trump. It came in response to a short message to President Trump from me earlier in the day, on behalf of myself and the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, he says.
In the message, Støre and Stubb asked the American president for a conversation.
[snip]
Støre explains the background to the message:
– In our message to Trump, we conveyed our position against his increased tariffs against Norway, Finland and other selected countries. We pointed out the need to de-escalate the exchange of words and requested a phone call between Trump, Stubb and me during the day. The response from Trump came only shortly after we had sent the message. It was Trump’s choice to share the message with other leaders in NATO countries, he tells VG.
– Norway’s position on Greenland is firm. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark in this matter. We also support NATO’s responsible strengthening of the work for security and stability in the Arctic. Regarding the Nobel Peace Prize, I have repeatedly clearly explained to Trump what is well known, namely that it is an independent Nobel Committee, and not the Norwegian government, that awards the prize.
VG.No (01/19/2026).
Berlingske has a live update thread on new developments. They say that the message sparked Whack Jobs whacky response is as follows:
Message to “Dear Donald” sparked startling response – here is the Norwegian Prime Minister’s message
Norwegian VG now brings the full text of the message that prompted US President Donald Trump to send a startling response to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
The message was sent at 3:48 p.m. on Sunday, January 18.
It is signed “Alex and Jonas” – and “Alex” refers to the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb:
“Dear Mr. President, dear Donald – about the contact across the Atlantic – about Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine – and your customs announcement yesterday.
You know our position on these issues. But we believe that we should all work to de-escalate this – there is so much happening around us where we need to stand together.
We suggest a call with you later today – with both of us or separately – give us a hint about what you prefer!
Best regards – Alex and Jonas.«
Berlingske. 01/19/2026.
Bloomberg reported this morning that Danish officials have decided they will not attend Davos where Whack Job is expected to speak on Wednesday.
Danish officials have decided not to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this week amid an intensifying dispute over Greenland that’s shaking transatlantic relations https://t.co/ZNfLi5VoFs
— Bloomberg (@business) January 19, 2026
The Bloomberg article is paywalled. The diplomatic damage is not.
This is an open thread
