‘Trump has reached exhaustion after the first year, and is asking for impossible things'

Read time: 4 mins

In brief…

• Donald Trump referred to Greenland as Iceland on several occasions during his address to world leaders at the Davos conference, veering off script to criticise Europe.
• The News Agents say he shows the signs of a man struggling with “exhaustion” after a year in office, and no longer knows what he wants for America, or indeed himself.
• He does, however, want Greenland as his own, and there are fears growing that Canada will be next on his “expansionist” agenda.

What’s the story?

It was all going so well. For a few moments during Donald Trump’s speech at Davos he appeared to stick to the script, to the words in front of him on the autocue.

But then, as the US president is known so well to do, he went off on a typically hostile and aggressive ramble about Europe.

During his Davos speech, Trump claimed people in Europe would be speaking German if not for America’s involvement in the Second World War, that Europe is “not even recognisable” to his friends, and that Denmark is “ungrateful” for the US allegedly returning Greenland after WWII.

He also repeatedly referred to Greenland as Iceland, a different country entirely.

Greenland was a key focus of his address, as he repeatedly stated his intention to make it part of America – in front of many of the countries and world leaders who stand firmly against his expansionist ambitions.

Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel had two entirely different takeaways from Trump’s speech.

To Jon, it was the sound of a "Mafia gangster boss making his demands", to Emily it was a man who was "bored and not really sure what he was speaking about."

Either way, they estimate he stayed on script for a maximum of ten minutes before veering off into threats and nonsense.

What this tells us about 'where Trump is mentally'

Emily believes his current obsession with Greenland is because he believes he is "done" with Venezuela and has "sorted out" the Middle East.

It may also be the Epstein files, and how the date to make those public passed more than a month ago, which means he's so focused on his Greenland plan.

"He talked about putting a 'golden dome' in Greenland, a missile defence shield," Emily says.

"He doesn't need to own Greenland to do that.

"If there was a real security threat from China or from Russia, he can already do that. America has the power to build, to put in, whatever they want in Greenland for security reasons."

He also referred to Greenland, which spans more than two million square kilometres as a "little piece of ice that he wants" – and Emily adds this tells the world "where he has got to mentally".

"This is a man, I think, who's reached exhaustion after the first year, doesn't quite know what he wants. Is just asking for impossible things," she says.

Greenland now, Canada next?

Donald Trump, and his social media team, are experts in online trolling, says Jon, but a recent post on his own Truth Social network – showing Greenland and Canada emblazoned with the US flag – had a chilling message in the current climate.

There are fears that following the capture of Venezuela, the plans to take over Greenland, it will be the land across America's northern border that he will try to seize next.

"Sure, he wants this piece of land now, and then he might want another piece of land," Jon says.

"He is expansionist at the moment."

The real question, he adds, is how much the people of America really care about Trump's plans to expand America's borders.

"They want to focus on the state of the economy and affordability and all those other things – which Donald Trump says he has cured," Jon adds.

"If you look at his approval ratings, he is way less popular now than he was when he became president, his ratings are underwater.

"There is a net negative for him, and he's doing badly."

A new poll shows that 61% of Americans have a poor opinion of Trump, with the net approval of his second term sitting at -19.

Invasion off the table – but how will that work?

During his Davos address, Trump suggested that a full-scale invasion of Greenland, to take it by force, was now off the table.

But this, Jon says, is a "classic Trump negotiating technique" – to demand everything, and then expect the other side to be relieved when he only takes a little.

But short of Denmark and the EU rolling over to hand it to him, the methods of his plan to own Greenland seems deeply uncertain.

"Today Trump is saying 'no invasion', but he still clearly, absolutely wants it," Jon says.

"I don't know how he gets from A to B, and I don't think any of us know that yet."

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.