MAGA means “Make American Great Again” but what is actually happening is “Making America Weak Again”.
The role of a national government is often described as needing to protect life, liberty and property or pursuit of happiness along with other elements that depend on the type of government. Nations that are strong do those things well. Nations that are great do them very well and do them with the success of their people in mind. Nations that are great understand that they live in a world with others. Nations that are great protect their people from foreign military adventures, from domestic and international criminals and government corruption. Their businesses are protected by strong laws securing property rights and by honest courts. They protect against unfair competition both at home and abroad. The great countries attract strong allies with whom they can share intelligence, markets and defense burdens. I assert that they also have a guiding moral direction that appeals to the people of other nations as well as their own and underlies the strength of their alliances.
Unfortunately, America is well on the road to weakness by squandering many of those assets.
President Trump is doing tremendous harm to America’s greatness, not making us great again.
It began with the refocusing of FBI, CIA, DEA, DHS and other agencies’ workers away from their intended jobs and toward immigration enforcement. While it is fine to find and remove undocumented immigrants, we also have to deal with drugs, murder, kidnapping, fraud, terrorism, espionage, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes at the national level. The staff that used to track those problems is now largely dedicated to chasing and deporting people who are for the most part law abiding citizens and productive members of the community.
Threatening to grab Greenland is making us even weaker. First, it is an appalling moral approach. He is saying to another sovereign country that he wants their land and they should concede because he likes real estate. Consider that Russia might want Alaska back or Mexico might want Texas, Oklahoma and the rest of the land we took from them. Or China makes the stronger case for Taiwan. Or for Japan. Or Australia. China can easily argue that they need Japan and Australia for security because they stand between the US and themselves.
Grabbing Greenland by any means seems likely to destroy NATO. We would then lose intelligence sources, allied troops and material, the European NATO members then would be occupied on two fronts – trying to keep Russia in check in the east and trying to figure out what we are doing in the west.
Leaving NATO would make the security of Greenland more tenuous. If NATO is not there to help us, as they were in Afghanistan and Iraq, we lose major military support. We lose trained and experienced winter and cold weather troops. We lose military equipment. We lose major sources of intelligence from the region where the Russian navy sails on its way to the Atlantic and to the Arctic Ocean. If we want to keep Greenland out of Russia’s hands, it is far better to combat them with a larger united force.
Greenland is causing more domestic disruption. It is another burden on Trump’s popularity and is beginning to affect his ability to accomplish his domestic agenda. (I’m in favor of his not succeeding with his domestic agenda but rationally his Greenland stance seems to work against it). On top of the turmoil caused by ICE and reaction to ICE, it is causing Republicans in Congress to push back. It is already being suggested by – Republicans! – that moving against Greenland could cause another impeachment.
It is also making China stronger. Countries that feel they can no longer depend on us for markets or support are turning to China. Mark Carney from Canada just visited China to build trade relations. Chinese exports to the US are down due to the tariffs but up overall as other countries have stepped up.
The chaos and domestic disruption could have an effect on US bonds. If lenders think they are facing more risk with American bonds, they will demand higher interest making it harder for us to sustain our debt and driving up the cost of mortgages. That’s a huge problem if it lasts beyond the current presidential term.
Just today, Trump threatened higher tariffs on our NATO allies who support Greenland’s independence. That promises even more costly European imports.
Lastly, the chaos and disruption in the US and Europe means less attention being paid by the already depleted foreign relations staff to Northern Africa and the Sahel and also to southeast Asia. When no one is watching the strongmen and militias and war lords, they are freer to do as they please which is good for no one. It was when no one was watching Al-Qaeda that 9/11 happened.
As I look at this, even considering that the US would have a huge expanse of land with rich minerals in areas, it looks like a weaker America. And a failed real estate deal.
This essay is also published on Karl’s Substack