“The 2020 U.S. presidential election [was] rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did,” President Donald J. Trump said Tuesday in Devos, Switzerland. “It’s probably breaking news, but it should be.”
He meant “not breaking news.” The “breaking news” part is his insistence on complaining about that loss in almost every public appearance.
The 2020 election was not rigged. Trump and allies filed 60 lawsuits; 30 were heard on the merits. All but one failed: “a single, inconsequential case in Pennsylvania.”
If you were an American listening to Trump ramble for one hour and 12 minutes at the World Economic Forum meeting, you had to be embarrassed. It had all Trump’s greatest hits: railing against windmills (mentioned seven times) and the “radical left;” Trump would have prevented Russia from invading Ukraine; core inflation is down to 1.6% (it was 2.6% in November and December); immigration is the death of Europe (you need “strong borders”); and Trump is NATO’s savior.
Trump mentioned Greenland 20+ times and Iceland four (he meant Greenland).
After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. But we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?
[…]
All the U.S. is asking for is a place called Greenland. Where were we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians and others in World War Two. We gave it back to them.
In 1916, the United States and Denmark agreed to the US buying what is now the US Virgin Islands, and Denmark, in turn, claimed sovereignty over Greenland. That’s the middle of WWI. And the US didn’t defeat that litany of nations in WWII: the Allies did.
During WWII, Denmark fell to Germany in 1940. Greenland was concerned about occupation by Canada, which was already in the war, and Norway. Greenland accepted US protection in 1940 and became a “de facto United States protectorate” in 1941 after the US entered the war. When the war ended, Greenland resumed its relationship with Denmark.
It always takes more words to refute a lie than state one.
There was the requisite mob boss line:
So we want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else. And we could have kept that piece of land and we didn’t sell.
They have a choice. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember. (emphasis added)
There was also the false claim that Americans “are very happy with me.” We aren’t. “A Washington Post average of polls in January finds 57 percent of Americans disapprove of how he’s handling the country.”
Trump did not receive a standing ovation like Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. That speech got under Trump’s skin. More mob boss lingo:
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland [on Wednesday]. “They should be grateful, also, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful. … Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Trump was announcing his withdrawal of his tariff threats and a conceptual agreement on the Arctic. The 10% tariff was to kick in on February 1.
The European Union meets on Thursday in Brussels for an emergency summit, with top European politicians having chosen to reach for their toughest language yet in response to US policy.
Trump stepping back from the tariff threat that had galvanised EU countries will take a large degree of tension out of the meeting.
But, they will want to know what exactly Trump and the Nato boss have concocted as a magic solution.
Stay tuned and don’t be surprised, whatever happens.
Trust has long left the building.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com