Every day, the latest « Trumpery » [01] piles up on top of previous ones in the media lion’s den, transforming the Oval Office into a permanent reality TV set where outrage stands in for foreign policy. We had almost grown accustomed to the background noise of this pathological narcissism.

Red carpet treatment for friend Vladimir in Anchorage and a ban on entering the US for Thierry Breton!

But this week, the laughter has died down. Between the humiliation inflicted on Europe via the banning of Thierry Breton and this new predatory offensive against Denmark, the caprice has changed nature. It is no longer just angry tweets, but a full-blown attack on the foundations of our collective security. By treating a historic ally like a real estate target and trampling on European solidarity, Donald Trump is no longer just playing to the gallery: he has started, consciously or not, the countdown for the Atlantic Alliance.

Unless we must look for the cause of this fury elsewhere, in the sewers of American domestic politics. As the Epstein scandal resurfaces,[02] catching up with the man who was his « best friend for ten years, » this diplomatic war against Europe looks furiously like a smokescreen. Should we see this as a desperate attempt to divert attention from the rape accusations now weighing on him? With Trump, geopolitics is often merely the handmaiden of his judicial survival.

Twilight of the Allies: Greenland as NATO’s Graveyard

By appointing Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana, as “Special Envoy” with the explicit mandate of integrating Greenland into the United States, Trump has crossed the Rubicon.

1. The Art of the (Bad) Deal: From Louisiana to Greenland

The offensive is no longer a joke. By appointing Jeff Landry, the Governor of Louisiana, as « Special Envoy » with the explicit mandate to integrate Greenland into the United States, Trump has crossed the Rubicon. The symbolism is heavy: he is sending the governor of a territory once purchased from France to negotiate the purchase of a Danish territory, launching a veritable hostile takeover on the ice sheet.

Faced with this maneuver, cacophony reigns. Certainly, European solidarity is expressed on paper: Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Noël Barrot have reaffirmed their support for Danish integrity, and Ursula von der Leyen has recalled the principles of international law. But this shield of words poorly conceals a worrying paralysis. The attitude of Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, is revealing: by declaring he does not want to « drag NATO into this, » he implicitly validates the situation. This embarrassed silence shows the limits of the Alliance in the face of an internal conflict: NATO does not know how to react when the wolf is also the shepherd. Solidarity now stops where American real estate interests begin.

2. The Real Reasons: « Manifest Destiny » Resurfaced

The official argument— »national security » against Russia and China—is a decoy. With the Pituffik (Thule) base, active since 1951, and existing defense agreements, the United States already possesses the absolute military lock on the Arctic. The motivations are far more prosaic. For Donald Trump, geopolitics is merely an extension of the New York real estate market. Greenland is perceived not as a sovereign territory, but as an undervalued « asset, » rich in rare earth elements. It is the brutal return of « Manifest Destiny »: territorial expansionism as the sole marker of power.

3. The Frozen Gift: How Trump is Handing the Arctic to His Rivals

The tragedy is that this imperial vision offers a highway to his rivals. It is a strategic « kiss of death. » By fracturing the Western camp and humiliating his Nordic allies, Trump offers an unexpected opportunity to those he claims to fight.

• Moscow exults: Vladimir Putin can now point to American imperialism to justify his own militarization of the Arctic. His narrative is ready-made: NATO is not a defensive alliance, but a predatory structure. Russia is taking advantage of this to test the GIUK gap (Greenland-Iceland-UK), weakened by our dissensions.
• Beijing as the « White Knight »: Xi Jinping is playing a more subtle game. China can advance its economic pawns in Nuuk by presenting itself as the only partner « respectful » of local autonomy, filling the void left by Westerners tearing each other apart.

The timing of this offensive is troubling, not to say suspicious. It comes just as the US Senate was debating increased means to sanctuary the High North. By suddenly targeting these Scandinavian nations—models of integration and Ukraine’s most constant supporters—Trump is sabotaging his own camp’s strategy. How can we not suspect that « Russian magic » is once again operating in the White House, seeking to cut off supplies to Kyiv by destabilizing its most faithful sponsors at the most critical moment?[03]

4. The Nordic Paradox: What America Did, America Undoes

This is where History becomes ironic. In 1949, Sweden proposed a neutral « Scandinavian Defense Union. » This project was torpedoed by the United States, which demanded that Norway and Denmark join NATO. Today, 75 years later, Trump’s America is unwittingly recreating what it had prevented. Faced with the unpredictability of their « protector, » the Nordic countries are cementing the « Viking Bloc. » Thanks to NORDEFCO and the integration of their air forces (2023), they are building an autonomous rampart. This Northern Wall, initially conceived against Russia, must now serve as a political shield against the predations of the American ally.

To understand the gravity of the moment, one must look to Nuuk. The elections last March in Greenland were not just a local poll, but the survival vote of a people facing an empire that no longer wants to be an ally, but a landlord.

5. The Possible Response: Governing Allied Uncertainty

As Jérôme Denariez pertinently points out, « the real subject is not so much the territory as the dizzying situation where the ally becomes the primary factor of uncertainty.»

Beyond the Greenland case, this crisis poses an unprecedented existential question for chancelleries: how to govern when systemic risk no longer originates from the enemy, but from the friendly camp? Article 5 protects against external aggression, but no treaty makes provision for managing a protector turned predator. Faced with this « hostile takeover » transposed to the geopolitical stage, military levers are rendered ineffective. To survive this radical uncertainty emerging from within, Europeans are left with only asymmetry: utilizing law, economics, and narrative as weapons of deterrence. This is where Denmark and Greenland can apply a technique derived from the world of finance…

5.1 The “Poison Pill” Strategy

Faced with NATO’s paralysis, Denmark and Greenland are not defenseless. They can deploy a technique drawn from finance: the « Poison Pill, » to render the territory legally radioactive and unexploitable for Trump.

• The Constitutional Lock: Require « triple validation » (Local Parliament, local referendum, Danish referendum) for any cession, creating a ten-year legal quagmire.
• Environmental Sabotage: Sanctuarize rare earth zones as World Heritage sites or via strict ecological standards, making extraction illegal for US firms.
• The Indigenous Card: Mobilize the Inuit Circumpolar Council to qualify the purchase as a violation of indigenous peoples’ rights, making the operation politically toxic even within the USA.

Conclusion: Twilight of the Allies

The title of this article is not just a pun. The West is literally losing control of the geographic North, but it has above all lost its moral compass. Should we see a deliberate will to destroy NATO? No, Trump wants submission, not destruction. But the result will be identical. By placing the Alliance in this impossible situation, he reveals that European solidarity remains verbal. If NATO must disappear, it will not be under the tracks of Russian tanks, but through the inability of Europeans to say « no » to an America that no longer seeks allies, but vassals.

Joël-François Dumont

Notes

[01] See “Sheriff of the Apocalypse or Tsar’s Fool?” (2025-0311) — “Donald is always dressed to the nines, not for the sake of etiquette, but to better establish his persona, which he imagines to be legendary. You have to go to his fan shopto see what he sells: his name.” We could have known all this even before he became the 45th president. All we had to do was read a few books: those he is supposed to have written, such as The Art of the Deal, for example, but also a book published in 2016 by Laure Mandeville, “Who is Donald Trump Really?” published by Équateurs.

[02] See “The Sewer and Chaos: The Russian Connection in the Epstein Affair” by Françoise Thom in Desk Russie (2025-0728).

[03] See “The Russian Project for the United States” by Françoise Thom in Desk Russie — (2025-0329).

See also:

• « Le jour où l’Occident a perdu le Nord » — (2025-1225)
• « Der Tag, an dem der Westen den Norden verlor » — (2025-1225)
• « The Day the West Lost the North » — (2025-1225)
• « Danemark : Dans le viseur de Poutine » — (2025-1215)
• « Denmark: In Putin’s Crosshairs » — (2025-1215)
• « Dänemark: In Putins Fadenkreuz » — (2025-1215)

Decrypting: The Epstein Smokescreen

Trump’s offensive on Greenland is not coincidental: it serves as a massive media diversion. In the United States, the Epstein scandal is resurfacing and directly threatening Trump. No American, even among his MAGA loyalists, truly believes his denials: everyone knows he lied about his relationship with Epstein (“my best friend for 10 years”). Faced with this legal time bomb risking to blow up in his face (rape accusations), Trump needs to artificially create geopolitical earthquakes to saturate the media space and divert public attention.

The « Deep State » in Passive Resistance?

A crucial question remains: will the American state apparatus (Pentagon, CIA, State Department) follow this madness to the end? Nothing is less certain. In Washington, career military and diplomats know that the Thule base is too vital to be played at geopolitical Russian roulette. They are aware that a rupture with Denmark would blind American satellite surveillance at the North Pole.

We are likely heading towards an internal shadow war: meticulous administrative sabotage. The « Deep State » will likely attempt to bog down Trump’s demands in endless feasibility studies and complex legal commissions. Their goal? To buy time, discreetly reassure allies through backchannels (« Don’t listen to him, we’re holding the fort »), and prevent presidential caprice from transforming a major strategic asset into an irreversible diplomatic disaster. The real battle for Greenland may not be played out in Nuuk, but in the corridors of the Pentagon.