U.S. President Donald Trump announced last night that he’s postponing a trip to Denmark next month because the Prime Minister of that country wasn’t interested in selling him Greenland. The president’s decision is bizarre, to say the least, but someone did warn us this might happen. Republican Senator Ted Cruz made some comments back in 2016 that are looking pretty prescient from the perspective of 2019. Cruz warned Americans that if Trump was elected president, he might nuke Denmark. Seriously.
Cruz’s old comments, which were made during the New Hampshire primaries in February of 2016, were recently highlighted by Craig Caplan, a producer for CSPAN. And Cruz’s words are kind of chilling, given the absolutely bonkers behaviour we’re witnessing by the current “leader” of the free world.
Senator Cruz said that Trump was throwing a temper tantrum, or a “Trumper tantrum,” he joked, after losing the Iowa caucus. One reporter noted that Trump had called Cruz a “cheater” and a “fraud” and asked if that bothered the Texas senator.
“Donald’s insults get more and more hysterical the more and more upset he gets,” Cruz told the reporter.
“I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald has tweeted, because he’s losing it. But we need a commander in chief, not a Twitterer in chief,” Cruz said. “We need someone with judgment and the temperament to keep this country safe. I don’t know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button.”
“I mean, we’re liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark,” Cruz continued. “That’s not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe.”
Cruz’s comment was clearly intended as a joke, but can anyone honestly say that it feels like a joke anymore?
Trump does very much have his finger on the button here in the year 2019. The U.S. president has the ability to launch a unilateral nuclear strike anytime he likes, and even though Cruz has become a lapdog for Trump, the Texas senator was absolutely correct that we should all be concerned.
Politicians in Denmark are beside themself with Trump’s decision to cancel his meeting with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen. Even conservative politicians are pointing out just how insulting it is for someone to ask if they can buy a part of your country. One Danish politician compared it to asking if Alaska was for sale.
As a Dane (and a conservative) it is very hard to believe. For no reason Trump assumes that (an autonomous) part of our country is for sale. Then insultingly cancels visit that everybody was preparing for.
Are parts of the US for sale? Alaska?
Please show more respect.
????????????????????????— Rasmus Jarlov (@RasmusJarlov) August 21, 2019
Trump is a national security threat to the United States, and it’s hard to overstate the damage he’s causing to relationships with crucial allies like Denmark.
Sadly, it’s only going to get worse before it gets any better. And the Democratic leadership are complicit in this damage as people like Nancy Pelosi refuse to hold impeachment hearings. Even if Trump loses the 2020 election, that means he’ll have two months as a lame-duck U.S. president. Watching Trump campaign with so much to lose is a horror show. Now imagine what he’d do with nothing more to lose.