Here is the letter that Trump wrote to the Prime Minister of Norway. It has been verified by several sources including Norway’s Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre:
“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT
I don’t care what universe you reside in or what your political leanings are, that is bat shit crazy to the nth degree.
There must not be too many poker players in the Republican Party or in the majority of Republican voters. There are multiple strategies for playing poker. However, normally, the wisest action to do with a bad hand is to fold and wait for the next deal. Trump is the epitome of a bad poker hand, and, IMHO, the Republican Party is also, having descended into some alternate reality. Time to fold that bad hand known as Trump.
To me, the current Republican Party is the miscegenation of corporate capitalistic greed and elitist billionaires with the Christian Right. A Christian Right who would like to create a theocracy in this country, a theocracy that includes their own Christian brand of Sharia law. But then again, I have read enough history to know that Christianity, in all its guises, has frequently made unholy alliances with power and money.
Prosperity theology seems to be the dominant theme among the majority of American Christians, especially Evangelicals. A sign I have seen a few times is: If you are so damn smart, why ain’t you rich. An analog for this theology would be: If you are so damn righteous, why ain’t you rich. I truly believe the Christ I read about in the Bible would be preaching against such a theology.
One thing I have been wondering about is how are folks who voted for Trump last go around feeling about their vote now. Are they lamenting their choice, or are they happy with it?
I also wonder why folks voted Republican in the last election, given what the Grand Old Party has morphed into. I have some theories, but you knew that already:
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- The least offensive and the most naive is that they have always voted Republican. I dated a very nice lady from Dallas for several years. She was basically apolitical, but always voted Republican because her family had always voted Republican. Not a lot of thought required there.
- Greed. The upper small percentage of voters with the most wealth are more concerned about taxes – really not paying taxes – than other folks or the state of the country. If things get too bad, they will just reinforce the walls of their gated communities or move out of the country. Whatever happened to the philosophy of to whom more is given, more is expected?
- Greed. Again. This time corporate greed. Many corporations finance the Republicans hoping for less regulation, hoping to increase their bottom line, no matter the cost to everyone and everything else.
- Belief in the myth of Horatio Alger. Refer back to number 2 of this list. Most folks in the United States feel like they have the possibility of entering into the stratosphere of the elite rich and thus are willing to give tax breaks to the obscenely rich by voting Republican. They have about a good a chance of achieving this as they do of winning the lottery. Google it.
- Religion. Apparently what they are spewing from many pulpits is that Trump is the chosen agent of God. Chosen for what? Perhaps he is the agent that will spark the second coming of Christ, aid in setting up a theocracy in this country… only Baal knows.
- Racism and misogyny. This is my personal take on what happened last election. So many voters were so afraid of an amiable, intelligent, experienced woman of color that they voted for an elderly, narcissistic White guy with a shopping cart full of character defects that was showing the early signs of dementia long before election night. To me this is the most offensive and cynical reasons of this short, and incomplete list, but it is a close contest with number 5, although 5 is absolutely delusional. But then again so is number 4.
I first encountered this letter from Trump to the Prime Minister of Norway while reading Krugman’s SubStack newsletter: It’s Sundowning in America. It was appalling that a man of the stature of Paul Krugman would write such a piece. Not because of what he wrote, but that he needed to write such a piece. I applaud him for his continued honesty and cry for my once beloved country.
My hope is that a few Republicans will put country over party and be featured in a sequel to Profiles in Courage. I am not holding my breath.