Every year around this time in New England, there is a subtle but instantly discernible change in the weather. The temperatures may say “summer,” as might the trees still decked with leaves, but there is something in the air—a budding crispness, fresh scents, valedictory echoes—that tells us that a change is nigh.
Read more Trump Secures Permanent Military Foothold in Greenland Deal
There is a kindred phenomenon, I have noticed, that heralds a shift in the political weather. For the last several months, the narrative has been building that Donald Trump’s fortunes have turned. The polls bode ill for GOP victories in the midterms. The war in Iran is a disaster. The president’s legacy, we are told, is in jeopardy. The wheels are coming off the MAGA express. That wheezy suspiration you hear is the sound of establishment Republicans gratefully scuttling back to their altars of irrelevance and dignified failure. They are joined by the media, the Democrats, and the squamous denizens of the deep state who have been telling us that the “walls are closing in on Trump” for years. Now, finally, at long last, they think that the blessed deadly movement is happening.
I think that they are wrong. Just as their narrative of collapse was reaching its denouement, the president has forged ahead with a supervening counter-narrative. Everywhere one turns, there are lists of Donald Trump’s accomplishments during the first year and a half of his second (recognized) term. The 25-item list that President Trump himself just released is pretty impressive. It begins with the border—“ZERO illegal aliens admitted to the United States in the past 16 months”—moves on to taxes—“the largest tax cuts in American History”—the economy, the military, and all the DEI, transgender crud that has been besmirching academia, corporate lifestyles, and sports. “Abolished all discriminatory ‘Diversity, Equity, Inclusion’ (DEI) policies throughout the federal government and private sector”; “Banned MEN from playing in women’s sports”; “Banned transgender ideology and critical race theory in our schools.” All in all, a very good showing for eighteen months. And this leaves out of account his stunning successes in Venezuela—“Captured and brought to justice the outlaw dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro”—and Iran—“Obliterated Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity with Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury to ensure Iran will NEVER have a nuclear weapon.”
As I write, the chihuahuas of the Fourth Estate are enraged by the president’s announcement that scribes from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are no longer welcome at White House press briefings. “I am proud to announce,” President Trump wrote, “that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico. . . . Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”
Oh dear, oh, dear. There is plenty of fletus et stridor dentium being expended over that bulletin. The trouble is, purveyors of the counter-narrative were instantly on the spot and, like diligent firefighters, they extinguished the incipient fires. Donald Trump denied press credentials to some outlets that are ostentatiously hostile to his agenda. Well, la-dee-dah. Did you know that Joe Biden cancelled the press credentials of more than 400 reporters? Yep. There wasn’t much outrage then, nor was there an abundance of obloquy when it was discovered that CNN, Politico, and MS were among the outlets that refused to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
That tempest in a tiny Asian teapot is not going anywhere, which tells you something. But it barely catches the northern breezes of the president’s latest (as of this afternoon, anyway) announcement concerning Greenland, the great, sparsely populated land- and ice-mass to the east of northern Canada. Quoth POTUS:
I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns. There will be NO COST to the United States! At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America. Additionally, from now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval. . . . We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many. We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction. This solution is a great one for the United States of America, Denmark, Greenland, and all of our Allies. (My emphasis.)
Remember all those twisted knickers when, last January, President Trump announced his plans to annex Greenland. What was more comical were the protestations of Denmark or the plastic-saber rattling of France and Germany, countries that have trampled over their own sovereignty, pretending to be concerned about the sovereignty of Greenland. At the time, I was all for annexing that strategically important chunk of ice, but I should have known, when the president just walked silently away from the skirling bureaucrats, that he had something else up his sleeve. In the end, his deal with Greenland and Denmark gives him everything he wanted without cost and without the inconvenience of another foreign obligation. Greenland gets security, American business and investment; America gets the security, mineral rights, and military presence President Trump wants.
There are some who sniffed that this new deal was just what Denmark was offering the U.S. all along. That is not true. One attentive commentator outlined the salient differences:
Duration: The 1951 deal lasted only as long as NATO existed and Greenland remained part of NATO. Trump’s 2026 deal lasts indefinitely, even if NATO implodes or Greenland becomes independent.
Read more Trump to Ban CNN, MS NOW, Politico From White House Over Fake News Coverage
New Military Bases: In the 1951 deal, the U.S. could establish “defense areas” in Greenland only if Denmark gave the go-ahead. In Trump’s 2026 deal, the U.S. can establish military installations as it sees fit, with or without Denmark’s approval.
Third Countries: In the 1951 deal, Denmark retained the right to allow foreign nations, like China, to establish a presence in Greenland. Trump’s 2026 deal explicitly forbids foreign nations from doing anything in Greenland without U.S. approval.
Foreign Investments: The 1951 deal placed no restrictions on foreign nations making investments in Greenland, such as port build-outs, critical mineral mining, or undersea cable installations. Trump’s 2026 deal requires U.S. approval before foreign nations can invest in Greenland.
“Simply put,” this chap concludes, “Trump’s new Greenland deal is an absolutely massive geopolitical accomplishment, further establishing America’s dominance over the Western Hemisphere.” Well put.
The Greenland deal also illustrates a point about Donald Trump’s negotiating style, what he himself has called “the art of the deal.” As usual, the president began with a maximal demand. Greenland must become a territory of the United States. Representatives of the “rules-based international order”™ promptly wet themselves and began bawling. The president let them have a nap, gave them their bottles, and then, after a nappy change, got exactly what he wanted, no muss, no fuss.
But writing about President Trump’s style of deal-making brings me to my last point: his practice of those inscrutable arts on the playing field of Iran. I thought that the war in Iran was over in April. In fact, I think the war was, in essentials, over then. It’s just taken a while for the news to catch up with the reality. The reality is that the United States and Israel crushed Iran, destroying their military and cutting most of their financial lifelines. What about the scattered and sporadic hissy fits the Iranians and their few remaining proxies continue to direct at shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and at U.S. allies in the Middle East? Well, what of them? After you pith a frog, it is dead, though its legs may continue to twitch. Something like that is happening with the IRGC. They are finished even though they continue to murder their fellow Iranians and hurl their few remaining drones and missiles at their neighbors.
That said, I should note my surprise that the posthumous twitching has gone on so long. It will end soon, I have no doubt, perhaps even before the midterms, but certainly soon thereafter. But the long haul from February 28, when the war started, until today in mid-September, may highlight a weakness or limitation of President Trump’s art of the deal. He is, most candid observers agree, a master practitioner. But there is at least one precondition to making a deal that the mullahs and lunatic members of the IRGC may not fulfill. They seem singularly lacking in the instinct for self-preservation. Incentives do not move them as they move other men. The Shia radical Hussein Massawi reminded us of this hard fact when he said, “We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you.”
I mention this simply to put the president’s astonishing successes in a broader context. There can be many a slip between the cup and the lip, but I am not alone in sensing a shift in the political weather. It’s still a matter of hints and adumbrations. In two or three weeks, however, the shift toward the GOP will be unmistakable. The GOP keeps the Senate. There is a very good chance that the GOP keeps the House as well.
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