President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will revisit its stance on Greenland in the coming weeks.
Asked if he expected to take action on the territory, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday: “Let’s talk about Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine. We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months. Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”
He added: “We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic.”
That’s exactly the problem of having to report what a crazy but ridiculously powerful person is saying. If you don’t take him seriously and just report that he’s just rambling incoherently then you’re going to be surprised when he actually uses his immense power. If you present his ramblings as a coherent declaration then you’re going to be discredited when he doesn’t follow through.
There is no easy answer here. I’m leaning towards the side that takes his sayings at face value because he’s too powerful not to.
By the way, it’s way less productive to direct your anger towards the journalists trying to make sense of what the madman is saying.
Also considering he does occasionally follow through on some of his ramblings and it’s quite apparent that the government apparatus will happily follow his orders (even if they shouldn’t), the prudent thing to do is report on them as though he’s serious about it.