William Spaniel - 2026-01-12
Go to https://ground.news/linesonmaps to stay fully informed on what's happening around the world. Subscribe before month's end and you'll receive 40% off unlimited access! Rumors are swirling about the Trump Administration's interest in Greenland, and Europe is already starting to take action in region. But what is really going on in the Arctic? This video explores some of the more outlandish claims, the quality of their sources, and the actual domestic constraints U.S. domestic laws impose. We also do a deep dive into where Trump's apparent personal animosity for Denmark originates from. 0:00 U.S. Threats to Greenland 1:32 The Value of Greenland 5:26 Trump's Grievance Against Denmark 13:10 Europe's Response 17:23 U.S. Domestic Legal Constraints The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and NATO visual information does not imply or constitute an endorsement. Media licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): By Kremlin.ru: http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/49452 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/58405 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67483 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71496 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73995 http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/76485
I must have died and ended up stuck inside somebody's Paradox game play through.
New HOI4 achievement: Trump Card - conquer the USA while playing as Greenland.
LOL, playing HOI4 while watching this!
This is the price for your sins
It really does feel like that. There's even a phase during a world conquest where you want to annex your vassals, and turn your nearby allies into vassals (by force if necessary), and turn on your allies. Trump seems to be trying exactly that (though definitely too early).
What Mercator projection does to a mf
Underrated joke
Europeans need to plant someone at the White House to present a Lambert conformal conic to Trump, then point out how weak Greenland looks. Preferably make it interactive with some markers, I hear he loves that stuff
Another reason on the growing list to hate that damn map. Society has faced irreparable damage because of it
Greenland is still huge though, bigger than Mexico. Absolutely does NOT justify an invasion though, and I'm American
@RogatxaWR to trump it does. everyone thinks its about greenlands resources but its essentially it looks big on the map and trump likes that.
It appears at this moment your theory of Trump playing 4d chess is not compatible with reality.
"Just ignore direct threats made against you bro." How about no?
"Vague comments about invading Greenland"
sure. "vague".
He’s American so its expected that he will sugarcoat it
Everything politicians say is vague.
@JustAnNPC69well it important to be cautious but ready and realistic. This situation is insane and dangerous, for sure Putin will be the true winner beside Epstein files (Israel’s Mossad)
@JustAnNPC69 More charitably, he's an expert in his field. Experts tend to be biased towards nothing significantly happening in their field
@mikea5745 This may be a spherical cow in vacuum situation. I sometimes feel like William Spaniel cannot look behind "rational actors" part of theory and analyse it as such, not giving a thought about all this being anything but bargaining tactic. Talk is cheap and all. But imho talk is cheap is valid only for things that put you in better position, not in worse position. I am wary of things that politicians say to make me like them, but I tend to believe that they are honest when they say things that makes me not like them, just in case.
Plus, another thing is that it seems like Trump can be only nothing but fully independent or fully Putin puppet. Nothing in between, like Trump could be under some influence of Putin, but still have own goals.
Calling Trump's threats to annex sovereign ally country a "quirk" is insane.
Last time I was this early the United States was an ally of NATO
Those were the days, seems ages ago.
Monroe doctrine predates NATO.
@Marshall_Law_OG Would the USA like no sway outside of the Americas?
@Marshall_Law_OG and that's relevant how?
The US is NATO
chop chop lines man i need my next fix tomorrow
I need my MAPPIES!!
@MaskedChaoshit me with another line
I should not be surprised that people are mainlining this content.
Damn and I'm almost 3 years clean
circular venn diagram of things i would say to my coke dealer and things i would say to william spaniel
You’re looking at this too much from an American perspective. Denmark raising the hypothetical end of NATO is not a threat directed at the United States, but a warning and rallying call to the rest of Europe. The growing unwillingness of the US to acknowledge Europe’s contribution to the American military industrial complex, as well as its diplomatic support on the global stage, is ultimately how the Americans risk undermining their own long term position.
Spaniel still searching for coherency in US foreign policy.
Poor soul
Exactly, i love this guy and his enjoyable videos but i think he is exactly the type of overanalysing nonsense.
It is coherent, it's just that we've now taken off the mask of being an empire. People put way too much into the origin of most western nations post ww2.
Did all these stupid people not watch the video at all?
Trump doesn't care about foreign policy outside of wanting to look good when it comes up. His handling of Ukraine and Russia is the prime example, he doesn't have any internal framework about it other than meeting leaders and getting photo ops, and then trying to pivot about how it's good for America because he is such a good negotiator. Anything foreign policy that he has been doing are coming from the people around him, so when he does something you have to look at who is around him and you'll find someone who recently had a meeting with him and has said publically that we should do 'insert exact thing Trump announced'. As William stated here, when he says the US will not protect Europe because they don't spend enough the magically start spending more.
the problem with predicting the Americans is they themself do not know what they are doing
Neither do they know how strong they actually are
That is how we like it, yes.
@Sawfy19 Eh, our strength is logistics mostly. A lot of us have a general idea, but we need to test it occasionally.
@Sawfy19or how much ot actually costs
You cannot predict an enemy that doesn’t even act in their best interest
Bro cannot get over the supercavitating debacle 😂
But Denmark already said that US Companies were welcome to develop minerals.
Is it even practical to mine setup costs would be stratospheric.
@jamesfletcher-r7j. You are correct and that is why the Danish PM could be so magnanimous-US Companies are the only ones who could probably afford to take advantage. The problem is Trump likes to own things. Hopefully when this nightmare is over a more level headed president would return it. But no one in the US or Congress wants Greenland so there would be lawsuit after lawsuit to stop it. Lawsuits is what the US does better than anyone.
@annehersey9895the majority of US oil companies don't want to invest heavily in Venezuela, still the US kidnapped their leader and so far kept in place their doctatorship in return for giving US companies access to that oil. Can't even make up the stupidity of the current administration.
Sadly i looks like either Congress or the American people are willing to stand up for the US democracy.
Denmark is about to find out why Americans don’t have free healthcare.
@quantumfairing2216. The People are trying by protesting and contacting Congress. Trump loses supporters in his own Party in Congress daily. We, the opposition, hope to take back Congress but sadly elections don’t occur until November and they don’t take office until Jan 1 , 2027. The most dangerous time with Trump will be if Democrats win in Nov , he will have 2 months to ruin the country like Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
Still not convinced it isn't because Greenland is big on a map and Trump would like his name stamped on it.
TDS tells you that…..
@Grouse2275 The man engaged in a fake elector scheme to undo the results of the 2020 election after he lost, incited a riot on the capitol when that didn't work, tariffed the entire world at the expense of our economy for practically nothing in return because he thinks trade is a zero sum game, slapped his name on the JFK center, invaded Venezuela without even telling congress without a plan for what to do once Maduro was captured, then 'memed' about him being acting president of Venezuela... and you're trying to tell me I have TDS because I think this guy has a big ego?
Trumpland 😊
@darrinscott6612 wrong
@Grouse2275funny acronyms won't fix reality, in fact, you got into this mess because you fall for smoke and mirrors for children like these
Pretty sure it can't have anything to do with melting ice caps. Trump told us climate change was a Chinese hoax.
To be clear: Human-made* climate change. The US conservative position is that "Earth just goes through changes in climate"
And I disagree with that, but it doesn't help to argue against a strawman or an oversimplification.
@vez3834Wrong.
Nov. 6, 2012: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
@vez3834 it would be an over-simplification to say anything concrete about a position, especially on a political topic, it would likely be better to detail the range of opinions present in the coalition
@vez3834 this is the newest take they have, as climate change evidence is now indisputable. So they have swapped to a "nothing we can do, it is out of our hands" stance.
@mrpancakes1984 - on the contrary there is a willingness by conservatives to take whatever steps necessary to prevent runaway climate change, it's just that imploding the economy is not a necessary step and would in fact be counterproductive to environmental concerns in multiple ways. It is progressives who get apoplectic about the prospect of actually taking any effective action to prevent excessive global warming.
if not imperalist, why imperialist shapped?
Who said he wasn’t an imperialist?
I really couldn’t care less if people think we’re imperialist, if anything I wish we were more imperialist
Zionisism was the original Imperialism. They left Spain because they legit thought Florida was the Garden of Eden.
@LilDonutV2You became the world superpower, by the trust invested. No empire survived, once it overstepped.
@MaskedChaosit's saying and meme
Why so defensive? 😂
America saying: ''Greenland is Europe so Europe should be primarily responsible for its defense'' would have gone over a LOT smoother in our media then Trump saying: ''We can do it the easy way or the hard way. It is essential to our strategic interests and we will have it. Them going there by boat 500 years ago does not make it theirs.''
That's not at all rational towards an ally.
Yeah, I don't really agree if the video is meant to imply that this really is the strategy. It's a possible strategy, but clearly an imperfect one. It neglects to mention something that is apparently more important to the Trump administration, which is undermining (perceived) restrictions placed on the US as part of the international rules-based order (or what's left at any rate).
@lilemont9302 it’s the stupid assumption that foreign policy stays the same regardless of administration. Which is wrong. The values that the administration holds determine what its foreign policy is. If America became communist tomorrow, all the tension with China would disappear very quickly. To pretend to otherwise is to say that Nazi Germany had the same foreign policy aims as Weimar Germany.
@thereactor3945 If the US became Marxist tomorrow, it'd still hate China and vice versa. Hell, the Soviets and CCP both hated each other after the honeymoon ended, and they were both Marxist neighbors.
@obligatoryusername7239 OK then another example: I won before and after the revolution. Before the revolution, Iran was a pro western puppet state and monarchy, who supported Israel, and whose main political goals were suppression of Arab nationalism and of communist sentiment in the Middle East. After the Revolution, their main goal became expulsion of American influence in the Middle East
i should note: a bunch of europeans going to america by boat some 300 years ago is exactly why the US, and the Americas as a whole exists as we know them today.
“Weapons grade stupid” is a phrase deserving of a tattoo 😂
The bigger issue is that doing this further convinces European citizens that allying with the US is a bad idea.
And though it will take time and elections, politicians with that same thought process will take office. Sure, Trump may have convinced them to spend more defending themselves... but against who?
And the worst part of that is them decoupling their economy from ours in case of a future govt taking aggressive actions against their territory. Even if the next admin is apologetic and returns relations back to normal, who's to say we don't elect someone more aggressive in the near future?
And that's what makes this so dumb.
EU and NATO nations have an economy similar to ours in size.
If they decided to look elsewhere for a major partner, all while China and Central/South America also consider us untrustworthy and possibly hostile ... we are cooked
And then there is this....
$20 Trillion dollars worth of just 10 US companies rely directly or indirectly on equipment (ASML) and R&D facilities (imec), companies both located in the EU, to build and maintain the current AI...bubble?
The US is sitting on a huge AI bubble.
The EU holds a couple of really sharp needles...
The US can face China by itself, don't worry. And the EU is more than enough against Russia. We have no reason to keep this unhappy marriage.
Hungary? Slovakia?@TheDovakhin01
EEhm allying with the US is a bad idea, every Europeman knows that already. We already stopped buying your weapons, as you don't buy from your enemies.
Venezuela is actually really likely to like us, because they hated Maduro that much
There is a math error: 22.5 million / 335 billion = 0.006% not 0.00006%
Doesn't really change the takeaway does it?
.006% =/= to 2%. Try again.
@oscarhalse2026 this is one of the few times I think William has missed the point - NATO allies sending their men to die in Afghanistan was a major propaganda boost for global perception of the legitimacy of US actions. Maybe you can put a price tag on that but he didn't use thee right formula.
@infinite_calamari I think he was framing it from Trump's perspective. Trump doesn't really care about sacrifices and friendships.
@infinite_calamari I think that's right, but it's not correlated with the number of fatalities. It was the support - the mere fact of engaging - that (in your and perhaps William's assumption) boosted the perception of the legitimacy of US actions. An additional Danish loss over 45 wouldn't have increased that presumed perception, nor would fewer losses have decreased that perception.
1:40 When you say "near future" you still mean decades.
I think you overestimate the solidarity of American institutions. I see no indication that Congress would hold Trump back. The President should not decide on tariffs without Congress, but Trump did it anyway. The President should not be able to conduct acts of war without Congressional approval, but Trump has done so anyway. There has been no consequences to his administrations because of this. Like you said in regards to Russia, a country's laws are only important if that country is a democracy, but America has long been sliding down the democracy scale and I think Trump is taking it further down into demogougery.
Congress decided that war and tariffs were both unpopular, so delegated them to the president. Just look at how much Hillary paid politically for voting in favor of Iraq. Congress doesn’t want that sort of political cost ever again. The issue is, they now have a president actually willing to use all the foreign policy power they gave him.
This is the first comment I've seen thats actually typed like you've watched the video and you make a very good point. However, I think that, with how bombastic Trump has been and with how MSM treats him, just how powerful the executive branch is has been pulled under a spotlight. I've no doubts congress will take power back but its a question of how much.
@AnonUser-b6y of course, the problem with that is that it's Dereliction of Duty. They're elected to make policy, dammit! They shouldn't be able to get away with refusing to do the hard parts of their jobs!
@anomalousraven512 Even if Congress were to pass a law directly forbidding the USA from acquiring or invading or doing anything to Greenland, I doubt that would stop trump. He would just do it anyway and let the matter rot in a court that his maga movement controls anyway.
Same with basically all the other subjects. No matter if such a US congress were to be composed of 100% of republicans or 100% of democrats.
And that's without trump deciding to use more proactive methods to get rid of any opposition, subtly or less so.
@CantusTropus Pax Americana guarantees that white male American remains top socio-cultural dog above all other males. Alpha male must always be an American white male in the global society of Earth, according to Hollywood.
In the UK we call it the Daily Fail
Careful Brit, you might get arrested for saying a joke like that on the internet
@dpo1168 UK still has freedom of speech. We're not the US
@dpo1168 yank tier comment
@dpo1168 we just understand a death threat made on line is just as threatning as one sent be mail and libel is well libel its called being civilised enough to have standards
Or the Daily Heil, for its policy of supporting the British Union of Fascists in the 1930's and now.
I really do not understand why Europe is the one benefitting from NATO.
We do buy a lot of US equipment (and pay theirs by buying off US debt).
But besides of that... after the Cold War, there were no threats to Europe, at least not perceived ones. Russia was broke for the best part of the 1990s and the naughties and later wasn't perceived as a threat, but a trade partner.
So... what would be the benefit of having US bases in Europe? Just because they are cool?
What was the benefit of an organization that everybody and the dog thought to be an anachronism until 2022???
China? It's in Asia. Same as North Korea.
But maybe I am wrong and there was some benefit in NATO back then. But as I am a stupid European, I don't really understand which one.
Stop, don't confront them with facts!
Okay. Do you know the profits the companies reap and the tax collected on said profits?
15:18 By this logic why does the US have any overseas bases at all?
The analysis of this video is just parrotting American talking points.
Because of old commitments that the US is looking at and deciding which ones to ditch.
Because the US values Europe as a trade partner, and will pay to keep Europe and it's economy stable and free of war. It just would rather Europe pay for it instead.
Just because the United States has bases in a country that shouldn't change the countries military capacity like it has for Europe. The United State still values Europe even though Russia isn't it's top priority right now.
@complex3297 When someone offers you a military base in their soil, they lose something. They need to gain something in return.
Also it's funny how Americans in these videos talk like they represent their country diplomatically. Maybe drunkard in chief also uses youtube tho, idk.
"We're not going to be friends"
Sounds like 5 year old kids falling out with each other, not like a leader of a nation that seeks greatness
Rump is such a simpleton.
I will never be able to understand how people can look at him, listen to him and think: "Yes, that's my choice for a leader."
Tf? 😂
Do you not understand that Trump got NATO allies to actually pay for defense what they agreed to and then more? How about how Trump warned Europe was too reliant in Russian gas and Merkel laughed at him?
@stanleyyelnats69 yeah he has a working strategy to get europe to do what needs to be done
I can not abide this calling the president of my country a 5-year-old,... He's clearly no better than a 2-year-old.
@stanleyyelnats69that is not really Trump, but Putin..
I wonder what the Defense Industry has to say about this. Over 25% of their business goes the Europe. If the Europeans decided not to do business with the US, it would be an unmitigated disaster for them. Not only that, but several European nations have top level Defense Industries of their own.They would expand their production out of necessity and by consequence become a competitor to the US in a world of markets who are now profoundly mistrustful of America. Additionally, the ice caps are melting rapidly, but not as rapidly and Trumps going to die. You don't see many people in his poor physical condition living much longer that he is now. Who knows what he and his scoundrel henchmen have in mind. No doubt it's not good, moral or safe for anyone, including themselves. But then again, they're idiots.
They probably expect the increased defence budgets to be spent with them. Let's face it, the US doesn't look at any of its allies as equals, but as vassals. My home, Australia is the same, we are fine as long as we go along with everthing the US does & let their corporations rape out economy, virtually tax-free. Should we stand up for ourselves, the government, or the PM , would be replaced by someone more amenable. Again.
@Dave-the-adequate In regards to Trump's health, there were two videos in the space of 7 days where he could be seen with sweat on his face despite the fact he was indoors and all he was doing was talking. I don't know if this is heart disease (previous releases from the administration had shown elevated levels), or medication or a combination of the two, but that's not normal. Normally, I would say it would be at least a few more years, but if sitting down indoors and talking gives you a sweaty face, that's not a good sign.
Just with respect to one project the f-35 project the impact of European and Canadian participation ending will have gross impact on the United States Air Force itself. The per unit price has been driven down considerably for such a complicated aircraft because of volume manufacturing. Volume goes down former partners pulling away, the United States Air Force will not be able to afford to buy the planes they want for itself. This is the same time when the Navy is running out of ships in the United States is burning its anti-missile arsenal protecting Israel.
"Vague threats" is an attempt to portray them as empty or part of a ploy. This is incorrect.
Exactly. He means this very sincerely, he will absolutely blow up the entire world sphere to get what he wants, and in fact I’d say it’s part of his wider plan to isolate the US from the rest of the world so he can crack down on the population more harshly without anyone to stop him.
@nope-ka"Putin is worse" is not a valid argument
11:20 Your percentage of gdp cost is off by a factor of 100, Its .006%
You forgot to multiply by 100 to make it a percentage it seems
Exactly
It also completely ignores the actual monetary cost of deploying to the middle east. Like those danes just spawned in the desert. It’s such a ridiculous point. Funny thing is that since Denmark took larger casualties per capita and has a lower GDP per capita, if he did the same calculation for the US he’d find an even lower number.
You are correct, thank you for noting it. Fortunately, the overarching point remains true.
@Gametheory101It does not. Do the same calculation for the US.
Also the political cost of a lost service member is far greater than shooting $10M worth of missiles into the desert or whatever, so it's a flawed comparison on so many levels even if it weren't for the maths error.
1:22 lol thought process. Good one.
"How is Trump going to do something that Congress won't authorize?"
Let's ask Venezuela, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc. don't forget Minneapolis, Chicago, Portland, LA, the department of Education, USAID, the CFPB, etc.
Just imagine what Congress would do if Trump did take Greenland. Probably nothing.
Not saying we will, the rest of the video makes pretty good points. But this one is just not serious. We're past the point of Trump caring whether or not Congress authorizes him to do something, especially in the realm of military/foreign policy.
To be fair, many presidents use military action without congressional approval. The president cannot declare war, but those acts do not necessarily require that.
forgot tariffs
@Byromatic no one declares war anymore Russia didn’t declare war on Ukraine we didn’t declare war on Afghanistan. You just invade a country and start the war without official declaration.
@Cashman9111 If I recall, he declared a state of emergency to do that.
I think you misuse the concept of the value of statistical life. First, it is inherently about people’s willingness to pay for small reductions in mortality risk in a given situation, so it really depends on the policy you are analyzing and the context in which those risks arise. I do not know that you could come up with a general value free of a specific country, institutional setting, or policy domain. It is also not even necessary about the cost of saving lives, nor is it about monetarily evaluating a human life’s value, which is something we do not do in economics. I also wanted to add that betting markets seem convinced the U.S. has a very real chance of acquiring the island one way or another, so the idea that it’s just about getting increased defense spending seems somewhat suspect.
I love the Shaun of the Dead skit at the end 😅
So, the US has one active base in Greenland , why didnt you mention the 15 other mothballed bases in greenland? .
because Trump wants the resources... Not security.
The US cannot afford to populate bases without having resources to pay for that.
If this were really about bases it wouldn't be an issue. Its about control. Ownership. Why rule from afar when you can rule directly.
Yeah I'm sure Denmark and Greenland would turn down investment and industry on the island if the US wasn't being a massive dick
@rohesilmnelohe It's not about resources at all, the US can't exploit Greenlands riches even if they annex it. They simply don't have the equipment needed and would have to ship the raw resources to China, yes China, to make it usable in their industry.
Its the principle of giving blood for the mission. it is beyond money to those with a sense of duty and honour. You are right he did misread the room. Trump couldn't give a fuck about those things.
Why would the loss of 40 soldiers stir any fucks? Their job is to die.
Well, no. In the US military, our life insurance policy is $400,000. I drove a truck worth more than that. They remind you of that every day. The 10 million dollar figure is from an older video he did based on U.S. government data. Whether you like it or not, life is not priceless to buracuarcy. Still, it is a hell of a lot more in dollar value than autocratic regimes. bullets dont fly for free.
Yup. Trump doesn't give a damn about human life. He only cares about money. In my opinion no amount of money can equal a human life.
@LordVarkson it is this. It might seem like a lot to Europe but to the country seeing the lions share of the combat it is a minuscule amount. Trying to puff up the importance by turning it into a statistic only shows how tone deaf Europe has grown about their contributions.
@LordVarksonDidn't 18 losses persuade the US they had to get out of Somalia?
What a strange conclusion to the video. How is it not a Trump-specific problem? No other administration has, or ever will, threaten military action on a NATO member over disputes that could easily be settled diplomatically. Denmark isn't even adverse to increasing military presence in Greenland, whatsoever. And to think, even for a second, that Trump cares what congress thinks about his foreign policy aspirations, is beyond naive, it's counter the reality of how he has conducted himself since he was sworn in.
I think what you fail to note is that European weakness is by US design. Europe was decolonised with US preassure loosing acces to all its raw resources, European security was structured arround US leadership and arround the US nuclear umbrella, economic submission to the US (IMF, World bank, Dollar dominance), blocking of european strategic autonomy, US preassure on the few tech firms that still exist in europe (ASML etc.).
Now again it is no coincidence that Greenland is very rich in rare earth metals. Having their own independent source of rare earth metals could fuel the European economies. The US will do everything it can to prevent europes acces to that or acces to the same resources in Ukraine.
That ASML pressure can work both ways.
$20 Trillion dollars worth concentrated in just 10 US companies rely directly or indirectly on equipment from (ASML) and R&D facilities (imec) to build and maintain the current AI...bubble. Both companies are located in the European Union(EU)
The US is sitting on a huge AI bubble.
The EU holds a couple of really sharp needles.
The EU does not need to use them, just show them every now and then.
What are you saying Europe was actually capable in the 1980s
@organizedchaos4559 I think it's a slightly different point but it's a fair one. Decolonisation absolutely had to happen morally but it defanged Europe by design. There was an intent that the US would come to Europe's defence due to the threat from the USSR. However, you're right most European militaries did remain viable and would have been up to the current task with just a little ramping up right up until the financial crash. The European governments then started to deprioritise military spending and relying too much on the US.
@tatsuvoid Some how it always seem to come back to the US.
It's also important to add that, while the US opposed colonialism by principle around WW1, by WW2 they did very much see themselves as the new superpower. They were well aware that they had to be a colonial power but chose to be one largely using softer power (largely, far, far from always). Which leads to your point: Europe was weakened by design. As a European, I'm not entirely against that. We're not a state, just a bunch of countries that've always been at war with each other masquerading as a union. Hence why I am of the position that the EU should have its own standing force, funded together, lead centrally for the overall protection of the EU. Obviously with strong protective mechanisms to not be abused by countries like Hungary. Defensive only, but with nuclear subs, blackjack and hookers... Eh, forget the nuclear subs...
The funny part about Trump, is that he threatens security and economic warfare. Countries get upset and invest in the military and diversify trade relationships away from the US. Trump gets his military spending, but loses allies and has far less leverage in both defense and economic negotiations. Previous presidents saw the value in having a thumb over the allies. Trump thinks it's a burden. He is helping Canada, Europe and Japan, do what they should have done in the 90s, make America just another country to work withbut nothing special.
Trump has always been impatient and short sighted. It's actually quite interesting to look at his developments. Always too expensive - "Make it the most luxurious and it'll work itself out." No sense of strategy.
That's the objective of Trumps policy. He doesn't want imports unless they're absolutely necessary and cannot be made at home.
This point is something I have brought up to many pro-MAGA types, both in person and over a keyboard. They usually don't get that the USA has rendered itself indispensable during the Cold War until now. The USA will remain a superpower, but alienating it's NATO allies, cutting foreign aid down to the bone and throwing around arbitrary tariffs are burning a lot of good will. This erodes the USA's soft power immensely.
Not yet but soon, it starts really reminding me of russia thinking they had unlimited bargaining space with Europe, and they did, untill one faithful night, they had none at all. I wouldn't have said this a month ago, but by gully, same could happen to US EU relations. In my country public faith in us/eu relations has dropped from 50 to 10 percent just this month.
@Maphisto86 some people just don't understand the usefulness of soft power. Obviously you don't want to end up relying exclusively on soft power, but it's almost always better to get something without having to use violence.
“…go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this to all blow over.”. Love the Shaun of The Dead reference!😅
I think it is a mischaracterisation to present Trump's statements as threatening to withdraw, at least when it comes to Greenland. He could have certainly done that, but threatening invasion is kind of the opposite of threatening withdrawal. The two are literally opposite.
Surely the opposite of threatening withdrawal would be saying how much he loves NATO and that he wants to stay in forever?
Withdrawing from NATO and invading one of NATO countries are two links of the same chain, not the opposites.
@Milan_Openfeint America IS NATO! We don't need you at all, but all of you need us! And that, is a fact.
@KevinVenturePhilippines U.S. needs Europe as much as Europe needs the U.S. Alone, both are weaker.
If you don't understand economics, politics or military, I won't explain it to some random Trump lover in YT comments.
@Milan_Openfeint Sure, "Milan". 😆
i fucking hate our timeline
The wrong side got defeated in WWII.
@idonuttylikezenorship4547 keep yourself safe
?? Are you sure?
@idonuttylikezenorship4547 You are one of those "save europe" guys, huh? Everyone is ultra-right until they reach the age of 16.
We live in a Tom Clancy slashfic
I am unreasonably supercaptivated by how supercaptivating is getting shoe horned into every video. Thumbs up.
I find myself disappointed in this one. The US by its own will established itself as the global hegemon. That bears responsibility as well as profits. The US benefits more from NATO and its other alliances than anybody else because they allow the US to stretch and maintain its hegemony and influence.
Without allies, the leading nation leads nothing.
With its current rhetoric, the US is actively alienating its most committed allies, and for what gain? Generously, its an attempt to make its dependencies less dependant, however they risk, and now actively are, pushing too hard, forcing those dependants it relies on to extend its influence to become increasingly dubious of the US entirely, and therefore more likely to severe connections and reinforce their own mutual pacts.
I hate it as well, but let's zoom out and look at the world from a neutral perspective. Does the USA really need allies? Who are China's allies? Many of China's "allies" are more akin to strategic partners. China would be fine with letting them drown like Russia does with their "allies".
The USA is stronger with allies, and what we are doing is unforgivable. However, Europe needs to wake up. This Trump brand of politics is also festering over in Europe and it was Trump that temporarily slowed the new right wing nutters and helped the liberal politicians in their elections. Wait 2-4 years when dumb people vote for the right wing nutters because things don't magically get better.
Over here in America they ate up all the propaganda that gets fed to them by all the monied interests. Europeans are not unique. Humans are humans and follow the herd. They will happily turn rightwing if Liberals cannot achieve the impossible (magically fix Democracy), and meanwhile the opposition will do everything they can to break it.
Yeah, that analysis seems to be missing from this video. NATO is benefiting the USA a lot more than Europe. By spending a lot on their military, the USA is able to lead the world in some types of weaponry, thus getting the lion's share of the arms market, generating a lot of economic benefits and military supremacy for themselves. They also cannot alienate Europe, as a lot of their own military equipment uses European stuff. Both are interdependent.
China is already way on its way to establishing itself as the global hegemon. I have lived in Asia for 35 years, worked with the Chinese for the last 28. Underestimating the Chinese because they do things quietly while America and Russia are loud steamrollers is plain stupidity. I just sincerely hope that China's internal problems will catch up with them enough to stop it before it becomes a cemented reality.
Yes, alienating its most committed allies will forever destroy America's influence in the world and worse, ensure that China will take over that place. Mr. Xi is sitting there right now hoping that the stupid Americans take Greenland.
Mr. Trump's short term thinking is pathetic
If NATO ends here, historians will remember this as the greatest fumble in all geopolitical history. Trump will not be remembered as a tyrant, but as a drooling idiot.
@mdillinger2010 I disagree with one thing. Real allies (built on trust, respect, and loyalty) or "allies" (strategic partners) is irrelevant. Sorry for the many quotation marks. China knows that money rules the world also in western countries. At the end of the day, governments will not take decisions that will increase already too high government debt and listed companies will not accept lower profits because of trust, respect, and loyalty.
'reactionary approach' - meaning 'reactive'? Very different thing.
Saving this video for posterity, because it will age so well
Hmm… I dunno, William. Saying ‘ignore the 500-pound angry gorilla looking like he may pounce on you, he probably can’t reach you’ sounds less like a strategy and more like wishful thinking. And hope isn’t a plan—especially when this gorilla has already torn through the political jungle before. Even if it’s not the most likely outcome (i agree that it isn't), he’s has proven he can reshape the game. The real question is: What’s the move if he actually does go through with it? Because from where I’m sitting, no one on your side of the pond seems to be even gaming that out.
Something you left out. Other members only "negleted" because USA stopped them from increasing budgets and making military reforms. They want EU To be their vassal state by relying on them and buying weapons from US. They don't want Europe to manufacture their own weapons.
And even now with the vastly expanded defense budgets in Europe, the US is still complaining: The problem was never the amount of spending, but the lack of spending on US military goods. And more and more European nations are seeking to buy elsewhere for, at this point, painfully obvious reasons
Still doesn't explain why many EU militaries are so small by comparison. Large militaries purchase more weapons, so there's no blaming that on the U.S.
@FarModerateExtremistusa is basically made out of 50 different countries. Individually each state actually contributes very little
@FarModerateExtremist it does explain, because the US wanted EU countries to have small militaries and so encouraged that. They wanted European nations to have limited ability to project power overseas so the world would be left open for US hegemony. They wanted the EU to feel vulnerable on their own so they would allow US military bases and weapons systems inside their countries for protection, giving the US leverage over them with the threat of removing that protection. The goal of the US since the fall of the USSR has been to keep Europe weak and reliant on US protection and soo subservient to US interests
Just like the UN, and free trade, and international criminal court, and all the other things maga hate and blame for their perceived weakness, were created and engineered by the US to secure US global power
@Tespri Its more that the USA is able to pull of some remarkable finance bullshit. The US military is incredibly wasteful, with a massive and growing chunk of its budget disappearing into the pockets of private contractors. The EU doesn't have nearly the same capacity to engage in finance bullshit so it has to actually consider how it spends its money.
I love how "super captivating" is now a catchphrase
You are missing the political ideological point...
I don't think he comments on those directly much, but I do think it is a mistake to not mention it as most of the messaging has been for domestic consumption.
@danielmorton9956 also not to comment at all on what would happen if we actually did it
what specific political ideological point?
@Gametheory101 - 2026-01-12
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Also, correction at 11:45. The fatality value is 0.00006 of GDP, which is 0.006% of GDP. The fun of percentages and not decimals. The overall point remains true, though.
@dirkdeschepper735 - 2026-01-12
This blithely ignores the fact that Trump has been virulently anti-NATO since the Reagan era.
Yes, that's right, he wanted the US to leave NATO during the Cold War.
Also, Trump thinks that Europe should pay the US for its defence, either directly or via buying weapons. That is not what Europe is doing, and it is never going to be the result of the US threatening Europe: it is largely building is own military industry and finding other allies. Trump is not getting what he wants from threats, he's actually getting the opposite: less money for the US military-industrial complex, and a stronger competitor on the international weapons market.
@benjaminlynch9958 - 2026-01-12
@dirkdeschepper735which brings us back to the adage “watch what leaders do, not what they say.” Trump is entering his 6th year as President and yet the United States is still part of NATO. Moreover, there hasn’t been any serious talk of pulling out of NATO either in Congress or among the more serious members of his administration (eg Rubio). As long as the broader NATO alliance moves in the direction he wants the alliance to go (defense spending, Greenland, possibly other issues), he’ll keep talking about leaving NATO and continue not following through on that threat because the threat is getting him exactly what he wanted all along.
@dirkdeschepper735 - 2026-01-12
@benjaminlynch9958 He didn't deploy the US military against US citizens until year 5. He didn't try to take over another country until year 6. The argument that he hasn't gotten around to destroying NATO holds very little value.
It's not getting him what he wants. Trump thinks the US should be paid protection money, or at the very least the Europeans should subsidise the US weapons industry. The opposite is happening.
@animejefftv - 2026-01-12
Isn't it always fun to be dealing with the less educated in the comments because your assessment doesn't 100% align with their beliefs? Now to pick up a sub of ground news. - A Canuck Eh
@jnavarro-1972 - 2026-01-12
@dirkdeschepper735Why is that bad? The US has been subsidizing the European Welfare state for decades.