Posts from a President |
President Donald Trump’s posts on social media and comments to the mainstream media are, to put it mildly, often difficult to interpret. If that were to be stated straightforwardly they can be bizarre, completely contrary to what is expected of the holder of the world’s most powerful office. But even by his own standards he excelled himself when on September 7, in a post on Truth Social, he placed the US flag over a large part of the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, Greenland and Iceland. In the Caribbean the post covered British, French and Dutch territories too.
Reactions to the post varied. The government of Iceland was enraged. It summoned the US ambassador to protest against what it considered as an affront to its sovereignty. Its Prime Minister Kristrum Frostadottir said “There is nothing funny or normal about making fun, especially today, when sovereignty cannot be taken for granted”. Clearly, being in Europe but not part of the European Union–indeed, recently the people of Iceland decided against joining the EU—Frostadottir’s reference was to the Ukraine war.The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the people of Greenland had repeatedly made it clear that they do not want to be part of the US. Greenland is an autonomous part of Denmark. Its autonomy is increasing but the Danish connection is there; hence, Frederiksen had the right to comment on Trump’s post.
Mexico’s........