As Donald Trump launches a kleptocratic gambit, intent on acquiring Greenland and commandeering its resources, his special envoy to the Danish territory was well cast for his role as the president’s ignorant American mouthpiece.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who’s moonlighting in the role while leading his state, could not have appeared more out of his depth than he did during an interview on Tuesday, when he disputed CNBC host Joe Kernen’s suggestion that targeting Greenland amounts to imperialism.
“I disagree. When has the United States engaged in imperialism? Never. Europe has engaged in imperialism. The reason that the Danish have Greenland is because of imperialism,” Landry said.
It’s an easily discredited claim. In fact, the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which Trump cited in an effort to defend his capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is widely viewed as the playbook for early U.S. imperialism in Latin America in the 19th century and early 1900s. Our country has an extensive imperial history in Africa and Asia as well. American imperialism, for example, explains why Hawaii is now a state and why Guam still has colonial ties to the U.S.
So the reality contradicting Landry’s assertion is abundantly clear to anyone willing to see it. That the U.S.’ special envoy to Greenland is so ignorant of these facts — or deliberately avoidant of them — shows that Trump’s Greenland scheme relies on delusions of grandeur.
Given that the president has expressed his love for the “poorly educated” and said “smart people don’t like me,” it’s fair to assume he got a kick out of Landry’s ahistorical ramblings, if he caught them.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.