MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2026
Human cognition is limited: We wish that what follows weren't the case. But at this time, at home and abroad, the dominant, dangerous point of concern is a problem whose name can't be spoken.
The dominant topic is a form of "mental disorder" (that's a technical medical term). Over the long football weekend, that apparent disorder surfaced first in a long, nutty Truth Social post.
You don't have to read the whole thing. We're simply trying to establish the historical record:
Truth Details
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration. Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back—World Peace is at stake! China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it. They currently have two dogsleds as protection, one added recently. Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that! Nobody will touch this sacred piece of Land, especially since the National Security of the United States, and the World at large, is at stake. On top of everything else, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown. This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet. These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable. Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end quickly, and without question. Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland. The United States has been trying to do this transaction for over 150 years. Many Presidents have tried, and for good reason, but Denmark has always refused. Now, because of The Golden Dome, and Modern Day Weapons Systems, both Offensive and Defensive, the need to ACQUIRE is especially important. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars are currently being spent on Security Programs having to do with “The Dome,” including for the possible protection of Canada, and this very brilliant, but highly complex system can only work at its maximum potential and efficiency, because of angles, metes, and bounds, if this Land is included in it. The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Tariffs and dogsleds and DONALD J. TRUMP all in caps oh my!
That's a long post, and the post is observably nutty—in its insulting reference to those two dogsleds, but also in the bizarre decision to levy tariffs on long-standing allies unless they'll be willing to help the U.S. accomplish "the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland." If only for today, don't make us explain beyond that.
We've shown you the text of the declaration. The report at Mediaite runs beneath this headline:
Trump Blurts Epic Saturday Morning Rant Threatening Allies—And Referencing ‘Dogsleds’—In Bid To Seize Greenland
It was indeed an epic rant, and so it went on Saturday morning—but there was more to come. Late last evening, Nick Schifrin of PBS broke the new report in a tweet.
We'll offer links to news reports below. But this is the actual missive the sitting president sent to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, with a request that Støre should pass the missive along:
Dear Jonas:
Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.
Thank you! President DJT
So disclosed Schifrin, he of PBS. The president wasn't awarded the Nobel prize, and that has made all the difference!
We'd call that overtly bizarre.
For the record, the Norwegian government ("your Country") plays no role in deciding who will receive the various Nobel prizes. Here are links to two news report about this latest declaration:
Norway’s PM says Trump sent letter tying Nobel prize snub to Greenland ambitions
Politico. For full report, click here.
READ: Trump Warns He Has No ‘Obligation to Think Purely of Peace’ Over Greenland in Unhinged Letter
Mediaite. For full report, click here.
He wasn't awarded the Nobel Prize. Inevitably, this imagined though non-existent snub has led him to harden his stance—and no, he hasn't "stopped 8 Wars PLUS."
Also, as everyone except him seems to know, the presidential election in 2020 wasn't rigged and stolen. That said, he keeps making the lunatic claim—and no reporter has dared to ask him why he insists on doing that.
There's much, much more to this latest development in this developing global problem. For now, we'll leave it right there—but also this:
We've told and told you, then told you again! The medical state of this powerful man is the globe's most significant issue. That said—and with this, Denmark comes back into play—our American press corps is unwilling to see what is right before us, not unlike the bedazzled citizens in this famous tale:
The Emperor's New Clothes
"The Emperor's New Clothes" is a literary folktale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.
"The Emperor's New Clothes" was first published with "The Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen, Denmark on 7 April 1837, as the third and final installment of Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. The tale has been adapted to various media, and the story's title, the phrase "the Emperor has no clothes," and variations thereof have been adopted for use in numerous other works and as idioms.
Over a hundred languages! We assume that you're familiar with the tale's famous plot.
All over the world, people have understood that this famous tale tells us something very important about the limits of human cognition (or possibly, about the limits of human character). Yet here we sit, two hundred years later, and our biggest news orgs still refuse to report or discuss The (Apparent) Problem Which Does in Fact Have a Name.
This apparent problem is always a tragedy—but when it involves a sitting president, it's also extremely dangerous. That's one of the places where the limits of human cognition come in.
Over here in Blue America, we Blues have let the sugarplums dance in our heads—our thoughts of reclaiming the House this year, and possibly even the Senate.
Needless to say, that could happen! But the sitting president would still be the sitting president, after a humiliating election defeat. He'd still be the commander in chief—and what night he decide to do then?
We can't answer that question; neither can anyone else. But medical problems of the type in question are tragic but also very dangerous in the current circumstance.
To what medical problems do we refer? We're speaking of possible cognitive decline, possibly layered on top of one (or more) possible "personality disorders" (whatever they are). Such medical issues are always a tragedy—but in the current circumstance, they also threaten the world.
Now for some full disclosure:
Other remarkable cognitive failures are tied to this possible medical problem. We're speaking of Cognitive Failure Red, but we're also speaking about Cognitive Failure Blue.
The inability to see what's right there before us would represent an ancillary cognitive failure. Our current "national discourse" reeks of that failure. That's true among the elites of Silo Red, but also in Silo Blue.
Despite the praise we humans heap on ourselves, our human cognition is very limited. (Among other signs of this state of affairs, we humans tend to have a very hard time grasping that basic fact.)
Denial Red and Denial Blue! The failure to see what's right before us is general over the civil war which now obtains between our two Americas.
The Reds refuse to discuss what's sitting right there. We Blues refuse to report it too.
With that, we return to the final day of our failing nation's three-day football holiday weekend. Denial and failure are all around us. The principal proof of our cognitive failure is the fact that we warring Americans, Red and Blue alike, are simply unable to see it.
Either that, or our warring elites, Red and Blue, simply refuse to speak!
Tomorrow: So many different denials in play, even among us Blues!
ReplyDelete"We'd call that overtly bizarre. "
I'd call that trolling idiot-Democrats, and watching their heads exploding.
Which is great, as it escalates the swamp-draining!
As usual, thank you DONALD J. TRUMP for your great work in draining the swamp!
The swamp won't be drained until the J6 rioters have taken over the DOJ. Oh, wait....
DeleteThe swamp won't be drained until everybody in MAGA gets to plant his lips on Trump's big fat ass. Am I right 10:17?
DeleteThrumpy is the Swamp Boogie Queen filling the swamp with jaggoffs and weirdos like you. Get the fuck out of here jagoff Mao, your shit was tired 25 years ago asswipe.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 10:29am, I remember Mao. The “conservative” anonymouse that you addressed is not Mao.
DeleteFuck off
Delete
DeleteHey, lady, there's nothing conservative or even “conservative” about me. Trump Revolution, Viva Revolution! Drain The Swamp!
I know you Cecelia and you are a piece of shit disturber. Get the fuck away from here you sick troll.
DeleteSure thing anonymouse 11:55am.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:52am, yeah…whatever, but you ain’t Mao.
DeleteI don't know that means. But anyway: you da man, girl.
DeleteFuck off
DeleteJake Lang has really let himself go.
DeleteI thought he was a MAGA alpha male, turns out he is nothing more than a little whiny bitch crybaby.
womp womp
The idiot cuck trannytroll doth spokerh. Fuck off asshole.
DeleteWe blues have resisted Trump. Our House members have filed articles of impeachment. Beyond that, we do not have control of the House and Senate the way the Republicans do. The reds are the people Somerby needs to chide. We are focused on retaking the House and senate in order to restrain Trump. The reds are supporting him. That is a huge difference between red and blue that Somerby keeps ignoring.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a “three-day football weekend.” It is MLK Jr day.
ReplyDeleteIt might help if you'd change "mental disorder" to something we can all agree on, the president has "psychological and emotional issues".
ReplyDeleteWe all have psychological and emotional issues, because we are human. Trump has dementia. Somerby won’t admit it.
Delete"Issues" in the sense of problems or concerns. Dementia is a medical problem, so Somerby's admission would not have much value.
DeleteTrump has dementia. Do the house and senate have dementia as well? Are they so addled that they cannot see the dangers of having an incapacitated president in charge.
DeleteWhile mental health is an important aspect of presidential fitness, mechanisms are in place to address incapacitation without significant disruption. We have had numerous presidents that are suspected to have suffered from mental decline - from Wilson to Reagan - and none posed a significant threat to the stability of our country, specifically due to their decline (for example with Reagan it wasn't his mental decline, but his pro corporation neoliberalism that ruined our economy, our environment, and killed our middle class).
DeleteOn the other hand, concerns regarding corruption or unethical behavior can have immediate and serious ramifications for governance and public trust.
Balancing these aspects in discussions about leadership remains crucial.
Instead of balance, Somerby is hyper-focused on a precise diagnosis; this deflects from the more serious, more consequential, and more actionable issue of Trump's corruption and criminality.
Somerby has a specific agenda, and it is not centered on progress, or helping Dems.
You can't impeach the President, just because all his voters are bigots.
ReplyDelete“ It’s not hard to see the danger ahead.
ReplyDeleteOne man’s thirst for power has overwhelmed the rule of law. Politicians twist the truth to justify cruelty. Institutions fail the people they were meant to protect. MAGA forces try to drape their actions in patriotism while pushing us ever closer to authoritarian rule.
Martin Luther King Jr. understood this kind of danger. And more importantly, he showed us how to confront it – with discipline, love, and an unshakable moral center.
He taught that nonviolence isn’t weakness. It’s a form of strength. Not the kind that avoids conflict, but the kind that meets injustice head-on – with clarity, with purpose, and with a refusal to be broken. It doesn’t appease power. It holds it accountable.
He called nonviolent resistance “a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love.” And that courage is exactly what this moment demands.”
From Svante Myrick, People for the American Way
I remember when Somerby wrote admiringly about MLK’s non-violence. Where did that Somerby go?
He became a psychiatrist.
DeleteHa!
Delete"The theme that ties together this year-long adventure in various forms of deranged absurdity and flagrant criminality is this: We who are horrified witnesses to Trump and Trumpism have come to understand exactly why his most fanatical supporters love him – because he’s just like them." Yup. Jagoffs and weirdos, the whole lot of them.
ReplyDeleteFrom Tiedrich:
ReplyDelete“ here’s a quote from Dr. King that’s never been more relevant than it is right now.
“We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.”
how prescient was that?”
"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper' for the US", Trump said in the message obtained by US media.
DeleteJesus Christ, how much longer, God?
The true insanity is how easily our "flawless" constitutional system of checks and balances has collapsed. There's certainly a path out of this quagmire: impeachment and conviction. It appears that the congress has accepted its role as a powerless, ceremonial only body.
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective that brings to mind Robert Michels and his Iron Law of Oligarchy, he was a socialist but his work has been misappropriated by right wing groups to legitimize their attempts at authoritarian rule.
DeleteBut there is an asymmetry there; if Dems take back a wing of Congress, you will see any and all action in their power used to hold Trump accountable.
Furthermore, the current state of Congress is largely due to Republicans gaming the system.
And even though Republicans hold the upper hand in our judiciary, there have been many legal checks against Trump's power grab in the past year.
Additionally there has been a fair amount of public activism, and independent media is replacing corporate media as our functioning watchdog.
Trump does represent his 77 million voters - their racism, sexism, and xenophobia, although, yes, his poll numbers now are quite bad. We have more of a society problem than a checks and balances problem.
Shouldn't GOP be dissatisfied with their powerlessness? As it stands now, congress, including GOP members are pretty much irrelevant. Trump administration is dancing around the courts in the way as they are gaslighting us about Good's killing. So, while courts may be deciding against Trump, including his unilateral power to levy tariffs, nothing seems to be happening.
DeleteImpeaching and convicting Trump would imperil many a GOP congress-critter -- or so they think. In the long term, though, it will be beneficial to their party. However, the collective good is a hard sell. It almost seems that most GOP legislators are harboring aspirations to become a Trump successor, with the unlimited imperial power. Crazy, I know.
Public activism is good. The appetite will be significantly reduced once bullets start flying and the DOJ arrests and indicts Frey and Walz.
Agree with 1:59.
DeleteCongress will step in when they are able to.
The GOP has been taken over by far right wing extremists. They feel empowered by Trump's actions.
The courts have had many successes in holding Trump accountable.
Activism is helping sway public opinion, and even helping in specific instances, where they have stopped ongoing efforts by Trump's enforcement officers.
We are seeing just the opposite, as the Trump goons ratchet up their actions, Americans are responding ever more forcefully to resist them.
We have systemic and institutional problems, but not so much with our checks and balances. The focus should be on root causes, on why our society produces such virulent right wingers.
Congress will step in when they are able to.
DeleteMeaning when it turns Democratic? There are two issues with that. Firstly, and, perhaps, less likely, there's a distinct possibility that 2026 elections will no take place as expected. I think that if Trump invades Greenland in the next couple of weeks. Secondly, impeaching Trump would carry a lot more political weight if supported by a large number of Republican representatives.
Trump is using extraordinary, and ugly levels of bullying to acquire Greenland. Is that insanity, bad judgment or brilliance?
ReplyDeleteIMO Trump is right that it would be good for the US to acquire Greenland. It has mineral wealth. Owing it would stop Russia or Chinese efforts to control it.
However, IMO it's unwise to use this extreme bullying of our allies. I don't think it will work. It weakens the alliance. It invites counter-threats, e.g., tariffs against the US or calling in loans. Now, unwise is different from insane. I don't think it's insane to attempt to gain something valuable even when the effort is likely to fail.
However, suppose Trump's strategy actually works. Suppose it results in the US gaining some sort of ownership of Greenland without destroying NATO or common economic arrangements. Then I would have to rate Trump's strategy as brilliant.
"Is that insanity, bad judgment or brilliance?"
DeleteIt's the first one.
That's what Bob is alluding to: the insanity of seeing clothes on the emperor.
DeleteWhen did you become aware, David, of the importance of "acquiring" Greenland?
Ilya - 30 years ago. I was returning from a business trip to England. The airplane flew over a tip of Greenland, which I saw out the window. I remember thinking that global warming would make this land valuable some day.
Delete"Suppose it results in the US gaining some sort of ownership of Greenland without destroying NATO or common economic arrangements."
DeleteSuppose it results in people whistling a happy tune. Suppose it results in free balloons and lemonade.
Suppose it results in friendly orcas bringing us fish.
Suppose it results in a second moon orbiting the first.
Suppose it results in a new hit TV show.
One can suppose anything.
"30 years ago. I was returning from a business trip to England. The airplane flew over a tip of Greenland, which I saw out the window. I remember thinking that global warming would make this land valuable some day."
DeleteBullshit.
David, you were thinking of global warming 30 years ago?
DeleteDavid, when the little birds flit round your head chirping, do they impart to sort of wisdom you promote?
DeleteI am going to go with Anon@2:18 on that. However, even stipulating to your story, does it mean that Greenland should be invaded?
DeletePS: Isn't global warming a hoax?
"David, you were thinking of global warming 30 years ago?"
DeleteWell, Dr. Hansen made his presentation to congress, which was widely accepted, back in 1988.
In any case, it's asinine that global warming is a prerequisite for exploring for the minerals in Greenland.
Let us take Greenland, but make it a condition that no one related to the Trump abomination will ever be able to own mineral rights on Greenland for all perpetuity.
DeleteHow about you go take a flying fuck, Dickhead in Cal, you fucking fascist freak.
If Greenland melts, it will wipe away many of our coastal cities. That part of David's comment is barely dumber than the part where he thinks anyone would believe his lie about flying over Greenland. Most flights do not go over Greenland, and the few that do, typically can not see Greenland due to weather conditions.
DeleteDavid is a liar, nothing he says is accurate or genuine.
30 years ago I was flying back from a backgammon tournament in Lithuania and I remember looking down at the southern tip of Greenland and thinking, ‘the way this country is going some day we’ll have a president whose head makes whistling sounds as the wind moves through it, and he’ll insist on taking this land by force because the Danish government refuses to award him the Nobel Prize.’
DeleteNailed it, didn’t I?
Yes, you did.
DeleteWhy is Trump not threatening places like Saudi Arabia?
ReplyDeleteIt is a shithole of country, with horrible human rights violations, and they were heavily involved with 9/11 and other terrorism, and they have a lot of oil, oil that is much better than Venezuela.
Why don't we take over Russia while we are at it? We now know that Russia's military is a joke, nobody is going to shoot off nukes (MAD), and they have more resources to plunder than Venezuela or Greenland.
Oh wait a sec. You mean to say those countries have given the Trump Crime Family billions, so they are off limits, they have bought themselves security? Ah, I see.
That's what his and Jared's proposed "Board of Peace" is all about.
DeleteThis seems a little extreme for a mob breaking into a church taking it over temporarily. But there is a valid comparison between Governors Walz and Wallace.
ReplyDeleteDOJ Announces Intention to Charge Don Lemon under the Ku Klux Klan Act.
The KKK Act makes it illegal to threaten, hurt, or intimidate people to prevent them from exercising their God-given rights.
Go away troll.
DeleteCharging University police for not allowing students the God-given (Constitutional) right to protest Israel's Apartheid program in Gaza is only the beginning.
DeleteHahaha. The KKK Act in the age of ICE.
DeleteDon Lemon and company should just go ahead and secede. It’s not like anyone would miss them.
Delete[F - off!]
ReplyDelete"...on long-standing allies..."
"Allies" implies equality, relationship between the equal.
Western European states are not equal to the US. What they are, Western European states, to the US, it's call vassals.
They must obey to their suzerain. If they refuse to obey, they should be punished.