The oft-married Donald Trump seems to have a real problem with women, including – despite his choice in wives – foreign women. Women who – unlike his wives – are not former models but are themselves world leaders. And it goes beyond his swipes at his usual targets, Britain’s Theresa May and Germany’s Angela Merkel.
There are the women he sometimes dubs “nasty.”
This isn’t exactly news to collectors of Trump lore. But it has come into sharp focus in the last several weeks in the hullabaloo about Greenland, which started when our fearless leader expressed an interest in acquiring it on behalf of these United States. The villain in Trump’s tale is – unsurprisingly – a woman.
Greenland, for the sake of the few who’ve been marooned on a remote mountaintop, is a gargantuan island – the largest in the world – off the eastern coast of Canada. It is mostly covered with ice and snow and boasts a small population of hearty fisherfolk and their ilk.
For more than 300 years, it’s also been an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a prosperous democracy in northern Europe with a much-loved monarchy going back 1,000 years and a capital city loaded with picturesque palaces. Denmark’s been one of our country’s staunchest allies for – well, forever.
It also has a strong-willed prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, who didn’t mince words when she learned the avaricious American president was angling to swipe her property.
“Greenland is not for sale,” she said emphatically. “I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously.”
She then called the whole topic “an absurd discussion” and “a joke,” adding that “thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there.”
Our easily offended president did not take rejection well. He promptly canceled a long-scheduled state visit to Denmark, one to take place in just two weeks – and a visit he had proposed.
“I thought it was not a nice statement, the way she blew me off . . . ,” Trump complained. “She said ‘absurd.’ That’s not the right word to use.”
In the next few days, he couldn’t let the subject go. “It was not a nice way of doing it. She could have just said, ‘No, we’d rather not do it.’ She’s not talking to me, she’s talking to the United States of America. They can’t say: ‘How absurd.’ ”
Sorry, Mr. Sensitivity, they can say “how absurd.” It was exactly the right word to use. It is an absurd idea. Greenland has been part of Denmark for hundreds of years, and no Dane has any interest in changing that. It might hurt your easily bruised feelings, but in fact no one involved cares what you want.
It’s as if Denmark looked at a map and decided it wanted Florida – including your cherished Mar-A-Lago. Although at this point I suspect a lot of Americans would tell Denmark to go ahead and take it, I doubt you would.
And the prime minister wasn’t talking to “the United States of America.” She was talking to you, not the country you are temporarily the elected president of. You are not “the United States,” particularly when you act completely un-presidentially, flinging insults at foreigners who treat our country with respect.
Then you hurled your last, your ultimate insult: Prime Minister Frederiksen’s words were “nasty.”
No one knows exactly what you mean by “nasty.” But a lot of us have noticed you sort of spit the word out, as you might spit out a bit of rotten food. It’s one of your favorite epithets for women you don’t like. People have taken notice – and begun posting lists on the ever-vigilant Internet.
Topping the list Trump has tagged with “nasty” is – no surprise here – Hillary Clinton. After three years, he’s still obsessed. Also up there is Nancy Pelosi. Anyone who watched his little public sit-down with Nancy and Chuck Schumer could see that he was a bit jittery.
Sharing the “nasty” spotlight are Elizabeth Warren, an uppity woman brimming with confidence, and Kamala Harris, who is not only an uppity woman but a black one. Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan who denounced Trump’s slow response to the hurricane damage in Puerto Rico, and Mazie Hirono, the Hawaiian congresswoman who makes her dislike of the president evident at every chance, are on his “nasty woman” list.
So, bizarrely, is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and one of the British royal family whose sin is apparently that, back when she was an American actress named Meghan Markle, she said she didn’t like Trump.
Sharing the nasty woman list with the duchess is Omarosa Manigault, a one-time Trump pal. And somehow General Motors CEO Mary Barra earned his enmity, as did Barbara Res, a former Trump business associate who displayed insufficient loyalty, reporter April Ryan and an unnamed Jeb Bush staffer.
Mysteriously, another “nasty” woman is Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. What is wrong with our president? Doesn’t he know that everyone loves Canadians?
This shouldn’t be all that surprising, I guess, coming from a guy whose Cabinet – in an era when presidential Cabinets are used to spotlight the nation’s diversity – is stuffed with more old white guys than any since Richard Nixon’s.
It’s remarkable that, in a world threatened by everything from widespread food shortages and nuclear proliferation to potentially catastrophic global warming, the American president spends his days obsessing about “nasty” women in his life.
But maybe – given his explosive temperament – this ruckus is a good thing. At least the Danes won’t nuke us. And he did unite the people of Denmark – in universal disdain for him.
Trump, by the way, isn’t the only member of his administration not getting a lot of love from the Scandinavian ladies. Vice President Mike Pence, too, is apparently having problems in the diplomacy department.
Iceland’s prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, says she’s skipping town when Pence visits. Seems she accepted an out-of-town speaking engagement when he dithered about setting a date. Jakobsdottir assures all, though, that Pence “will meet a top-ranking team of Icelandic leaders.”
With luck, they’ll be all male. Mrs. Pence would very much approve.
(“Monitor” columnist Katy Burns lives in Bow.)