Poll of the Day > Trump apparently wants to buy Greenland

(+) Yeah! (+)

OhhhJa posted...

I've never called anyone snowflake. Now you're just making stuff up

Never said you did.

You should read more.

OhhhJa posted...

As far as everyone being out to get me. That I'm not saying but one mod definitely is. She even publicly bragged after putting me in purg.

Hey, I totally believe you. This definitely doesn't sound like tinfoil hat conspiracies, GameFAQs style.

Keep on fighting the good fight, man. You'll win eventually, I'm sure.
---

darkknight109 posted...

OhhhJa posted...

I've never called anyone snowflake. Now you're just making stuff up

Never said you did.

You should read more.

OhhhJa posted...

As far as everyone being out to get me. That I'm not saying but one mod definitely is. She even publicly bragged after putting me in purg.

Hey, I totally believe you. This definitely doesn't sound like tinfoil hat conspiracies, GameFAQs style.

Keep on fighting the good fight, man. You'll win eventually, I'm sure.

So now I'm lying about her publicly bragging about it? Ok whatever suits your agenda buddy

I'm also not the only one who knows about melon having his mod status stripped for targeting posters. Hell, one of his buddies was the one that told me that. I had already suspected that anyway because much like now when he got his mod status I started getting modded relentlessly

Weve seen your posts dude

---

OhhhJa posted...

So now I'm lying about her publicly bragging about it? Ok whatever suits your agenda buddy

Look, I get it, you're intimidated by me. You can't go three posts without bringing up my intelligence. You come into my topic with an insult, then act hurt and indignant when I respond in kind. Then you go to all the trouble of making a topic of your own and when I don't show up, you decide to mention me in the hopes I'll come pay attention to you. Meanwhile, I'd completely forgotten you existed after you got yourself suspended and I'll probably do the same when it inevitably happens again (those mean, nasty mods with their political conspiracies!).

Sorry man, but you need to find yourself a new obsession - I'm kinda busy these days.
---

Buying Greenland wouldn't be a bad move actually since it would allow strong control over the arctic as well as a large amount of resources. I don't think it will happen but it's far from stupid. With both Alaska and Greenland America would effectively have only Canada and Russia as competition for arctic control. I don't think it will happen, but it's not as dumb as people make it out to be.
---

Someone who knows better probably advised him. It's not the first time the U.S. has tried buy Greenland.

Unbridled9 posted...

I don't think it will happen but it's far from stupid.

Some food for thought: when was the last time a country sold off a chunk of its territory the size of Greenland, citizens and all?

Go ahead and look it up. I'll wait.

Unbridled9 posted...

With both Alaska and Greenland America would effectively have only Canada and Russia as competition for arctic control.

Sure. As long as you don't count Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Also China, if you put stock in their (admittedly ridiculous) claim to being a "near-Arctic nation".
---

darkknight109 posted...

Unbridled9 posted...

I don't think it will happen but it's far from stupid.

Some food for thought: when was the last time a country sold off a chunk of its territory the size of Greenland, citizens and all?

Go ahead and look it up. I'll wait.

Unbridled9 posted...

With both Alaska and Greenland America would effectively have only Canada and Russia as competition for arctic control.

Sure. As long as you don't count Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Also China, if you put stock in their (admittedly ridiculous) claim to being a "near-Arctic nation".

That would probably be either Alaska or the Louisiana Purchase though I'm not really an expert on historical land sales.

And sure, but there is little denying that it would be a massive increase in power for America.
---

If theres one thing the US is in desperate need of, its more power

---

OhhhJa posted...

I'm also not the only one who knows about melon having his mod status stripped for targeting posters. Hell, one of his buddies was the one that told me that. I had already suspected that anyway because much like now when he got his mod status I started getting modded relentlessly

Who told you? I bet it was Mead. He's always giving away insider mod secrets to targeted posters.
---

HelIWithoutSin posted...

Who told you? I bet it was Mead. He's always giving away insider mod secrets to targeted posters.

---

HelIWithoutSin posted...

OhhhJa posted...

I'm also not the only one who knows about melon having his mod status stripped for targeting posters. Hell, one of his buddies was the one that told me that. I had already suspected that anyway because much like now when he got his mod status I started getting modded relentlessly

Who told you? I bet it was Mead. He's always giving away insider mod secrets to targeted posters.

It was @FrndNhbrHdCEman

Said he went on a tirade and banned theworstposter

Unbridled9 posted...

That would probably be either Alaska or the Louisiana Purchase though I'm not really an expert on historical land sales.

In other words, about 150-200 years ago.

Unbridled9 posted...

And sure, but there is little denying that it would be a massive increase in power for America.

The "massive power increase" part is not what makes this stupid (and I feel like people overestimate just how much of a power boost this would be - America already has a base on Greenland and if the government is concerned about the arctic, the sensible thing to do would be to invest more in Alaska and try and form a working group with the other arctic nations, given that all of them but Russia are American allies; but, naturally, diplomacy and cooperation have never been things this administration seems to care about at all, so they'd rather drop a huge pile of cash on some land and hope that fixes the problem). Yes, if the US could get Greenland, it would be very good for the US - that's not the problem.

What makes this such a colossally stupid move on Trump's part is that countries don't sell off entire regions anymore - especially inhabited ones. By your own admission, it hasn't been done for over a century and a half (and the circumstances around both the Alaska and Louisiana purchases were very different than modern day Greenland). And, if Trump truly wanted to entertain this idiocy, the smart thing to do would have been to approach Denmark discreetly and put out some feelers on if this was in any way feasible so that when they inevitably tell him to go piss up a rope, as they did, he wouldn't publicly look like a moron (at least, not about this).

Then there's the questionable economic wisdom of adding more to the debt and deficit after Trump has already ballooned both despite having fantastic economic tailwinds (something that anyone with the slightest grasp of economics should be terrified about); the fact that all of Greenland's major political parties except one support independence, so Trump would be buying a region that would almost immediately attempt to break away from the US and form its own country; the questionable political decision for a Republican president to add tens of thousands of socialist voters (which, presumably, would get the status of a state and, therefore, representation in the House, Senate, and Electoral College); the fact that Congress would never agree to give him the money for this purchase; the fact that it's not even clear if such a sale would be legal under Danish or American law (What do you do with all the current Danish citizens who don't *want* to become Americans?).

So yes, if you just look at the goal in isolation of "Greenland becomes part of America", it almost looks like a good idea... but if you look at everything that has to happen before and afterwards for that to be a reality, that's where the raging stupidity becomes almost immediately apparent.
---

joemodda posted...

Someone explain to me why it's a bad idea

Because it's Trump.

If Obama tried to do it, they would have claimed how great of an idea it was to do so, and how it would have expanded our military coverage, weakened Russia's influence in the Arctic, and significantly expanded our natural resources.

But because Trump wants to do it, it's suddenly a horrible idea because, Trump.

He doesnt even care about Greenland he just knows its something stupid enough to distract people away from all the economic fire alarms going off right now and the fact that impeachment is looking more and more likely

---

Mead posted...

He doesnt even care about Greenland he just knows its something stupid enough to distract people away from all the economic fire alarms going off right now and the fact that impeachment is looking more and more likely

The economic fire alarms? You mean from the same economists who claimed that we would be in a depression if Trump won, and that it's bad because the economy is booming?

The same impeachment measures that will never happen?

Buying Greenland isn't even a bad idea. But it's infeasible (akin to trying to buy the moon) and Trump tried to do it in the dumbest possible way. And then went home in tears when it didn't work.
---

TheWorstPoster posted...

Because it's Trump.

This. Plus, y'know, the dozens of actual reasons why it's a bad idea.
---

Impeachment push intensifies as president launches late-night twitter storm after disapproval rating soars

http://bit.ly/2NqGsFj


---

OMG trump said something. Liberals assemble so we can blindly oppose it and come up with more conspiracy theories !
---

Peterass posted...

OMG trump said something. Liberals assemble so we can blindly oppose it and come up with more conspiracy theories !

Better yet lets throw the corrupt sack of shit in prison

that would teach the liberals theyd be so mad if trump got locked up

---

Trump always does the opposite of what he says. So if he is saying he wants to buy Greenland, maybe he's actually hoping to sell Alaska. The Russians would love to get their old territory back.

Knowing Trumps "business sense", he'd probably sell it for $14 million. "We only paid $7 million for it, so I made a profit!"
---

You guys realize this is a blatantly comical, farcical, nonsense gesture by Trump done for very intentional reasons, right?

There's no real political downside to it as there is when he say...insults an entire group of people, or pushes a policy that endangers our air and water, or so on... Other than that, "lol, Trump is crazy" which...even his own supporters seem to acknowledge already (they just happen to like how his "zany" actions "trigger liberals")

He's doing this to distract people from everything of substance he's doing that's bad, and his various scandals, and possibly his relationship w/ Epstein and how he mysteriously died under the care of Trump's DoJ. And people as always are fucking falling for it.

TL;DR: Don't let this distract you from the fact that...

streamofthesky posted...

There's no real political downside to it

Trump's chances of re-election ride on his projecting as a sensible business leader who has done an excellent job of handling the economy. The is an excellent and highly visible/embarrassing indicator of why both are not true and, aside from the completely unflappable Trump supporters (the ones who really would support Trump if he shot someone on 5th Ave), swing voters who went for Trump last time are going to pay attention to things like this.

Not to mention it resulted in the leaders of both Denmark and Greenland calling him a moron, leading to a Trump temper tantrum with him deciding to stay home and sulk rather than going to Denmark on a planned state visit, so there was actual demonstrable damage done.

streamofthesky posted...

And people as always are fucking falling for it.

I've never bought this argument.

For one thing, Trump's not smart enough to do something like this. People - mostly (remarkably) people who are against him - watch him and insist he must be playing 4D chess when he just accidentally shoved a pawn up his ass, instead of just accepting the obvious answer that he's a narcissistic nimrod.

For two, people are capable of multitasking. No one's ignoring his other misdeeds, this is just one more to throw on the pile. People can keep multiple scandals in their head at the same time.

For three, when politicians distract, they almost invariably distract using flashy feel-good news, not something that portrays them equally badly. The strategy of, "Distract people from thinking I'm a moron on important things by doing something that demonstrates I'm a moron on a different, slightly less important thing," is, to put it politely, a fairly questionable one. It's like trying to distract someone you just robbed by setting their house on fire - sure, they might not be as focused on the robbery anymore, but that doesn't mean they think you're a good person now.
---

darkknight109 posted...

Trump's chances of re-election ride on his projecting as a sensible business leader who has done an excellent job of handling the economy.

His chances of reelection ride on appealing to racism and depressing voter turnout.
---