U.S. President Donald Trump in Zurich, Switzerland on January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
At the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, European leaders are anxiously awaiting a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump — who isn't backing down from insisting that Greenland must become part of the United States. And he refuses to rule out the possibility of taking the Arctic island, a Danish territory, by force.
During his years as a Washington Post opinion writer, Paul Waldman wrote plenty of scathing columns attacking Trump's policies. But in a column published on his Substack page on January 20, the liberal journalist goes a step further and questions Trump's sanity.
"It's time to say it: The president of the United States has lost his mind," Waldman argues. "That is not hyperbole. I and many others have often referred to things Donald Trump has done or said as insane, deranged, mad, or unhinged. He has always been ignorant and petty and vindictive and cruel and bigoted. But this is different. Something has broken in his brain."
Waldman continues, "Is it dementia? Is it an adverse reaction to the medications he is taking? I have no idea. I am not a psychologist, and I am not offering any specific medical diagnosis. But I'll say it again: The president of the United States has lost his mind. This is not just a national emergency, it is a global emergency."
Trump's willingness to use military force against Greenland, Waldman warns, shows that he is not thinking rationally.
"The people of Greenland have no interest in becoming part of the United States —
in a recent poll, 85 percent of them rejected the idea — and Denmark has no interest in handing it over," Waldman notes. "The American people think it's absolutely ridiculous; in (a) Quinnipiac poll, not only does a large majority oppose 'trying to buy Greenland' — which could only happen if Denmark wanted to sell it, which they don't — but even more strikingly, respondents oppose using military force to acquire it by a remarkable 86-(90) percent. The idea is about as popular as Jeffrey Epstein."
Waldman adds, "Meanwhile, our European allies have said they stand with Greenland and Denmark, so Trump is punishing them with tariffs on their goods — which, of course, means he's raising taxes on Americans to stick it to Europe. For their part, the Europeans are considering retaliatory tariffs, and are beginning to sound fed up."
Waldman points to Trump's recent letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store — which found him complaining about not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — as evidence that Trump has "lost his mind."
Waldman writes, "This is not a well man…. We've all seen how Trump is a different person than he was in his first term, with all of his worst qualities intensified and exaggerated. He's angrier, less coherent, more resentful, more distractible, more hateful, and more impulsive. Whether it was one event or the accumulated degradations of age, the unavoidable fact is that the most powerful person on earth is no longer of sound mind. We can't avoid it any longer."
Paul Waldman's full Substack column is available at this link.