'World has gone mad': New Trump push has 'broken brains' in Washington: report

The United States' relationship with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) changed dramatically on January 20, 2025, when former President Joe Biden left office and President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Biden was an aggressive champion of NATO, applauding Sweden and Finland for deciding to join the transcontinental alliance following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Trump, in contrast, is a frequent critic of NATO, and U.S. relations with its European allies are being strained by Trump's insistence that Greenland — a territory of NATO member Denmark — become part of the United States.

In an article published by Politico on January 22, foreign affairs correspondent Nahal Toosi examines the concerns that diplomats and political scientists are voicing because of Trump's Greenland fixation.

"President Donald Trump may be backing down on his threat to seize Greenland, but his push for the island has already changed the way foreign policy is done in Washington and beyond," Toosi explains. "More than any other global issue I've seen Trump tackle, his obsession with Greenland has shifted paradigms and broken brains. And I'm talking about big brains: diplomats, foreign policy analysts, economic specialists. People on the left and a fair number on the right. Even diplomats not from Europe are rattled."

Suzanne Maloney, director of the Brookings Institution's foreign language program, told Politico that she feels "as though the world has gone mad" — adding, "The language, the determination on this particular issue just feels disconnected from our national interest."

An African official, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told Politico, "It was like, huh? The shocking part was the level of the threat, how serious he was. And it's not over."

Toosi notes that interviewees were "not ready to relax" even though Trump recently "softened his tone" on Greenland.

Eric Green, a former National Security Council (NSC) official for the Biden Administration, told Politico, "His overriding interest is to expand the map of the United States. Sooner or later, he's going to come back to that…. It feels a bit like 'The Twilight Zone.' He's linking a personal slight to a geopolitical request that is completely unreasonable."

According to Toosi, the "whole Greenland debacle is especially hard for people who teach international relations."

Daniel Drezner of Tufts University's Fletcher School told Politico, "There comes a point where you just want to say this is a f------ stupid idea."

Read Nahal Toosi's full article for Politico at this link.