Even the Danes are getting angry. The Danes!
Mark Stroh, the US Chargé d’Affaires in Denmark, arrives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen on August 27, 2025.
(Thomas Traasdahl / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)
Before Donald Trump, the idea of a diplomatic spat between Denmark and the United States would have sounded outlandish. Even more than many of its European peers, Denmark has historically placed a premium on its alliance with the United States. During the George W. Bush administration, for instance, it was one of only five West European countries to sign up for the “coalition of the willing” supporting the Iraq war (along with the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy). Of those five, only Denmark and the United Kingdom actually made a military contribution that was more than symbolic.
Given this history, it’s a singular achievement of Trump’s foreign policy that he’s managed the previously unthinkable: making the Danes mad.
On Wednesday, the Danish foreign minister summoned Mark Stroh, the top US diplomat in Denmark, demanding answers about reports that three associates of Trump had been caught trying to foment a secessionist movement in the Danish territory of Greenland. Trump, of course,has repeatedly called for the annexation of Greenland by the United States and refuses to rule out a military invasion. But this was the first inkling that these plans were something more than bluster.
Responding to the Danish government’s anger, a White House official told CBS News, “We think the Danes need to calm down.” Good luck with that.
The Danish feud underscores that, even more than in his first term, Trump’s diplomacy is now little more than a mixture of relentless arrogance, bluster, and recklessness. Actually, calling what Trump and his crew are doing “diplomacy” isn’t quite right. Instead, they’re using the world stage to show off their swagger.
While this kind of bullying might impress the MAGA faithful at home, it makes the United States look more and more like a rogue superpower—a nation that still has to be appeased because of its remaining economic and military power, but can’t be trusted as an ally or even a stable fixture in global politics.
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The Danes are not the only foreign government unnecessarily alienated by Trump. As the Associated Press notes,
Stroh is the second American diplomat to be summoned by a European NATO ally this week as the Trump administration shakes up its approach to foreign policy. France had called US Ambassador Charles Kushner to its foreign ministry after he sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.
The fact that Kushner is ambassador to France is itself an insult to a major ally. Kushner is both a nepotism hire (the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner) and a convicted felon who served time for a sordid scheme involving hiring sex workers to blackmail his brother.
And on Tuesday, Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkey, sparked even more outrage by telling reporters in a press conference in Lebanon to “act civilized” and not be “animalistic.” The Union of Journalists in Lebanon lambasted these remarks, accurately noting they “reflect a deep-seated colonial superiority toward the peoples of the region and constitute a blatant violation of the most basic principles of diplomatic etiquette.” Barrack made those comments after meeting the president of Lebanon, who apologized to the press for these remarks. In the face of a backlash, Barrack himself also apologized on Thursday.
The boorish behavior of Barrack and other diplomats mirrors that of the president. Strikingly, even when Trump wants to make a deal, as he seems to when it comes to ending the Ukraine/Russia war, he is incapable of doing the diligent engagement with allies and adversaries that is necessary for a successful negotiation. Writing in Foreign Policy, Harvard international relations professor Stephen Walt observes:
Trump is a terrible negotiator…. He doesn’t prepare, doesn’t have subordinates lay the groundwork beforehand, and arrives at each meeting not knowing what he wants or where his red lines are. He has no strategy and isn’t interested in the details, so he just wings it.
As we learned during his first term, when he wasted time on those irrelevant reality-show meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, all Trump really craves is attention, coupled with dramatic visuals that suggest he is in charge. The substance of any deal he might make is secondary if not irrelevant, which is why some of the trade agreements he’s recently announced are less favorable for the United States than he claims.
Trump’s bombastic, blowhard approach is hurting America’s reputation, especially among erstwhile allies. A Pew survey of global public opinion released in June shows that in many countries, there is “no confidence” in that the United States will do the right thing in world affairs: In Canada the “no confidence” opinion was held by a supermajority of 77 percent, in the United Kingdom 62 percent, in Greece 63 percent, in the Netherlands 77 percent, in France 78 percent, in Spain 80 percent, in Germany 81 percent, in Turkey 80 percent, in Sweden 85 percent, in South Korea 67 percent, in Australia 77 percent, and in Mexico 91 percent.
Writing for Project Syndicate in June, Amitav Acharya, an international relations professor at American University in Washington, DC, cogently argued that the damage to America’s reputation would outlast the current Trump administration:
Some might hope that Trump’s alienation of US allies can be reversed under the next administration. Don’t bet on it. Regardless of how Trump’s tariff war plays out, the damage to the idea of the West has already been done. As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyenput it, “The West as we knew it no longer exists.” The Liberal Party’s astonishing comeback in Canada shows the depth of that country’s revulsion vis-à-vis the US. Relationships that were shredded overnight will take years to rebuild.
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America’s erstwhile allies need to confront the fact that Trumpism is not going away. Trump was elected not just once but twice. The Republican Party has been remade in his image and he has many heirs ready to take up his mantle. Future Republican presidents, whether they be JD Vance or Ron DeSantis or some other figure, will follow in Trump’s footsteps. Even more troubling is the fact that Democrats have themselves adopted some strands of America First, as seen by Joe Biden’s moves to heighten great-power competition with China and to undermine international law in the defense of Israel’s horrific war in Gaza.
The United States is increasingly behaving like a rogue superpower. One great question in the coming decades will be how long the world will tolerate this behavior or whether the alliances that undergird American power will come crashing down.
In this moment of crisis, we need a unified, progressive opposition to Donald Trump.
We’re starting to see one take shape in the streets and at ballot boxes across the country: from New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign focused on affordability, to communities protecting their neighbors from ICE, to the senators opposing arms shipments to Israel.
The Democratic Party has an urgent choice to make: Will it embrace a politics that is principled and popular, or will it continue to insist on losing elections with the out-of-touch elites and consultants that got us here?
At The Nation, we know which side we’re on. Every day, we make the case for a more democratic and equal world by championing progressive leaders, lifting up movements fighting for justice, and exposing the oligarchs and corporations profiting at the expense of us all. Our independent journalism informs and empowers progressives across the country and helps bring this politics to new readers ready to join the fight.
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Thank you for helping us take on Trump and build the just society we know is possible.
Sincerely,
Bhaskar Sunkara
President, The Nation
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