Can we blame Mercator for Trump's Greenland obsession?
By Andreas Kluth / Bloomberg Opinion
At some point in his life, Donald Trump looked at a world map and saw something he wants; something that, as president of the U.S., he now says he will take one way or the other.
Its Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, one of Americas closest allies. I love maps, Trump once explained. And I always said: Look at the size of this. Its massive. That should be part of the United States.
And so an obsession began, one that is now turning into a spectacle somewhere between political farce and geopolitical crisis, as an unusual and uninvited American delegation tours Greenland, to check it out, as one of the visitors, Vice President JD Vance, puts it.
The original plan was for his wife Usha to take one of their sons to a famous dogsled race, while high-ranking officials visit other destinations in parallel. That caused outrage in both Denmark and Greenland, which just held an election and is busy forming a new government. The Danish prime minister complains about unacceptable pressure, the outgoing Greenlandic leader calls the visit highly aggressive and meant to demonstrate power over us, while his likely successor agrees that it once again shows a lack of respect.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-can-we-blame-mercator-for-trumps-greenland-obsession/

Irish_Dem
(67,214 posts)He sees what he wants and takes it.
J_William_Ryan
(2,590 posts)Yes, Trump is indeed so stupid and ignorant to not understand the size distortion caused by the Mercator projection.
Ocelot II
(123,957 posts)What he wants to see is a Mercator map showing Greenland as very large and belonging to the U.S.