Dear President Trump, in your proposal to acquire Greenland, try substituting the friendlier, more compelling word Money for that harsher, more threatening word you sometimes use, Military!
Then I suggest offering to every citizen of Denmark the equivalent of $3,000 if their government agrees to give us this pivotably important land separating us from Russia, which would be so strategically important to our wellbeing by making it much harder for them to fire missiles at us.
As Denmark’s population is approximately six million, this would cost the U.S. a measly $6 billion. For us, chickenfeed. For them, a bundle, a bonanza!
It could work like this, by inference. If the government of Denmark were to approve the sale of Greenland to the U.S., we would assume it was the result of public pressure aroused by our offer to pay every citizen of Denmark $3,000 should that result. We would then send the full $6 billion to the government of Denmark requesting it pay to every adult citizen that amount we promised to pay if they petitioned their leaders to sell Greenland to the U.S. When their government approved the sale, we would assume that’s what they did and they’d be rewarded as promised.
Think how it would unleash more democratic pressure on Denmark’s leaders than would saying we might resort to militaristic methods of persuasion that’s so unbecoming for a fair and forthright behemoth democracy such as ours to threaten one of the smallest countries in the world, and a NATO ally, no less.
President Trump, your latest threats against Greenland pose a new and potentially unprecedented level of threat, perhaps even an existential one to NATO, for an alliance focused on external threats possibly facing an armed confrontation involving its most powerful member.
The White House says the administration is weighing “options” that could include military action to take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which is a semi-autonomous region that is part of NATO ally Denmark.
What would be much safer, saner, and more persuasive would be Denmark citizens appealing to their leaders to please give America what it believes it needs for its safety! What the hell are we getting out of Greenland, they would say when we could all be richer by giving what’s so far away from us up in that cold arctic region to a country that’s almost next door to it.
So instead of trying to convince Denmark’s leaders ourselves, let their own population do our bidding, which would have a much better chance of succeeding than our acting like a bully threatening our military might, and instead showing America is a fair and honest nation whose president prefers to be a wise wheeler dealer than an aggressive, flat-out stealer.
Certainly, the government of Denmark will want something too out of the deal, so to close it we can throw in another billion or two for the bureaucrats there.
Then if Denmark agrees to sell us Greenland, look at not only the enhanced protection we would net, but the value of all that mineral wealth we’ll be acquiring, which ultimately will spark our economy and help reduce debt to the benefit all taxpayers!
Wouldn’t’ thIs be one hell of a doggone, kickass deal causing Putin to take more Maalox!
Tom Madden is a dealmaker himself having over the years helped clients of his PR firm, TransMedia Group, including some of America’s largest companies, solve problems before they could have disastrous consequences. Today, his industrious daughter Adrienne Mazzone is president of the enterprising firm Madden started in Manhattan when left NBC. Today the award-winning firm is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL.