The Editors Episode 842: The Greenland Stand Down
10 snips
Jan 23, 2026 They unpack Trump's Greenland gambit and its diplomatic fallout for NATO and European relations. They debate whether conventional diplomacy could have achieved the same aims. They examine the Lisa Cook firing and tensions over Federal Reserve independence. They walk through data on the recent decline in U.S. murder rates and possible drivers behind the trend.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Theatrics Can Yield Leverage
- Trump's theatrical demands can extract concessions that polite diplomacy might not secure.
- But Rich Lowry warns the diplomatic and alliance costs of frequent theatrics often outweigh modest gains.
Disruption As A Geopolitical Tool
- Michael Brendan Dougherty argues Trump's shocks may reorient U.S. geopolitics after decades of passive reliance on rules-based order.
- He sees such disruption as historically American and possibly valuable long-term despite short-term awkwardness.
Unpredictability Is Partly Genuine
- Charles C. W. Cooke stresses Trump's unpredictability includes real sincerity, making threats partially credible and diplomatically costly.
- He calls Trump's Greenland escalation unnecessary and diplomatically damaging given likely achievable concessions by quieter means.
