I'm reliably informed by contact by sources in the United States that that if if he did invade Greenland, there would be a a mass resignation by uh senior members of the US military apart from anything else. >> At this point in the program, we plan to take a considered look at Donald Trump's first year of his second term. But the president has disrupted our plans.
An hour ago, he launched a stinging critique of the UK for acting with what he described as great stupidity over its plans to give away Diego Garcia. It's worth remembering that just last year, Marco Rubio and the president himself welcomed the work and the deal to keep the base open. Well, no one better to guide us on this than Jerry Baker, the editor at large for the Wall Street Journal and Times columnist.
Good morning. >> Hello. Good morning.
I mean, it's about as strong an attack on an ally as possible. And I recognize that there will be some people who will listen to the wording of this truth social post where he calls the UK quote brilliant NATO ally. Bit of sarcasm, says well acting with great stupidity and that the deal is an act of total weakness.
Some people will look at that and say, well, it's just Trump being Trump. But does this mark a new moment in how bad the relationship is? I suppose.
Well, I think it does come as uh, you know, rather rather unfortunate reward for all of Saki Starama's um, shall we say rather rather complacent uh, efforts with Donald Trump over the last year. I think Starmer is very proud of his relationship with Trump. He's uh, you know, has got literally gone down on his knees at one point to uh, to to help Donald Trump.
So, it's not a good look, is it, when the president then turns around. The only thing I'd have to say though, Kate, is as you rightly pointed out, this is very much at odds, of course, this particular outburst on the Chaos Islands with what the administration said just as soon as it came into office. As you know, this was a something that was being negotiated before Trump came into office when Biden was in office.
There were a lot of people uh there were critics in Britain and there were some people here, I'm actually in Switzerland at the moment, but there were some people in the United States who said this is a bad deal. You know, Trump will come in and he'll tell the British to, you know, to scrap it. Um but they came in and they said no actually you know what it it seems fine to us.
So you know this is Trump as you said this is Trump being Trump there there is an element of quicksotic behavior here. He's obviously not feeling very good about NATO at the moment and his friends in NATO including even his most reliable partner. So I think this is probably an outburst and we'll have to see whether or not it actually comes to anything.
My guess is given given given again all the diplomacy on this, the fact that the deal is done, this will probably be more verbal fireworks rather than an actual rift in the relationship between the UK and the US. >> But I suppose the problem is, and as you say, it's an outburst on Twitter. He's obviously cross, but he is the president of America.
You know, he he's he's one of the most powerful men in the world, and everyone else has to work out how to behave around him and react to him. And for the UK certainly, we saw Kia Star's response yesterday, which was gently, gently in hopes of a renegotiation. We've also seen this morning Donald Trump publishing WhatsApp messages he's had from Emanuel Macarron and Mark Rut.
He's probably going to see them over the course of the next couple of days when he goes to Davos. Their approach evidently is flattery, but it doesn't seem to be working. He's not backing down from this Greenland question.
>> Yeah, again, we'll have to see. Look, I I'm here in Davos right now. officials I've spoken to both in uh European officials and American officials do seem to be of the view that some kind of a deal is going to be done here.
This is US is not going to invade Greenland. I I'm reliably informed by contact by sources in the United States that that if if he did invade Greenland, there would be a a mass resignation by uh senior members of the US military apart from anything else. >> Oh, that's interesting, Jerry.
That that's the first time we've heard somebody say that. I mean, we've had we've heard people say that there is unease and disqu among Republicans around Trump, but you're saying there are military personnel who would actually resign if Trump went this far. >> Yes.
Yes. I'm certain of that. There this would be an illegal act.
Not not just a against international law, which you know, some of us might have a rather cynical skeptical view about the the power of international law. After all, who enforces it? But this will be a breach of US law.
Clear breach of US law. The the NATO treaty is a treaty approved by the Senate enshrined in United States law under article six of the US Constitution. Treaties are described as the supreme law of the land.
Um so it would not be um permissible under US law for the United States to invade the territory of a NATO ally. So uh and I'm yeah again from what I've heard uh sources I've told there will there would be first of all there is initial push back and secondly there would be resignations if it were to happen. So, I I don't think it's going to happen.
I look, I think some sort of a This is Trump once again exercising hyperbole. Again, you're right. This is not the kind of language that we've got used to from any of almost any of the previous 46 presidents of the United States.
But we should by now be used to the fact that this is the way Trump acts. Um, he is unconstrained by not only by norms or by rules, uh, but by the standards of of of pres presidential language and the standards of of diplomatic behavior. He, you know, he he's intent on getting Greenland in some way or for some form or other.
Um, and he thinks this by putting pressure on on Denmark and and and Europe Europeans to give it to him, this is he's going to get some kind of a deal. And here's the reality, Kate. Europe is absolutely incapable of defending Greenland from the United States.
You know, in the unlikely event that that would ever happen, it's incapable of offering any real resistance. I know there's talk about economic sanctions and all this kind of stuff, but but nobody really thinks the Europeans have got the power to stop the US from doing what it wants. This is, you know, and again, whether you like Trump or not, this is the geopolitical reality right now.
Europe is weak. The United States is strong and, you know, in this new world in which we operate, that's that's that those are the most important factors. >> Jerry, can I ask you finally about Donald Trump's standing because it is a year of his the first year of his second term.
What's his standing in the Republican party? I mean, we hear often about the fracturing of the MAGA movement. We hear about the the discomfort of some around him about what he's doing.
We know there are questions about the legality of some of his tariffs, for example, and you've raised further questions about the military there. How strong is Trump in his own support within America right now? >> It's it's in many ways the key question, I think, for what happens in the course of the next few months and indeed over this year.
He is still remarkably strong. Opinion polls over the weekend, a lot of slew of opinion polls including one for the Wall Street Journal uh where I work showed that his support among rep approval of rating among Republicans is something like 90%. Right.
Um so Republican voters still broadly approve. Interestingly, they don't approve universally of many of the things he's doing. This is the sort of conundrum with Trump.
It is a lot about a personality issue and a personality cult, some might say, rather than about the policies. vast numbers of people, a tiny minority of people think the US should take Greenland, whether by force or by any other way. They're not happy.
They're increasingly unhappy. Voters, even a sign, even a rising number of Republicans are unhappy with the immigration enforcement and the aggressive immigration enforcement that's been going on. Mo many Republican voters don't like tariffs.
We may get a Supreme Court decision any day now could strike that down. So there there is resistance to Trump. There's more resistance than there has been.
He remains overwhelmingly popular with his voters. But but we've got the key thing, Kate. We've got these midterm elections coming in November.
The Republicans, as it stands, seem set to lose control of the House of Representatives, possibly the Senate. That's less likely. And and as they move closer to the electorate over the coming months and start to see the whites of the electorate's eyes, yeah, I think many many more Republicans, well, not many many more enough Republicans will start to push back and say, you know what, we don't like some of the things that he's doing.
But at the moment he has this grip on the party thanks to his popularity with his voters and that isn't being broken at the moment. >> Jerry, thank you. Great to have you with us as ever.
Uh enjoy Davos. Jerry Baker, editor at large for the Wall Street Journal and Times columnist.
