Move Over Greenland, Will Egomaniac Trump Threaten to Invade Norway Next?

Presidents say stupid things. It’s inevitable, because they talk so damn much, and it is human to stumble into sounding awkward or even dumb. The most interesting gaffes are always revealing. Here are a few memorable ones:

• Jimmy Carter: “I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.”
• Ronald Reagan: “Trees cause more pollution than cars do.”
• Richard Nixon: “When the President does it, that means it’s not illegal.” • Bill Clinton: “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
• Joe Biden: “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

There’s an extensive list from President Trump, but this one might be the number one of all time:

“I can’t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel prize more than me.”

True enough. Trump probably can’t think of anyone other than himself who deserves the award or any other accolade including renaming the Kennedy Center after himself. Greatest president of all time? Of course.

But it’s hard to imagine without cringing how he or any human, really, could make such a boastful statement. And how could he demand the Peace Prize just days after his invasion of Venezuela, repeated killing of civilians on alleged drug boats, and initiating the threatening drumbeat against Greenland. Then there’s his changing the Department of Defense’s name to the Department of War. Last I heard, war is the opposite of peace.

Trump is doing now what he always does: He puts a claim on what he wants and then pressures people to give it to him. “Stop the Steal” was no different than his campaign for the Peace Prize. Whatever he wants, he thinks, should be his, and he will do all he can to reshape the world so that it comes his way. And when it doesn’t, it’s people being unfair to him. He’s the victim for not getting the Nobel.

But it’s not a joke. On January 19, Trump sent a text to Jonas Gahr Store, Norway’s leader, saying “Considering that your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

But you’ve got to wonder how much anyone’s ego can expand without an explosion of some sort. Most of us mortals get squeamish when bragging about ourselves. A few athletes have been able to pull it off, like Mohammed Ali’s “I am the greatest!” (He was.) Or Joe Namath’s “We’re going to win [the Superbowl] Sunday. I guarantee it.” (They did.)

But a boxer in the ring and a quarterback on the field must continually prove it or they lose face. Trump does not. He can claim he’s the greatest peace president ever, just by saying it, even if he goes to war while doing so. The people who point out that he isn’t are quickly branded liars, Marxists, idiots, losers, ugly, and operating under TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).

Does bragging in general have social benefits that lead people like Trump to incessantly exaggerate their talents and accomplishments? A recent study found it may make them sexier!

“Seen from an evolutionary perspective, strategic self-promotion might have evolved as a beneficial psychological mechanism in mating competition.”

But there’s a downside, a big one. The noted psychologist Carl Jung in 1944 warned:

An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own existence. It is incapable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead.

Is there some kind of limit to ego expansion after which the “inevitable doom” strikes? If so, then we should all be worried. We have no idea what might happen if that limit is breached. It’s one thing for an inflated ego to feed off adoring MAGA fans who see Trump as another Joe Namath. But the danger is multiplied many times over because Trump’s ego now commands the mightiest military machine in the history of the world. If war comes to mean peace, duck and cover.

I can understand why some of my brothers and sisters in the labor movement gravitated towards Trump. He promised to save jobs and make the economy work again for working people. And many were deeply disappointed that the Democrats, on their watch, failed to mitigate millions of unnecessary mass layoffs. But Trump’s working-class support may be fading as mass layoffs continue and the cost of living rises. Increasingly working people understand that Trump’s priority is for himself, enriching his family, and boosting his billionaire buddies. And my guess is that Trump’s inflated ego is turning off many of his working-class fans who value performance over boastfulness.

But some people believe they have no choice but to play a symphony on Trump’s ever expanding ego. Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the democratic opposition in Venezuela, gave her Nobel Prize to Trump in the hope that he would soon call for elections so that she could run again. After all, her party had the 2024 election stolen from them by the now imprisoned Nicolas Maduro, and his vice-president Delcy Rodriguez, who Trump has chosen to run the country instead of Machado.

But the flagrant fawning didn’t seem to work. Trump cares more about Venezuelan oil, and supports the entrenched Maduro autocrats who can facilitate its export. He hasn’t yet said anything about stolen elections and restoring democracy in Venezuela.

He also knows the difference between a hand-me-down Peace Prize and the real thing. Here’s what he said on Truth Social soon after Machado’s gift-giving:

Without my involvement Russia would have ALL OF UKRAINE right now. Remember also I single handedly ENDED 8 WARS. And Norway, a NATO member, foolishly chose not to give me the Noble [sic] Peace Prize. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I saved Millions of Lives…..

Uh oh, Norway, not just the Nobel Committee, is now the target. To paraphrase Marco Rubio’s warning to Cuba after the Venezuela invasion, “If I lived in Oslo and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.”

Nobody knows where our ship is sailing, including our current captain. That makes for a very dangerous, bellicose world. If ego inflation continues to run amok, not aground, perhaps the next battle for peace will be an incursion into ungrateful Norway to extradite the Nobel committee and return the coveted prize to its rightful recipient.

Let’s hope that’s a joke and not a prophecy.