Trump keeps banging on about “defence”, and what he means is Russia. Fine. Russia is a real threat, the Arctic matters, and Greenland is strategically important. That bit is not completely unhinged.
What is unhinged is the way he goes about it.
Because while he talks about defending America from Russia, he spends his time doing the opposite of defence. He undermines NATO, sneers at allies, trashes the partnerships that make the West hard to bully, and generally treats the post-war security architecture like a timeshare he is trying to wriggle out of.
Then there is Putin. The soft-soap language, the constant need to sound “reasonable”, the habit of treating a regime that murders opponents, invades neighbours, and uses energy, money and disinformation as weapons as if it is just another awkward trading partner. If your declared threat is Russia, but your behaviour keeps easing pressure on Russia, you are not defending anything. You are weakening your own side and calling it strength.
And Greenland? That is where it stops pretending to be strategy and becomes ego. Not because Greenland is irrelevant, but because Trump is not approaching it like a serious security problem. He is approaching it like a trophy. A shiny object. Something he can point at and say “look what I got”, while the adults are trying to stop the actual defence system collapsing behind him.
So yes, he wants Greenland “for defence”. But the defence he is talking about is from Russia, and the defence he is actually dismantling is the one that stops Russia pushing its luck. It is like watching someone smash the lifeboats while giving a speech about maritime safety.
Psychology and psychiatry papers will be written about that Davos performance for decades. Not because it was clever, or even coherent, but because it was such a pure specimen. Grievance dressed up as strategy. Dominance framed as “fairness”. Coercion rebranded as negotiation. A man treating the world like a property portfolio, with a microphone.
The bleakest part is that we have already been shown how to handle him, and it was not by another Western leader. It was by Zelensky. He does not lecture Trump. He does not try to convert him into a normal person. He treats him like what he is: volatile, transactional, and permanently hungry for praise.
Whether by design or instinct, Zelensky keeps it brutally simple. He gives Trump a “win” he can repeat, then drags the conversation straight back to weapons, air defence, ammunition, timelines, deterrence. Polite, firm, no drama. Never gives Trump the emotional excuse to flounce off and punish everyone like a toddler tipping a bowl of cereal.
Now look at Britain. Starmer has tried the polite, pragmatic approach too. He has tried not to poke the bear, not to trigger the tantrum, and not to get Britain singled out as the next target for some random trade threat or public humiliation.
But here is the thing. If you have nothing Trump wants, flattery is just noise. You cannot manage a narcissist with manners alone. You either have leverage, or you have boundaries. Preferably both.
Which is why, oddly enough, Starmer not doing the Davos parade and turning up to PMQs might be one of the more useful moves he has made in this whole circus. Davos is a grand stage, and Trump loves a grand stage. Turning up there would have fed the theatre. It would have created the photo op, the handshake, the performative “special relationship” moment, and all the rest of it.
Instead, Starmer stayed home, faced the Commons, and spoke to a national audience. That is where his authority actually comes from. It is also where his resolve has to land, because Britain cannot afford to be dragged into Trump’s ego-driven foreign policy as a supporting character.
Sometimes the smartest way to handle someone like this is not to provide the attention. No grand gestures, no shiny summit moments, no begging to be noticed. Just calm, public boundaries, and a quiet message that Britain is not here to decorate someone else’s fantasy.
Because if Trump’s version of “defence” is Greenland as a trophy while Putin gets the strategic benefit, then the threat is not just in Moscow. It is also in the White House, calling it strength.
And the final point is the simplest one. Real defence is boring. It is logistics, alliances, planning, and trust. Trump is selling vibes.
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