Davos is in crisis as U.S. leaders indicate they won't be reining Trump in

As the World Economic Forum gets underway in Davos, Switzerland, Trump's various assembled lackeys are giving no hint that Trump's babbled demands that Greenland be handed over Because He Wants It should be treated as anything less than world-shaking crisis.

Trump has surrounded himself with idiot fascists, and his idiot fascists are making it clear, to European nations and NATO members, that the United States is no longer an ally. Period.

Ironically—or not—the worst damage might not be being done by Trump's narcissistic delusions themselves. Every nation has had the humiliation of being governed, at least once, by a brick-stupid lunatic. For many nations, being governed by brick-stupid lunatics is the status quo and accidentally electing someone competent is an outlier event. We have all been there.

What is more important is whether a nation can more broadly continue to function when a brick-stupid lunatic rises to power. Is he still subject to laws? Do the surrounding institutions work to keep his potential criminality in check? Are there enough aides, and are they of high enough caliber, to distract the brick-stupid lunatic from his more insane ideas by turning on a tv program he likes or putting on a little puppet show that calms him enough to go down for nappies?

And what's becoming perfectly clear, as an idiot madman saber-rattles about attacking Greenland partially in retaliation for not being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, is that the United States can't be counted on as a stable democracy even if this particular crooked seditionist ass choked on a hamburger tonight and died. We are now in an indefinite state of "competitive authoritarianism," one in which every new president from here on in might attack allies or default on debts or kidnap other heads of state and nobody, not one stagnant rotting institution, will pipe up to stop it.

What European leaders are hearing from the American opposition party, in fact, is that even Trump's ostensible opponents are still focused on placating an obviously unfit president rather than fullthroatedly opposing him.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A bipartisan group of lawmakers who traveled here on an urgent mission to reassure Danish leaders amid President Donald Trump’s escalating threats to acquire Greenland had a straightforward message.

In an interview between high-level meetings, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin summed it up this way: “Give us a chance to give [Trump] a way out of this that comes to the right ending.”

Durbin added: “I don’t know if that’s possible.”

The four-decade veteran of Congress, who’s been on dozens of CODELs, wasn’t just referring to Trump’s apparent determination to take over the Danish territory at all costs, or Republicans’ hesitation to openly defy him. Durbin was giving a sobering assessment of Congress as a supposedly coequal branch of government.

Imagine you're a diplomat from any of the NATO nations, and Donald Trump has just issued a letter to each of your governments asserting that he no longer feels the need to pursue "Peace" in seizing NATO-held territory and forcibly annexing it to the United States. Imagine reading that letter, then listening to Dick Durbin ask you for patience while the American Congress grapples with whether or not they can find a solution to the accelerating crisis in which Donald Trump does not murder your citizens or soldiers but can somehow still be counted as a face-saving victory for the madman.

You would turn around and tell your government that America is cooked and done for, right? There is no chance in hell you'd think "ah, everything is fine now that the American rump party has vowed to negotiate a compromise." Sweet Jeebus, I think I'd be selling every American stock and bond I had, buying cold coins and sewing them into my mattress.

And then, after that, here comes a smirking regime ass named Lutnick to prop himself up and tell Europe that no, we're gonna be taking the Western Hemisphere whether y'all like it or not. The dementia-addled sundowning malignant narcissist's every fever dream is now U.S. policy, a policy the whole of the American diplomatic corps and the nation's full military might will now be dedicated to willing into reality.

The mood at Davos today appears mostly to be of disbelief. It was up to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to splash cold water onto the assembled crowd with a speech directly acknowledging that the United States was now not an ally, but an adversarial force.

European leaders are angry, but whether that translates into action remains unclear. So far, the only major move has been to reinforce Greenland's defense with a small international "tripwire" force—that is, an international defense that, if attacked, all but obliges the participating nations to strike back.

And this is insane, that we are even talking about this, but are in the grip of a fascist government that would sincerely go to war with all of Europe for the sake of Dear Leader's mush-brained ego.

As European governments try to muddle their way into action, it's not just Democratic and Republican lawmakers begging those governments for patience while doing approximately fuck-all to rein in the rogue leader themselves. The swiftest way for Europe to inflict real pain on Americans is with economic penalties—and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, one of Trump's numerous Insufferable Always-Smirking Toadies, is also "urging" Europe to be calm as his administration threatens to attack them.

No, actually, escalating against the United States is one of the few ways Europe can dissuade a U.S. attack and goad U.S. lawmakers out of their current apathy. It is a very good idea, and you know it's a good idea because Scott Bessent, a smarmy, good-for-nothing coward willing to sign on as a seditionist's ally, is warning against it.

Trump is a bully first and only. Like all bullies, he cringes when targets strike back, and his usual move when that happens is to proclaim that he's won while running away.

Economic retaliation is the swiftest way to make him flinch, and is the only way to force a flaccid Congress and a thoroughly corrupted American oligarchy into moves to save their own skins. Target Trump's top billionaire allies with punishing new sanctions. Target U.S. economic security by dumping U.S. debt; target the core of Trump's fascist support, the "local bourgeoise," by restricting tourist visas and ruining every U.S. car dealership owner's vacation plans.

Look, Europe, you need to take it from actual Americans: Our politicians are far more feckless and sniveling than you presume them to be. Democrats and Republicans alike will not lift one thin finger to put Trump in check unless they are feeling true and pressing harm—the merely theoretical kind does not do it, because they are hopeless cowards and will act only when forced.

Trump is heading to Davos; once there, the combination of jet lag, dementia, and idiot advisers constantly trying to one-up each other will result in him saying truly deplorable things, further wrecking U.S. alliances and convincing everyone on the continent that our whole country has gone irredeemably insane. Hopefully that will stiffen European spines, because heaven knows our own politicians don't have any intention of finding theirs.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been Schumering up the place, for example. Were you aware that unidentified members of a Trump-expanded secret police are rounding up nonwhite Americans on no charges, kidnapping them from their homes only to dump them elsewhere in the dead of Minnesota winter, beating them and sometimes killing Americans for having the audacity to object to this illegal ethnic cleansing?

Maybe you were and maybe you weren't, but you're not going to be hearing about it from our clownish "opposition" leaders.

"You will see in the next months, we’re going to be focusing on five buckets. One is housing, one is the high price of food [and] food monopolies playing a major role there. One is electricity. One is the high cost of childcare. And then, of course, health care."

Oh God. Please stop talking. Please stop saying any—you know what, please just resign. I have never witnessed any person less suited for this moment.

Bring the hammer down, Europe. You're going to have to bop this country in the nose good and hard—that's the only thing billionaires and politicians will ever react to. They don't give a damn about anything but their power and their money, and they will twiddle their thumbs through street violence, fascist dismantling of government, the sabotaging of every world alliance, and honest-to-God war if they think they will remain important and rich while it all happens.