A (12:31)
That's really. That's audacious, which is, of course, Trump's middle name. And it has offended NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Remember what NATO is about. It's. It's all for one and one for all. Article 5 of NATO says if any country is attacked, it's like all countries are attacked. And what happens if the United States takes territory from another NATO country, namely Greenland, which belongs to Denmark? It's quite incredible, and I think it is a real challenge to NATO. And a variety of NATO countries put out a statement, very interesting. They said they take Trump seriously on defense, but they won't accept the violation of sovereignty. Some say it would be the end of NATO if Trump took Greenland. And I got to tell you, it would be hard to imagine otherwise. I mean, how could Denmark itself remain in. And if Denmark left, probably other countries too would leave. But I have a theory on this, and it's because I read the book the Art of the Deal, that was Trump's semi autobiographical book about how he does business. And it's a very interesting book. It's worth reading for its own sake. But I think it really, I mean, Trump, I think, is quite candid in that book. And one of the things he talks about is that he, in negotiations, takes an outrageous position that he knows is outrageous to redefine where a normal outcome would be. So if the answer is, can we have it? No, you can't. Can we buy it? No, you can't. That's a normal conversation. But if it's. I'm gonna take it. And you just saw me take out Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. So, like, if you say something outrageous, we're going to invade and we're going to just take it. And what are you going to do? You can then abandon that position. And now a more moderate position is, okay, well, you'll just sign a 100 year lease and we have access to it. I don't know what the normal outcome would be after that. Audacious. So that's Trump's art of the deal. He says he does that. Could that be what's going on here? I think. I think so. The U.S. like I say, has a base there and really could do what it wants. Denmark is a pretty small country with a pretty small military, and I really don't think that they would be able to stop America in any way. But neither can they do what America wants to be done, which is to have a serious military up there. Not just to stop Russian ICBMs, but there's Russian ships and Chinese ships. Everyone's poking around up there. I think some of this is Trump wanting to make history also, whether it was Panama and the Panama Canal, or reshaping Latin America with the Monroe Doctrine that he's now calling the Don Row Doctrine. I think Donald Trump is in a very unusual place for a president because he was shot at, hit, but not killed, because the Democrats did all the lawfare on him, trying to put him in jail, and because he won in a miraculous way. I think he really thinks that it's a historic presidency and he measures every day by the minute. And I think he's trying to do so many things and I think he is looking for a legacy. People point out that he values a state dinner with the King of England and he values being nominated for the Nobel Prize. I think he does. I think he wants to go down as a historic president. And just like buying Alaska was historic and the Louisiana Purchase and all these things are taught in history books. And Seward's Folly is now Seward's genius. I think Trump wants to do that. I think he wants to make some history. I think a lot of it is very genuine. And there's no way that Denmark can do the proper job itself. I looked it up. Denmark's military budget is about $10 billion a year. U.S. i think that's like, what, 1% of the U.S. military budget. There's just no way that Denmark can lift the load. Trump made a joke about the Danish increase in military spending in Greenland, that they added one dog sled. Here, take a look at this. He said this on Air Force One the other day. I will say this about Greenland. We need Greenland from A national security situation. It's so strategic right now Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you. You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland? They added one more dog sled. It's true, by the way, being on dog sleds is a legitimate way to patrol Greenland itself. We have, we call them rangers in Canada. They are on sleds also. But it's not enough. I think that was Trump's point is, yeah, it's good to have the patrols on the snow on the dog sled. That's a good way to do it. But we're in the age of missiles and anti missiles and it's just not enough to have that old fashioned approach. Isn't it a fact that Trump is showing that Europe at the end of the day is a lot of talk, but can't actually do anything major, strategic, historic. Isn't he proving that? Not on Russia, for example. Mark Carney flew to Paris to go to what was called the coalition of the willing. These are people willing to put in money to help rebuild Ukraine. And all these European leaders were there, and there was a couple of Americans there, too. Jared Kushner and Trump's negotiator. But none of it makes sense without American money and American military might. So you have all these. It's like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. You have all these little countries putting up press releases and going to these fancy meetings, but it's really, is America in or not? That's how this whole thing turns on Russia, on the Middle East. You know, Ireland and Canada and Spain put out statements saying they recognize a Palestinian state. Okay, so your virtue signaling to your Islamist immigration. Got it. But no one cares. No one in the region cares other than Hamas, which put out a thank you letter. Israel doesn't care what Canada has to say or what Ireland has to say. No disrespect to either country, but as they say, you and what army? Canada, Spain, Norway, Ireland, the countries that had so much to say about the Middle east. None of them were involved in getting the ceasefire done, getting the hostages back or anything. It's just America. We really are in a unipolar world now. Russia and China would say no, no, we're serious superpowers too. Yeah, maybe, but we saw how Chinese and Russian air defense worked in Caracas the other day. It didn't. Boy, they don't do a lot. But they sure talk a lot. Mark Carney in particular loves that system of international relations meetings and the rules based international order. He loves flying around. But I think that Trump has just decided, and I think the reaction to his raid in Caracas and the fact that he pulled off such a military feat, I think he's just decided he wants to be the boss, not Ursula van der Leyen. Yeah, I don't know who that is either. Some European Union, but not some weak, powerless, impotent, but noisy European politician. And I don't know if you saw this. This morning the United States military raided and seized two tankers that were involved in selling Iranian and Venezuelan oil contrary to sanctions. Now the Russians didn't like this, so they renamed one of the oil tankers, gave it a Russian name and put it under a Russian flag and they said they were dispatching a Russian submarine to protect it. Americans didn't care. Trump didn't care. He still raided and seized both tankers anyway. And you know, he was basically knows in his bones that he is the strongest military in the world and Russia is not going to start a war with America over some tanker shipping sanctioned oil. I think Trump is discovering how powerful the US Military is and he can do what he wants with it. And who's going to stop him? You and what army? I think that that's unsettling to the littler powers, like Denmark, even like Canada and the United Kingdom, because we always thought we were they, you know, America was Batman and we're Robin. We may be the junior partner, but we're best friends. I like that line that Bob Canoe once said, we're not going to be your 51st state, but we'll be your number one friend. I thought that was a really sweet line. But Canada, you know, there are some people who for opportunistic reasons want to whip up Canadian fear of being militarily invaded. I don't think that's going to happen, but it'll sell some Toronto Stars and it'll worry enough boomers that I think Mark Carney will go up in the polls, at least in Ontario. But I try and think about how Canada can deal with Trump. And you've heard me say this before, we're not going to beat Trump on a one on one economic negotiation. How could we possibly they outgun us more than 10 to 1. They could take our steel industry and our auto industry if they wanted to. And it looks like Trump wants to. You can't beat him on a head on battle. But what if Canada were to try Something, I'm calling it asymmetrical. And hear me out, and you're not going to like this, but what if Canada said to Donald Trump, look, we're not going to be a 51st state. You already have access to our oil sands through our Canada U.S. free Trade Agreement. So you have full access there. You have preferential access, in fact. But what if Canada offered Donald Trump a joint base in our north, in our Arctic, up in Inuvik or even further north? That's an asymmetrical arrangement that might help us with trade. And if it was a joint base for both American and Canadian soldiers to train together, to work together, a recognition that we don't have the budget, the technology, the equipment on our own, but we could work with the Americans as we've worked with them for the better part of a century. And before you say, oh, that's a violation of our sovereignty, American military train in Canada, at least they used to. For example, during Operation Maple Flag, that was the exercise of sort of the top gun for NATO countries before we had to shut it down in Alberta because we didn't have planes that worked anymore. Canada, US through norad, both defend the north together. As I mentioned the other day, it was American jets that scrambled when there was a problem over a B.C. air airport with an unidentified plane. The Americans are protecting us right now by having a northern base, a joint base, Canadian Forces base, and a US Base called a space base. I think he could give Trump that feeling he wants of expanding and domination. Give him that feeling and it'll be true, by the way, to have an American base up there. Give him something that's asymmetrical, that's different than a concession on trade. And by the way, keep us all safer, too. What do you think of that? And before you say, oh, that's selling out our sovereignty, remember that there are U.S. military bases in the United Kingdom, in Italy, in Turkey, in countries all around the world. It's not a sign of enmity. It's sort of the opposite. It's a sign of friendship. And that's a qualitative thing that I think America doesn't get from Canada right now. They just get, you know, passive aggressive jabs. Anyways, is Donald Trump going to militarily invade Greenland? Well, the answer is that already happened in 1940 when America saved Greenland from the Nazis. Americans just never left. We'll see what happens. But it is sort of fun to watch those European politicians panic, isn't it? Stay with us for more. Well, there's a Saying attributed to the Jesuits, give me a child until he is seven and I'll give you the man. As in those early formative years of our lives, so much of our mind is shaped. And that's why teachers are in such an important position of trust. And these days you often have both mom and dad working. So really, who's looking after the child and who has time to look over homework? The teachers unions are amongst the most radical places around. And I have in front of me a story published in True north by our friend Melanie Bennett. The headline is Ontario School Board Embeds Islamophobia Lessons while Neglecting Anti Semitism. Freedom of information documents reveal a stark double standard inside the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board, where Islamophobia is woven deeply into the curriculum. And joining us now to talk about this very interesting investigation is Melanie Bennett. Melanie, nice to see you again.