Podcast Summary: Trump’s Obsession with Greenland

Podcast: The Listening Post (Al Jazeera)
Date: January 24, 2026
Host: Richard Gizbert
Theme:
A critical exploration of President Donald Trump’s attempted acquisition of Greenland during his second term, U.S. neo-imperial ambitions, manipulation of international law, global media responses, spectacle politics surrounding the “Board of Peace,” and the crowdsourced grassroots investigation into the suppressed Epstein files.

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode dissects how Donald Trump's pursuit of Greenland as U.S. territory reflects a broader rise in American neo-imperialism and the shifting boundaries of international law. The program also investigates the political spectacle of Trump’s new “Board of Peace,” and concludes by spotlighting a citizen journalism initiative unraveling the suppressed Jeffrey Epstein files—presented as a counternarrative to the administration’s flood of distracting news.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Greenland Gambit: America’s Neo-Imperial Moment

• Trump’s renewed push to purchase Greenland (00:28–04:11):

  • Pursued under the guise of “national security” and access to strategic minerals, but ultimately revealed as both a power play and an ego project.
  • Publicly opposed but privately danced around by Western and NATO leaders, exposing their deep dependency on the U.S.

• Media & Geopolitical Reactions:

  • Western media, typically boosters of U.S. power, grappled with the implication that America may now be the global destabilizer.
  • Trump's published map imagining U.S. control over Greenland, Venezuela, and Canada causes diplomatic alarm.

• Quotable Moment:

  “Maybe we’re the bad guys and these allies are getting a daunting awareness that the most powerful person in the world is a danger and threat to it and making the world order unstable.”
  — Narrator/Reporter (02:35)

2. Wolf Warrior Diplomacy & Trump’s Imperial Mindset

• Trump’s methods draw comparisons to China’s aggressive ‘wolf warrior’ diplomacy:

  “He is conducting what China has been accused...do what I ask you to do or I’ll punish you.”
  — Political Analyst (03:17)

• Trump’s approach mirrors a fairytale king:

  “As a leader he sees himself as the idea of a king...can practically do what he wants and not just within his country but all over the world.”
  — International Relations Expert (03:37)

3. International Order: Fiction or Fact?

• The Fallout for Rules-Based Order (06:21–10:23):

  • Trump’s threats of tariffs against allies resisting his Greenland plan compelled European leaders (and NATO’s chief) to privately conciliate while posturing publicly.
  • Leaked communications embarrassed Europe, showing their limited ability to stand up to U.S. pressure given energy, security, and Ukraine war dependencies.
  • The episode lays bare the hypocrisy in the invocation of international law, especially after Europe’s muted response to Trump’s actions in Venezuela/Gaza.

• Quotable Moment:

  “We knew the story of the international rules based order was partially false. That international law applied depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.”
  — Narrator/Reporter, referencing Canadian PM Mark Carney (08:44)

• Power, Not Principle:

  “We are losing a system that...provided more than the sheer execution of power...dump it because it’s imperfect...means there are three global powers that can execute. That is certainly not a global order.”
  — International Relations Expert (10:23)

4. Europe’s Powerlessness and Trump’s Spectacle

• European leaders’ impotence:
  Europe becomes further dependent on U.S. resources and security, unable to push back effectively (07:28–08:44).
• Trump’s public-private dichotomy:
  Leaking Macron's “friend text” revealed the shift in global diplomacy norms (07:56–08:25).

5. The ‘Board of Peace’ – Theater over Substance

• Davos Launch and Absurdities:

  • The “Board of Peace,” chaired for life by Trump, is depicted as little more than a family vehicle with a $1B price tag for permanent membership and a focus on “redevelopment” in Gaza (12:03–13:14).
  • Key world leaders, including Netanyahu (indicted for war crimes), abstain or are absent, highlighting the board’s lack of international legitimacy.

• Kushner’s Gaza Plan:
  Lavish but wildly unrealistic redevelopment promises for a ravaged, still volatile Gaza.

  “Our goal here is peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.”
  — Jared Kushner (13:55)
  Notably, the local Palestinian perspective is excluded from all planning.

• Quotable Moment:

  “The absurdity of Netanyahu’s involvement summed up the absurdity of the entire enterprise.”
  — Host (12:03)

6. Epstein Files – Grassroots Investigation Steps In

• Mainstream Media Deflection & Citizen Journalism (14:32–23:53)

  • Trump administration stalls publication of the Epstein files amid a flurry of distracting headlines.
  • Ellie Leonard, an author with no formal journalism background, spearheads a volunteer-driven, crowdsourced analysis of the trove.

• Leonard’s Approach:
  Relies on non-AI, hands-on reading and collective scrutiny, fostering a diverse team of paralegals, doctors, psychoanalysts, techies, and others.

• Key Discoveries:

  • Evidence supporting survivor testimony, including documentation of Epstein’s surveillance room.
  • Emails linking Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, to potential evidence about Trump and Epstein.

• Obstruction by the Trump Administration:
  Files released as inaccessible, single-page scans to discourage review; Leonard and her collaborators reformat for public access.

• Quotable Moments:

  “I just started to read these files just one at a time, time scrolling through. And I didn’t use any AI. I just wanted to have my eyes on it.”
  — Ellie Leonard (16:37)

  “A lot of what I look for...are things that are receipts for things that the survivors have said in order for them to receive justice, they need receipts.”
  — Ellie Leonard (18:07)

• On Community Verification:

  “The thing that fact checks them is just what they’re able to do.”
  — Ellie Leonard (22:07)

• On Reversing the Media Flood:

  “I do think that independent journalism is flooding the zone…we’re seeing this independent journalism world grow…I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of our power back.”
  — Ellie Leonard (22:58)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Western Hypocrisy:

  “Europeans are talking a good game now, saying what Trump is doing is imperialism...but it will ring hollow because two years of Europe steadfastly backing an orgy of criminality and violence in Gaza has done profound damage to the idea of international law.”
  — European Affairs Commentator (09:41)

• On the Death of Rules-Based Order:

  “To go back to the execution of power means there are three global powers that can execute...not a global order that can address the challenges of the 21st century.”
  — International Relations Expert (10:23)

• On the Dangers Ahead:

  “He has imperialistic ambitions…let’s see, get him for dinner, give him a big party…Or are they going to say, look, this doesn’t work?”
  — Political Analyst (11:07)

• On the ‘Board of Peace’ Spectacle:

  “The board will be chaired for life by Donald Trump…it featured a PowerPoint presentation on the development of the so called New Gaza.”
  — Host/Narrator (12:49)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 00:28: Introduction of the episode’s key stories—Greenland, the Board of Peace, and the Epstein Files.
• 01:00–06:10: The Greenland saga—Trump’s pursuit, global (public/private) reactions, and U.S. power projection.
• 06:18–10:23: Tariffs, NATO, Europe’s powerlessness, and strains on rules-based order.
• 12:03–14:08: Launch of the Board of Peace in Davos; Netanyahu’s absence; Kushner’s Gaza vision and its detachment from reality.
• 14:32–23:53: Deep dive into the grassroots Epstein files investigation—methods, impacts, pushback, and the emergence of a citizen-driven investigative model.

Conclusion

The Listening Post uses Trump’s Greenland episode to illustrate the evolving—and at times crumbling—fabric of international order in a world increasingly shaped by power, spectacle, and media manipulation. From the “imperialism meets reality TV” approach of Trump’s second term to the rise of citizen investigative journalism, the episode captures a moment of global uncertainty and highlights the public’s evolving role in seeking truths suppressed by traditional power brokers.