Alan Zendell, January 21, 2026

“There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along. To accommodate. To avoid trouble. To hope that compliance will buy safety. It won’t.” With those words in a speech delivered in Davos, Switzerland, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney assured the world that at least one of our former allies has studied history and learned from it. Unlike American President Donald Trump, who would prefer to live in a fantasy world in which every other world leader bows to his will.

The Canadians I know are thankful to have a leader like Carney. I am, too. Carney is an economist who has served as the head of both the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada. He understands international economics and trade as well as any of his counterparts at Davos, and he understands the danger of smaller countries being overly dependent on larger ones.

While many NATO leaders have treaded lightly during the first year of Trump’s second term, hoping to avoid his wrath and crippling tariffs, Carney has been clear that Canada will not bend to his will. As Trump was landing in Davos, Carney, without directly mentioning him, warned that Trump’s actions placed the entire world at risk. “…the rules-based order is fading … the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must … The middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”

He meant the last part literally, as Trump and his BFF Vladimir Putin have shown a voracious appetite for devouring other countries with no regard for their sovereignty, with China setting the stage to dominate the rest of Asia. Carney told the world he will not let Canada’s economic survival be dictated by Trump. His remarks came after Trump posted a map of the world with Canada and Greenland covered with American flags.

As a patriotic American, I am embarrassed and appalled at the spectacle of our president. To any objective observer, he appears totally deranged, and Carney is correct, that if the rest of the former western alliance doesn’t stand up to him, the world order that has existed for eighty years will crumble, to be replaced by a world dominated by three super powers, in which everyone else is chattel.

Responsible leaders like Carney understand not only that their own countries’ survival depends on preserving that world order, but that NATO, which is very much at risk of collapsing under Trump’s daily assaults, has probably kept the world from destroying itself in a nuclear World War 3. To replace that relative stability with one that is wholly dependent on the whims of three autocratically dominated, heavily armed nations puts everything at risk.

We’re about to find out how serious Trump is about Greenland, or whether he’ll finally muzzle Stephen Miller, who has been loudly saber-rattling, telling the world on behalf of Trump that we intend to make full use of our military superiority to take whatever he, Miller, thinks is in our interest. Recent revelations that Trump is permitting Miller to drive his aggressive world agenda make the situation even more dangerous. Miller, who has never been elected to any office, is completely out of control as he attacks journalists, Democrats, and foreign leaders on national television. He once worked in relative obscurity because of his hateful, bombastic nature, but has been let off the leash, and many believe he is responsible for Trump’s aggressive attitude toward our allies.

Trump has promised to pursue his desire to own Greenland at Davos, while Canada, France, the UK, Denmark, which owns Greenland, and several other NATO nations have asserted that that will never happen. In the snake pit that is Trump’s mind, it’s not clear whether he’s serious about this, or whether Greenland is just another chaos-making distraction.

The rest of NATO believes Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is the most important thing on their agenda, but Trump does not want his dysfunctional love affair with Vladimir Putin and his willingness to let him destroy that country be center stage at the world economic forum. Nor does he want his plans for dominating the entire Western Hemisphere, the possible consequences of having his tariff policy being declared illegal by the Supreme Court, or the impending release of the Epstein files to be on everyone’s mind.

But he’s fooling himself with the help of all the yes-people with whom he surrounds himself. The other leaders at Davos are fully aware that Trump’s popularity at home after one year in office is as low as that of any president who preceded him. They are also aware that privately, many Congressional Republicans have expressed their disdain for his actions, and he’s likely to have his power curtailed by the midterm elections in November.  

Of course, Greenland may all turn out to be a bluff. Trump fancies himself a master poker player, but his game is getting old. Everyone sees through it now, and most Americans are beginning to realize how dangerous he is.