Trump’s obsession with Greenland | The Listening Post

January 24, 2026 · 24 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Donald Trump's attempts to assert US influence over Greenland and the implications for international relations.

Donald Trump’s latest attempt to seize Greenland shows that the president is willing to use US force to determine international borders, even at the expense of sovereignty. Western allies - NATO countries included - publicly formed a united front, but private messages have revealed a more deferential approach to dealing with Trump. This latest crisis may have been averted, but the question remains: Does the so-called rules-based international order apply to Trump? Contributors: Louise Bokkenheuser - Writer and editor Branko Marcetic - Staff writer, Jacobin Anchal Vohra - Columnist, Foreign Policy Ulrich Bruckner - Professor for European studies, Stanford University On our radar: Donald Trump launched his highly-publicised "Board of Peace" initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. The signing ceremony followed a familiar pattern for this White House - a carefully staged event centred on Trump, his overblown claims of peacemaking, and speeches in praise of him. But the turnout appears to have fallen short of the hype. A conversation with Ellie Leonard Trump’s Justice Department was ordered to publish documents from the Epstein files more than a month ago. Only 1%…

People in this episode

Guests: Louise Bokkenheuser, Branko Marcetic, Anchal Vohra, Ulrich Bruckner

Topics covered

Trump and Greenland
US foreign policy
international relations
NATO response
Epstein files
peace initiatives

Keywords

Trump
Greenland
NATO
international borders
sovereignty
Epstein
peace initiative
Davos

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NATO, World Economic Forum, Jacobin, Foreign Policy, Stanford University