Manifest Trumpestiny

Michael Siegel

Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.

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19 Responses

  1. InMD says:

    The basic question that must always be asked is what does the tax payer get for that money? If the answer is some ice cold rocks to choke off a naval attack that will never happen and a potential real estate bonanza as a consolation prize for destroying the planet then the answer is a big fat nothing. That money is ours, remember.Report

    • Michael Cain in reply to InMD says:

      World population is projected to climb from the current 7.8B to a peak around 10.9B before it begins to decline. Most of that growth will be in developing countries that are going to want to continue, well, developing. A key part of that will be concrete, which is about 40% sand/gravel. Assorted experts are predicting that we will see a shortage of easily obtained suitable sand (construction sand used in Dubai is imported from Australia). As the Greenland ice cap melts, the runoff is dumping vast amounts of sand and gravel in places where it is very easy to dredge. Greenland is looking at the possibility of becoming a large sand exporter. Really.

      Assuming we don’t bake the planet first.Report

  2. pillsy says:

    This is great.

    Still I have to object:

    Was this a guerrilla-channel style hoax?

    First, it was much funnier IMO because it was the gorilla channel and I’m going to pretend that you weren’t the victim of a typo or autocorrect going rogue in order to state that point.

    Second, it wasn’t a hoax anymore than Babylon Bee stories are, but just like sometimes people don’t realize those are jokes, a lot of people didn’t get that joke either. And that made it so much funnier because a lot of the people who got taken in really think they’re so smart and sophisticated.

    Was I taken in? No. But I definitely admit the original tweet had me going for a sentence or two.Report

  3. JoeSal says:

    Ha, I guess if we are going to ban airplanes we need some waypoints when building track across the oceans.Report

  4. Chip Daniels says:

    I still find it difficult to accept how the entire news media just casually accepts the possibility that the President is losing his grip on reality, like this is a reality show show version of West Wing.

    I’m reminded of that TV show in the 80s called Amerika, where America was taken over by Russia and the President just airily suggests the country be broken up into pieces, and everyone just nods in docile submission.

    It seemed bizarre then, that earthshaking things could just happen, and everyone might shrug without protest or argument.

    But maybe its because like I keep suggesting, that for most of us, none of this has any tangible effect on our day to day life.Report

  5. Slade the Leveller says:

    Now that the Danes know Trump is a motivated buyer, we’ll be paying through the nose for it.

    Of course, we could always pull the Trump Organization’s check’s in the mail trick, too.Report

  6. North says:

    Loiusiana Purchase… Alaska Purchase… and now a Greeneland Purchase? When I connect the dots on the map I see a triangle around Canada! You can be sure the Canadians will not take such an entrianglement maneuver lightly! They may even raise their voices sharply.Report

    • Chip Daniels in reply to North says:

      Mr. Trudeau, Sir! We cannot allow a Property Gap!

      We must, I implore you, we must immediately purchase Park Place, and put a hotel on it!

      I’m not saying we won’t get our hair mussed, maybe we have to lose Schitt’s Creek, depending on the breaks.Report

    • Brent F in reply to North says:

      I’ll stand for the proposition that if the Danes are selling, we should tender our own offer. Canada couldn’t afford the psychological damage of America having a greater land area than us.Report

  7. Mike Schilling says:

    And you! Friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed, in Greenland?

    Report

  8. Marchmaine says:

    I’ve seen the secret Pentagon files on Canadian diplomacy… shit only gets real when an eyebrow is arched and Geddy Lee is moved to a secure location.Report

  9. Oscar Gordon says:

    After all, this may be their one and only chance to sell the island to a President who doesn’t understand the Mercator Projection.

    FTW!Report