FLASH
Shkruar nga Catherine De Vries
Trump is not a politician who responds to events, he seeks to create them. Not because he is deeply involved in the details of policy, but because he understands a defining feature of contemporary politics: attention is power.
When Donald Trump assured the world that he would not use force to take Greenland, after days of repeated threats, he was doing what he does best: turning geopolitics into a spectacle.
Whether Trump ever truly believed that the US should buy a vast Arctic territory belonging to a NATO ally is secondary to the fact that once again, he ensured that Europe and the rest of the world were focused on his agenda.
Trump is not a politician who responds to events; he seeks to create them. Not because he is deeply involved in the details of policy, but because he understands a defining feature of contemporary politics: attention is power. In an age of information overload, there is no shortage of data or analysis; what is missing is attention. And whoever controls that controls the debate.
Steve Bannon once described Trump's domestic strategy as "flooding the area with feces." In other words, creating so many scandals that opponents no longer know which ones matter. The media follows everything, the opposition is constantly outraged, and no one has the mental space to set their own priorities. This logic and accompanying tactics are now being used by the United States in its foreign policy.
Trump’s threats against Denmark and Greenland were not isolated provocations, but a form of geopolitical “clickbait.” Their goal was to dominate the news cycle, push other governments into reactive mode, and sideline long-term strategic thinking. Greenland was perfect for this. It is strategically important, located in the Arctic, between North America and Europe, yet so remote that few voters have much detailed knowledge about it.
This made it ideal for attracting attention: dramatic enough for major headlines, vague enough for endless speculation.
It also caused real anxiety. Greenland affects NATO solidarity, Arctic security, and the vulnerability of a semi-autonomous territory. Denmark has already increased its military presence there, tacitly supported by other European states.
However, the main issue throughout this episode was not whether Trump would act, but that Europe was forced to respond. While governments issue statements and coordinate positions, Trump moves on to the next provocation (tariffs, Iran, Venezuela, NATO, migration), leaving behind a trail of diplomatic distraction. European leaders become minor characters or extras in a political theater whose script was written in Washington.
Yet behind the spectacle lies a coherent agenda. Trump’s second-term national security strategy makes it clear that Europe is no longer seen as a partner in a rules-based order. Instead, it is portrayed as a declining, elite-led liberal bloc that constrains rising nationalist forces. Support from Washington is presented not as a mutual interest but as a transaction. Leaders who are ideologically aligned with Trump are promised preferential treatment, while others face pressure.
By this logic, Greenland is not just a territory. It is a lever: a way to signal to Denmark, and to the EU at large, who sets the terms of engagement. And Europe is particularly exposed to this kind of pressure because its attention is so easily fragmented.
Each Trump provocation affects the entire continent differently. Arctic threats worry Scandinavia. Trade disputes hit exporters. The war in Ukraine matters most in Eastern Europe. And so on. Each episode produces a different coalition of anxious states. What it does not produce is lasting strategic unity.
This is the weakness Trump exploits. Every issue seems urgent. The price of getting your attention is short-term strategy.
What should Europe do, then? It needs a two-pronged response. First, it must respond to Trump’s provocations in a calm, collective and disciplined manner. When an American president questions the territorial integrity of a NATO ally, Europe cannot ignore it. But European leaders must avoid the response that Trump is seeking: emotional, fragmented and uncoordinated. The goal must be a message that is delivered with consistency and purpose.
Second, Europe must invest in its own long-term security strategy, independent of Trump’s day-to-day policy shifts. This requires accepting a hard reality: US domestic politics are no longer a temporary disruption of transatlantic stability. Trump has demonstrated how easily US foreign policy can degenerate into transactional nationalism. Europe must plan accordingly for key priorities such as security and geo-economic stability. Poland’s Donald Tusk stands out, for example, in keeping Warsaw focused on EU coordination on Ukraine and defense, rather than reacting to every Trump provocation.
Europe has no shortage of answers, reports by former Italian prime ministers Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi prove this, but it lacks the ability to act.
The central lesson of Trump’s second term is not that global politics has become chaotic, but that attention itself has become a strategic battleground of international politics. And attention wars are not won by reacting faster. They are won by deciding what deserves attention. Europe does not need to outdo Trump on social media. It needs to outdo him on planning. / Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “The Guardian”
Note: Catherine De Vries is Vice-Dean and Professor at the IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs at IE University in Madrid.
Ky lolo kujton se popujt kombet e shtetet jane si ata lolot qe zgjidhte e bente ate programin lolo Apprentice ku bota qeshnin me "bemat" e tij. Zgjedhja e tij zbuloi injorancen Amerikane te fameshme, ku njerezit bejne dy pune te sigurojne jetesen e s'kane kohe te hapin syte e veshet se c'behet. Ky eshte piketuar nga oligarkia cifute per te sunduar boten. Bota ka histori madheshtore por edhe te dhimbeshme nisur nga ngritjet e uljet e kombeve fisnike e ngritja e e kombeve zuzare. Por ne fund te fundit e bukura, e mira, fisnikja do mbijetoje e fitoje sepse, keshtu na meson Teoria Evolucionit te Specieve e Charles Darwin. Si ka mundesi qe nje Shtet i Madherishem USA te degjoje pordhet e llogjikes se nje te mencuri 10 vjecar!!!??? Ky tip e shan median qe e kritikon dhe e perqesh, por harron se ngritja e tij erdhi permes medias qe e beri hero nje dhjeraman. Bless you Albanian Robert De Niro for telling the World the truth.