The latest bee in Trump’s bonnet appears to be taking over Greenland.
I say “appears to be” because there is reason to believe he isn’t serious about his professed desire to claim the huge island to our north.
Lawrence O’Donnell, who hosts “The Last Word” on MSNOW, says this emphasis on Greenland is just Trump’s latest attempt to distract attention from the Epstein files.
As those who watch politics closely know, there’s now a law (the Epstein Files Transparency Act) that requires Congress to publish “in a searchable and downloadable format” all unclassified materials that “relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.”
Epstein, of course, was in a New York jail cell when he died, an apparent suicide, in August of 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
What does that have to do with Donald Trump? And why would Trump need to distract people’s attention from those files’ release?
Trump and Epstein were close friends for several years, including the time Epstein was active in his sexual abuse of underage girls. That’s undisputed. In fact, a tape that regularly runs in TV reports about the Epstein matter shows Trump making an apparently salacious comment to Epstein, who responds with laughter.
The deadline for all the Epstein files’ release passed weeks ago, and only a trickle of what the law required has been released.
So apparently most Republicans in Congress either don’t care whether the law they passed is obeyed or not—or, more likely, they’re afraid of Trump’s wrath if they should insist on obedience to it.
The quest for the materials’ release is bipartisan, however. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is working with Rep. Ro Khanna of California in leading the charge for transparency.
Why should Trump care whether those files comes out or not? The obvious inference from his opposition to their release is that there’s something very, very damaging to him in them.
We do know that Trump’s name is mentioned in the Epstein documents numerous times. While reports about the number of mentions vary somewhat, it’s almost certain the current U. S. President occupies a prominent place among those who accompanied Epstein in many of his activities.
We know, for instance, that Trump flew with Epstein on the sex trafficker’s private plane at least 8 times (Samuel Chamberlain, “Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet ‘at least eight’ times between 1993 and 1996, new files reveal,” New York Post, December 23, 2025). And those same flight logs also reveal that sometimes other passengers included young women who were possible victims of sexual abuse by Epstein.
If the Epstein material about Trump is only mildly embarrassing, Trump would be wise to let it come out. The more he tries to keep it secret, the more eager people will be to know what’s there.
I trust O’Donnell’s political instincts. He not only worked as an aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and so knows his way around the U.S. Senate, but he was a writer and producer on the groundbreaking TV series “The West Wing,” which was set in a fictional White House administration.
As for why the U.S. would want to take over Greenland (which is a part of Denmark, perhaps our closest NATO ally), it would make no sense to do so for our own security. We already have a military base in Greenland, and no doubt we could have more than one base there if we only asked.
So will we be sending troops to Greenland soon?
Trump may be scared enough about the Epstein matter to go that far. But I’m betting even he will back down before that.
However, I’m not placing any money behind my bet. Anyone who would accept someone else’s Nobel Peace Prize medal (although he has no claim on the award that medal symbolizes) is capable of embarrassing this country (if not himself, since he seems incapable of grasping when he does something ridiculous) in all kinds of ways.