Off-Script

The problem with reality TV is when the show becomes reality, and that’s what happening now.

At this point, we should remind ourselves what we’re talking about. Quoting Wikipedia:

“Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s with shows such as The Real World, then achieved prominence in the early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor, Idol, and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises.^[1] Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen; this is most commonly seen in American reality television. Competition-based reality shows typically feature the gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges, by the viewership of the show, or by the contestants themselves.”

So Trump, the former realty TV star, which is the main reason he is president, wants Greenland. The Europeans don’t want him to take it by force. 

Eight European nations place a small military force on the icy island to defend it against the far larger U.S. military behemoth.

Everyone (even Trump) knows that the Europeans would stand no chance in a war, which would make them martyrs and the Americans look not like conquerors but fools.

Frustrated, Trump fumes and struts, seeking another way to seize his prize. He threatens large new tariffs on the Europeans, and awkwardly confesses that this entire show is because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In this matter, he confuses Norway with Denmark, and an independent awards committee with a government, but who’s paying that much attention, really?

Today, Trump is in Davos, Switzerland, where the whole thing may come to a head. But he is ranting incoherently as I publish this, so stay tuned. This show has most definitely gone off-script.

HEADLINES:

• Stocks Post Biggest Drop in Months as Tensions Over Greenland Mount (NYT)

• Trump jabs Europeans over Greenland as Davos becomes emergency summit (WP)

• What are the Chagos Islands and why does Trump think Britain would be stupid to give them up? (CNN)

• Putin invited to join US-led Gaza ‘Board of Peace’, Trump says (BBC)

• As Trump dismantles the existing world order, his version is still taking shape (NPR)

• Trump Is Pushing the U.S.-Europe Alliance Onto a Precipice (NYT)

• The Military Is Being Forced to Plan for an Unthinkable Betrayal (Atlantic)

• Pentagon moves to cut U.S. participation in some NATO groups (WP)

• A year into his administration, Trump faces Americans frustrated with cost of living (AP)

• Prosecutors subpoena Minnesota Democrats as part of federal inquiry (NYT)

• One day of the ICE operation in Minneapolis — and the activists fighting it (WP)

• Lawyers allege Dept. of Homeland Security is denying legal counsel to Minnesota detainees (ABC)

• New Video Undercuts DHS Account After Border Patrol Shot U.S. Citizen and Labeled Her a ‘Domestic Terrorist’ (USAHerald)

• Authoritarianism by exhaustion — Trump’s new travel ban (DailyMaverick)

• Were the resistance libs right about Trump? (Silver Bulletin)

• What Happened to Pam Bondi? (Atlantic)

• Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine, knocking out power and heating supplies to thousands of apartment buildings in Kyiv amid freezing temperatures, Ukrainian officials said. (Reuters)

• Stars and Stripes top editor talks about Pentagon’s takeover of the newspaper (NPR)

• Newsom plans no new journalism funding despite $175-million funding deal with Google (LAT)

• Bari Weiss’s Hostile Takeover of CBS News (New Yorker)

• Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026 (Reuters)

• Kyrsten Sinema panel interrupted by men who say they’re having an affair with her amid fresh lawsuit (Independent)

• America’s ‘sink or swim’ era of work is here (Business Insider)

• Suicides Were Frequent at the Golden Gate Bridge. Not Anymore. (Cal Today)

• UC Berkeley professors explore new ways to integrate AI in engineering courses (U-C)

• Physical AI: robotics are poised to revolutionise business (Financial Times)

• DeepSeek technique to improve AI’s ability to ‘read’ long texts questioned by new research (South China Morning Post)

• Travis Kelce Asks Taylor Swift If Jason Can Also Get Married With Them (Onion)