Slotkin remains in the House and lovely Qaanaaq

Slotkin remains in the House and lovely Qaanaaq

Trump just pulled Elise Slotkin’s nomination for US Ambassador to the United Nations. Privately, I bet she is relieved. The reason given is the republican’s razor thin margin in the House of Representatives. I don’t know if this means that Trump was worried about Slotkin’s New York district electing a republican or not. It could well be that he is afraid that one or two republican house votes might flip and he would not be able to pass his legislation. Another possibility is that he is worried about losing one or more of the open seats created by his picking congressmen to be on his White House team. The seat vacated by Michael Waltz in Florida is running closer than expected. Trump won the district by 30 points but the democrat is within 5 points of flipping the seat. A state senate seat in Pennsylvania in a district Trump won by 16 points just flipped to a democrat. I know that all politics is local but Trump will be soon feeling the heat caused by his inane tariffs and the reaction to his spending cuts.

As to Slotkin, Trump tweeted “We must be unified to accomplish our Mission, and Elise Stefanik has been a vital part of our efforts from the very beginning. I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress.” Slotkin agreed saying that she was a team player saying “This is about stepping up as a team, and I am doing that as a leader, to ensure that we can take hold of this mandate and deliver these historic results.” Personally, I think she probably rethought her decision to be US Ambassador and decided it would be better to remain in the congress where one day she might be speaker. The UN is a dead end, nothing position. Anyone can be ambassador but not someone so vital to the party.

Speaking of useless positions, how about being consulate to Greenland? The current consul is Monica Bland who has been in the position since 2013. She is a career foreign service person who speaks Danish, Russian and Serbian. Trump will probably get around to replacing her with a republican that has nothing better to do. This is one of the totally useless jobs littered all over the federal government. Seriously, why would anyone of value be the consul to Greenland? Yes I know that Trump wants to annex it but that is still not reason enough to post someone useful to lovely Nuuk. BTW, the lovely building in the picture is the consulate in Nuuk. I think that speaks volumes about the importance of the position.

Did you know that the US base in Greenland is a Space Force base? The base is ice locked for nine months out of the year. The nearest town is lovely Qaanaaq, population 646, 75 miles away. JD Vance and his wife Usha visited the base, perhaps to console the troops exiled there. A dogsled race was part of the itinerary. The visit was hardly warmly welcomed. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said “the upcoming and subsequent private visit of the wife of the United States Vice President and the United States President’s highest security advisor cannot be seen only as a private visit. After closer consideration, however, we have now informed the consulate that we do not want her visit.” Methinks, Mr Egede views the visit as a provocation. Indeed, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen denounced US plans to visit the Arctic Island uninvited and called it an “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland and Denmark.

Trump must not like Usha Vance.