A political scientist has warned that Donald Trump's foreign policy provocations, including his recent threats over Greenland, are designed to dominate the news cycle and keep Europe in a reactive mode. Catherine De Vries argues that the former US president is using what she calls 'geopolitical clickbait' to distract European governments from developing their own long-term strategic priorities.
Writing in an analysis piece, De Vries, a professor of political science, notes that Trump's willingness to escalate and then retreat on issues such as Greenland reflects a tactic borrowed from his domestic playbook. She cites Steve Bannon's description of 'flooding the zone' – creating so many controversies that opponents lose sight of what matters. The same logic, she says, is now being applied to foreign policy, with tariffs, Iran and other issues used to keep Europe off balance.
The Greenland episode, in particular, touched on Nato solidarity and Arctic security, prompting Denmark to increase its military presence with quiet backing from other European states. Yet De Vries argues that the core issue was not whether Trump would act, but that Europe was forced to respond. 'A Europe that is always reacting is never planning,' she writes, adding that each provocation produces a different coalition of concerned countries and undermines strategic unity.
Behind the spectacle, she identifies a coherent agenda in Trump's second-term national security strategy, which portrays Europe as a declining, elite-driven bloc that constrains nationalist forces. Support from Washington is framed as transactional rather than based on mutual interest. Greenland, she suggests, is used as a lever to signal who sets the terms of engagement.
De Vries recommends a two-track response for Europe: first, to answer provocations in a calm, collective and disciplined manner, avoiding the emotional and fragmented reaction Trump seeks; second, to invest in its own long-term security strategy independent of the daily churn of US politics. She concludes that accepting the reality of US domestic politics is essential for Europe's future stability.
