PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S HEALTH QUESTIONS

Greenland

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on European countries which oppose his plans to annex Greenland, and has refused to rule out military action. In a letter to the Norwegian Prime Minister, Trump wrote: “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 wars, I no longer feel an obligation to think only of Peace but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America”. As Greg Sheridan justifiably observed in The Australian, “His text to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store is surely the single most deranged message ever sent by an American president to any foreign head of government”.[i]

Copenhagen and the government of Greenland have made it clear that Greenland is not for sale and the Danish Prime Minister warned that a forcible US annexation of its territory would be the end of NATO.

Trump had initially threatened to impose tariffs on several European nations over Greenland. Then he changed his mind, saying that securing Greenland was a core national security interest for the US to prevent outside threats, but, “I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force”. 

Trump claimed that China and Russia would take over Greenland unless the US did so. However, Beijing rejected that saying, “China does not support the US using China or Russia as pretexts for its own self-interest” adding that Beijing’s activities in the region, “Strengthen peace, stability and sustainable development in accordance with international law”. Russia also reacted saying Greenland’s future must be determined by its citizens and dismissed claims that Russia posed a threat.[ii] 

Iran

In December 2025, mass protests erupted in more than 200 cities in Iran. It seemed that the Islamic Republic, established in 1979 was on the brink of collapse. After the regime cracked down on the protesters, Trump declared that help was on the way and he urged them to keep protesting. And yet, just when military action appeared imminent, Trump changed his mind and stepped back from helping the protesters. Trump then turned his focus onto Iran’s nuclear ambitions. However, several countries in the region including Egypt, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia discouraged the White House from striking Iran. Despite that, Trump announced “A massive armada is heading to Iran which includes the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided missile destroyers”. No mention was made of the protesters and thus far there has been no further action and no meaningful plan has emerged.[iii] 

Meanwhile, the EU also took steps against Iran designating its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a “terrorist organisation” with more than 6,000 people having been killed since the protest movement in Iran erupted in December.

Venezuela

On 3^rd January President Trump sent the American military into Venezuela to kidnap its leader, Nicolas Maduro. This was a flagrant violation of sovereignty. In an interview with John Mearsheimer (Professor of Political Science at Chicago University), he acknowledges that every great power cares about its own region. The Chinese care about East Asia, the Russians about Eastern Europe and the United States about the Western Hemisphere and that is what the “Monroe Doctrine” is all about. However, he contends that there was no serious threat to the US from Venezuela. Rather, it was a case of “old-fashioned imperialism” as the US had decided to take control of Venezuelan oil. The Trump administration is counting on oil companies to move into Venezuela and rebuild its oil industry, but that is unlikely to happen as it will take many years and many billions of dollars to achieve that and it is not at all clear that major oil companies have an interest in doing so.[iv]

Canada

In a forceful speech before world leaders at Davos on 20 January, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out his vision on how to push back against Trump’s chaos. Multilateral institutions on which the middle powers relied such as the WTO and the UN were under threat. As a result, many countries believe that they must develop greater strategic autonomy in energy, food, critical minerals, finance, and supply chains. Carney spoke of how Canada was rapidly diversifying including a comprehensive strategic partnership with the EU. Canada had also signed 12 trade and security deals on four continents in six months. Furthermore, Canada had concluded new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar and was negotiating free-trade pacts with India, ASEAN, Thailand, and the Philippines.

Trump responded by threatening to impose 100% tariffs on all Canadian goods and products coming into the US if “Canada makes a deal with China”. In his address at Davos, Trump accused Carney of not being grateful enough to the US and he petulantly revoked Canada’s invitation to join his Gaza Board of Peace (a proposal which Carney was considering but had not yet accepted). In the meantime, Canada and China had made deals involving Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian agricultural products which Carney described as the start of a strategic new partnership with China, adding that deals with China were necessary, given the US trade policy uncertainty. While in Beijing, Carney remarked that China was a more reliable trading partner than the US![v]

De-Risking from the USA

It is not only Canada. The UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer spent most of the last week of January in China faced with the imperative to de-risk from an increasingly untrustworthy US even though Starmer and his European neighbours fear the consequences of angering the volatile US leader. Others are also queueing to get to Beijing. French President Macron visited China in December and German Chancellor Merz is expected to visit in February. The Irish PM as well as the Finnish PM visited China in January. It seems that the US has become the “rogue” to be hedged against while China is now seen as a stable, consistent economic partner.[vi]

In a survey carried out in late November 2025 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 47% of Americans surveyed agreed that China had already surpassed the United States or would do so within five years. 63% said China outperformed the US in technology. This was a view shared by 74% of Democrats, 62% of Independents and 52% of Republicans. In addition, 42% of respondents said that China held an economic advantage over the US although most Americans believed that the US retained a military edge. These results are said to have echoed an April 2025 Pew Research Centre survey.[vii]

Impact on the World Order

Trump’s actions at the start of 2026 align with the updated US National Security Strategy released in December 2025, to secure the Western Hemisphere as a zone of exclusive American interests, to contain China and to shift responsibility for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa onto its allies.

The new strategy shows how Trump’s thinking on Beijing has shifted, with the document dropping all reference to “strategic competition” with both China and Russia. Instead, the strategy shifts to maintaining a “favourable balance of military power in the Indo-Pacific. There is no reference to any threat to the international order posed by Moscow or Beijing and not a single reference to Taiwan. Trump seeks a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China and he has shown his willingness to engage with Xi Jinping directly to achieve these goals.

The main objectives of the 2026 National Defence Strategy are defending the US homeland. Allies and partners are expected to shoulder their fair share of the burden of collective defence. As to China, the goal is not to dominate nor to humiliate. Instead, it aims to prevent anyone, including China from dominating the US and its allies. The strategy also directs the Pentagon to maintain a favourable balance of military power in the Indo Pacific, but it does not seek regime change or an existential struggle. It aims for peace on terms favourable to Americans, but which China can also accept. The strategy also makes it clear that Washington will look to NATO to take primary responsibility for Europe’s defence.[viii]

Trump’s Health

On 18 January, Tim Stanley remarked in The Telegraph, “Of all the explanations for Donald Trump’s attempt to seize Greenland, the most superficially attractive is that the President has dementia”. The remark was not dissimilar to a remark made only days earlier in the Asia Times.

Trump believes he had a really successful visit to Davos. He was wrong. Instead, he is seen as being in the process of destroying the world. As the Sydney morning Herald wrote, “Trump is in decay, and it is affecting him and his presidency”. He makes grandiose declarations on the war in Ukraine, on tariffs, on Gaza and on the Board of Peace but nothing is successfully fulfilled. The Board of Peace was launched with Trump having full control and having the sole veto over any vote taken by the Board, but no major European allies have joined up. Nor has Russia or China and neither has Canada after Trump disinvited Carney.

Scrutiny has now turned to Trump and his mental and physical health, leading to one question: Is Trump up to it?[ix] 

At 79, Trump is the oldest man to assume the presidency although, in fairness he was a mere five months older than Biden when Biden became president. It was only after a catastrophic performance in a debate against Trump that Biden decided not to seek re-election. Trump may, at times show signs of ageing, but he claims to rely on his “good genetics” and his doctor says he is in excellent health while aids say he maintains a vigorous schedule. Trump is not interested in an exercise routine other than golf as he finds exercise “boring”. He has difficulty sleeping well at night and, by his own account, often texts and calls up aids at 2am. He claims never to have been a big sleeper.[x]

Trump has been almost omnipresent in his second term, fielding questions sometimes several times a day and regularly hosting dinners at the White House. His doctor, Barbabella has told the WSJ that Trump is in “exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander in Chief”!

AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM – HEAR THE OTHER SIDE

_____________________________________________

[i] The Telegraph, Taking Greenland as revenge for losing Nobel Peace Prize – 19 Jan 26

[ii] RT (Russia), Beijing slams Trump for citing China and Russia – 12 Jan 26

[iii] Foreign Policy, Threats to the Iranian Regime – 30 Jan 26

[iv] South China Morning Post (SCMP), Interview with John Mearsheimer – 19 Jan 26

[v] Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Trump threatens tariffs on Canada over China – 25 Jan 26

[vi] SCMP, The World is Waking up to the US Threat -30 Jan 26

[vii] SCMP, Do Americans think China will overtake the US – 29 Jan 26

[viii] The Australian, Trump’s new Strategy – 25 & 26 Jan 26

[ix] Sydney Morning Herald, Trump In Decay – 26 Jan 26

[x] WSJ, Signs of ageing emerge – 2 Jan 26