The Gulf of America. The United States of Greenland. Canada, the 51st state.

How earnest is Donald Trump? Does the president dream of stealing new territory for America? How maniacally imperialist will this administration be?

As with anything Trump says, it’s difficult to know. He blusters and lies, and he shoots first and never bothers to ask any questions. If he’s deadly serious about immigration and the border — he’d end birthright citizenship if he could — the fate of an ice-sheathed Danish territory or our neighbor to the north is not so easily discerned. Canada, at least, should be fine. Trump wants to levy onerous tariffs and leave it there. In theory, he could strong-arm Denmark over Greenland, and there would arise one of the more absurd international contretemps we’ve seen in a while. American troops, landing to secure what is theirs, the most sparsely populated region of the world …

Not likely, but if there’s one president who could make such a scene, it’s Trump.

The question, for normal Americans, is how much they should panic. In the first term, the greatest danger Trump posed, truly, was his ability to start a war. Never had a man with such limited qualifications and a volatile temperament stormed into the Oval Office. It was reasonable to worry about an ex-reality-TV star getting........

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