I'm surprised he even thought of buying it, rather than invade and take what they want, as was his idea for oil in the middle east for exxon.
States always have statehood, per definition. Territories though, less so. Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have the biggest statehood movements, but have been denied so far. These two already account for over 90% of the full population of the territories and the DoC. Yes, the smallest territories, i.e. those hovering around the 100k mark have not sought statehood, so technically the majority of territories has not sought statehood, but the majority of taxed, yet not properly represented people certainly has. If Greenland was taken over, they would certainly not get statehood either.
It has been made harder to achieve statehood after the inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii. It's pretty much entirely up to the whims of the US congress whether or not a territory can become a state, even if said territories want that. And since giving statehood to a territory has a substantial effect on the balance of power, that is purely a game of politics at that point.
I mean really, if the US wants something we have the money to throw at it, and while throwing troops and bombs at things is also fun(sarcasm alert!) it'd probably be cheaper if we just offered to buy people's countries.
I mean, we spent somewhere in the realm of 5 TRILLION dollars on the was in Iraq. That's like, ~120 bucks for every person who lives there. Think if we offered them 5 trillion they'd have just sold it?
Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.
Just, be kind.
PR doesnt want to be a state and much of the islands in the pacific dont want to either since they get autonomy from certain federal laws like equal access to land owbership and whatnot.
IIRC the last referendum had 96% of support but never reaches a 50% representation of the pr voting elegible population.
Are we going to put it on the credit card, like everything else?
The 2012 referendum did. There was a higher turnout, with a majority rejecting the territorial status. But the results were not clear enough for the mainland, so they said that another referendum had to be held, which then got delayed for 5 years. And that was 24 years after the last referendum, where there was apparently so much confusion about the options presented that a majority just voted "none of the above" and they just decided to do nothing at all.
While turnout was indeed low during that referendum, that was in part due to the status quo side boycotting it in general and claiming that it was rigged from the start. It's been pretty muddied, but no effort to clear up the situation has been made - simply because despite the result, the territory side just wins by default is nothing happens.
So no, referendi there did reach more than 50% turnout before, but not the one you picked. Unless you are talking about more than 50% of eligible voters being in favor of statehood, which is an odd concept in general, especially when the US president is voted in by less about 25-30% of eligible voters
Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi
I genuinely think that a person could convince Trump and his "conservative" followers that bigger deficits means a better economy. "You have to spend money to make money."
As an actual small-government conservative, I'm still flabbergasted at the sheer dissonance and lack of consistency among Trump and his ilk. Just when you think things couldn't get any more hypocritical... they manage to surprise you.
Deplorable adorableness. I'm sure he'll bankrupt it, too.
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Solid point. Not going to happen in this case, however, as most/all land is already claimed/bought. Plus, this being Cheeto, even if it was possible, he'd still fuck it up.
That was when land was cheap and wasn't traded as a commodity. Buying Greenland would be a sunk cost, even if all parties were interested in doing so.
Trump should know this so can only assume that he wants the land so he can build an underground dungeon/evil lair/golf course.
I look forward to a new era of American imperialism and colonialism.
I'm sure we can afford all these additional expenses on top of our mounting annual deficits and blowing up debt.