US lawmakers call Trump's Norway letter 'unhinged,' damaging to alliances

A letter from U.S. President Donald Trump to Norway's prime minister has sparked a wave of alarm and condemnation from lawmakers, who describe its contents as "unhinged" and a dangerous linkage of personal grievance to foreign policy. In the letter made public Monday, President Trump suggested that not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize freed him from focusing solely on peace, connecting this to his administration's contentious push to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

Bipartisan Alarm Over Presidential Judgment

The reaction from Capitol Hill was swift and severe, crossing party lines. Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee accused the President of turning the U.S. into a "pariah" through personal grievances and urged Republicans to stop enabling him. Senator Chris Murphy stated, "These are the ramblings of a man who has lost touch with reality," expressing concern that such actions could "get us into a war with our allies." Senator Andy Kim called the message "incredibly dangerous," warning of permanent harm to Washington's international standing.

Concerns Over Age, Fitness, and NATO's Future

A recurring theme in the criticism involved the President's age and mental acuity. Senator Brian Schatz questioned how the episode could not be "extremely worrisome," pointing to what he called a "warped" sense of reality. Senator Mark Kelly directly warned that Trump's actions and rhetoric could "destroy" NATO, challenging Republicans and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to show more backbone. Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger called on his party to sideline Trump, saying, "It's time to move Gramps into a home."

A Pattern of Personalizing Diplomacy

The episode fits a longstanding pattern of President Trump personalizing matters of international relations, from trade disputes to security alliances. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store was forced to clarify that the Nobel Prize is awarded by an independent committee, not his government. The underlying issue of Greenland—a self-governing Danish territory of strategic Arctic importance—has been a persistent and controversial focus of the Trump administration, despite firm rejections from both Copenhagen and Nuuk.

View from Türkiye: Stability of Alliances is Paramount

For a key NATO ally like Türkiye, which depends on predictable and principled Western diplomacy to manage complex regional challenges, such internal U.S. turmoil and the public questioning of alliance cohesion are viewed with deep concern. Ankara's foreign policy relies on stable transatlantic partnerships to address security issues from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Instability and personal vendettas within NATO's leadership directly complicate Türkiye's strategic calculus and its efforts to maintain a balanced foreign policy.