After years of assurances that his health care plan was just “two weeks” away, Donald Trump was pressed during a 2024 debate on this elusive blueprint. The Republican famously declared, “I have concepts of a plan.”
The claim quickly became the punch line to countless jokes. Common sense suggested that Trump would have to avoid similar phrases forevermore.
And yet, after the president announced that he’d agreed to “a framework” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the future of Greenland, the Republican faced inevitable questions about the agreement’s contents, and he decided to lean once again on a familiar phrase.
“We have a concept of a deal,” Trump told CNBC on Wednesday afternoon.
As the dust settles on the head-spinning developments, here are five key elements to keep in mind:
1. For now, the details of the deal don’t appear to exist. Shortly after announcing the breakthrough by way of his social media platform, the American president conceded to reporters, “It’s right now a little bit in progress.” On Thursday morning, during a Fox Business interview, he added, “It’s really being negotiated now, the details of it.” Any suggestion that there’s a meaningful agreement in place appears misguided.
2. Be prepared for a fresh round of “TACO” mockery. Throughout 2025, the president confronted consistent “Trump Always Chickens Out” ridicule, mostly driven by his willingness to back off his tariffs threats in the face of sharp stock market downturns. This week, it happened again. The Republican referred to the stock market three times during his remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, shortly before caving — which left little doubt about why he was eager to back away from the crisis he created.
3. The new policy is likely to look a lot like the old policy. In his Fox Business interview, Trump suggested that it was unlikely the United States would actually take ownership of the Arctic island — a priority that he had said in recent days was paramount — though he emphasized that he expects the eventual deal to provide U.S. officials with greater “access” to Greenland. What he neglected to mention is that we already have access. As writer Julian Sanchez summarized, “If this is meaningfully different from the status quo, it’s not obvious to me how. We’ve had an agreement granting us jurisdiction over US military bases there for 75 years. We could easily have arranged to build another one without this psychotic brinksmanship.” 4. The damage has already been done. As part of Wednesday afternoon’s developments, Trump also backed off his tariff threats against several European nations, but that didn’t change the dramatic and lasting harm he has done to the Western alliance. Trump decided to shatter the United States’ standing as a global leader, and his decision to surrender won’t instantly put things right. 5. He could still reverse course again. The incumbent American president hasn’t exactly earned a reputation for steadfastness and consistency. There were few similarities between his approach to Greenland on Tuesday and his approach on Wednesday. What will his position be next week or next month? No one knows, and that’s part of the broader problem: Trump is an erratic and easily confused official who tends to be swayed by the last person to have his ear, which necessarily makes it difficult for anyone, including our closest allies, to have confidence about the future. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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