President Trump surprised, amused, and left lots of people aghast when he abruptly announced Tuesday evening that, because Denmark isn't willing to discuss selling Greenland, he is no longer visiting the country, its leaders, and its queen in the beginning of September. Maggie Haberman at The New York Times, for one, isn't buying Trump's stated reason for scrapping the visit — which, to be fair, is pretty unbelievable.

Unanswered question: What's the real reason Trump didn't want to go to Denmark that he's blaming on the Greenland thing? — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 21, 2019 Could be and sometimes is, but it isn't here. https://t.co/UPdHzZ3dUi — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 21, 2019

Haberman doesn't offer her own explanation. But in the wake of Trump's announcement, Twitter discovered a local Danish news report from last week: Coincidentally, former President Barack Obama is visiting Denmark again at the end of September. And some unkind wags drew their own conclusions.

.@maggieNYT very shrewd. This isn't about Greenland. Obama scheduled to visit Denmark 9/28. Trump was scared of the likely contrast to his state visit on 9/2-3. https://t.co/BsRvpMQ8Xj — David Frum (@davidfrum) August 21, 2019 In his self-loathing heart, Trump knows Obama is bigger than he is, around the world as well as in the United States. That knowledge tortures Trump, never allows him a minute's respite — David Frum (@davidfrum) August 21, 2019

It's clearly a coincidence that Trump called off his visit to Denmark a week after Obama's trip was announced — geopolitics isn't quite that petty. And yet...

Trump can’t hold public events in most major US cities for fear of protests



in 2018 Pew survey of 22 countries, proportion w/confidence in US President had plummeted from 70% under Obama to 28% under Trump



imagine what Denmark’s leader would face for even entertaining this idea — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 21, 2019

Obama will speak and take questions from business leaders and students at Aalborg University in northern Denmark, The Local reports. Rich Henningsen, the moderator of the event, told local media that "President Obama is one of the people I look up to most in the in the world," while Aalborg's mayor, Thomas Kastrup-Larsen, gushed awkwardly: "I do not doubt for a moment that this will be a new climax for Aalborg and the whole of northern Jutland."

Meanwhile, a month before Trump's visit, thousands of people had "already signed up for a demonstration against him," the Copenhagen Post reported last week. "So it looks like the Danes prefer Obama over Trump after all. ..." Apropos of nothing. Peter Weber