‘Reckless stupidity’: Pulitzer-winning columnist warns of 'chaos' over Trump’s antics

President-elect Donald Trump’s repeated insistence that the United States will purchase Greenland and take over the Panama Canal in his next administration comes with real-world consequences, according to New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.

And his international bluster shouldn’t be taken as a joke, Friedman warned in an opinion piece published Monday, adding that “China and Russia are listening.”

“Trump’s remarks are reckless stupidity beyond belief,” Friedman wrote. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist told readers that Trump’s desire for the United States to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal has "already done more damage than people realize."

Continued threats from the incoming president to seize various lands could put the country at serious risk, and do harm to the “world order established after World War II,” Friedman wrote.

“Some may think Trump’s remarks on taking Greenland and the Panama Canal are just a joke from an attention-seeking leader with no filter,” according to the columnist. “They are not a joke. They are a prescription for chaos.”

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Most troubling to Friedman is who he believes is certainly paying attention: President Xi Jinping of China and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“If the U.S. president can decide that he wants to seize Greenland and explicitly refuses to rule out the use of force to do so, that is like a giant permission slip for China to seize Taiwan, which has strong emotional, historical, linguistic and national connections to mainland China,” Friedman wrote.

Similarly, the columnist wondered how the United States could possibly tell Putin he’s violating international law by seizing the territory of another nation, as Trump openly fantasizes about taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal while refusing to rule out using military force.

Friedman concluded his piece by adding that it’s “no wonder” Putin’s press secretary said during an interview on CNBC on Thursday that Russia is “watching the rhetoric on these topics coming out of Washington with great interest.”