According to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Donald Trump is the “king of PEACE”—an odd position for a Lutheran like Burgum, as it would rank Trump above the “Prince of Peace,” Jesus Christ—and Europeans should be “cheering” for him to annex Greenland. It’s also odd for the interior secretary, whose duties principally concern federal lands, to be commenting on European opinion.

Burgum’s full-throated defense of American imperialism was a disappointment to many commentators. Heatmap News’s Robinson Meyer, for instance, had hoped that the bespectacled former tech executive who used to praise “liberty” would represent a reasonable voice within the Trump administration. Matt Yglesias called Burgum a “huge disappointment” for parroting Trump’s anti–wind energy talking points, even as his own state of North Dakota benefits hugely from abundant and cheap wind power. Many congressional Democrats were similarly mistaken; Burgum was confirmed with 80 yeas in the Senate to only 17 nays, securing a majority from both caucuses.

In the year since his confirmation, Burgum has given those Democratic senators ample reason to regret their votes, along with anyone who ever trusted his prior statements. This is what holding power in Washington, D.C., requires today: complete submission to the whims of Dear Leader, and enthusiastic participation in the Trump regime’s campaign of gratuitous cruelty and madness.

Take Minnesota, which has been enduring a campaign of occupation, kidnapping, and terrorism at the hands of ICE and CBP centered around Minneapolis. Both of Minnesota’s Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, voted to confirm Burgum, who recently went on television to blame Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the occupiers’ murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, claiming that the “real tragedy” was that “Biden and Harris kept our borders open.”