The Trump administration is openly discussing using the U.S. military to seize Greenland from Denmark—a NATO ally.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” White House propaganda minister Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Trump has been fixated on acquiring Greenland since his first term, and he’s not being subtle about it now.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers this week that the administration is considering buying the resource-rich territory, while simultaneously refusing to rule out military intervention.
Senior White House aide Stephen Miller went on CNN Monday claiming nobody would fight the U.S. “over the future of Greenland” and questioned Denmark’s right to even claim the territory. Denmark, for the record, has been allied with Greenland for centuries.
THE DETAILS: Greenland is an 836,000-square-mile territory rich in oil, gas, and rare earth minerals.
The State Department recently analyzed those resources at Rubio’s request and concluded there’s no reliable study of how vast they actually are—and accessing them would be tremendously expensive given the freezing temperatures and lack of infrastructure.
Trump’s renewed interest comes days after the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
BUT BUT BUT: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a U.S. military attack on Greenland could effectively end NATO—the alliance that has underpinned Western security for 75 years. Seven European leaders issued a joint statement Tuesday saying the Arctic island “belongs to its people.”
Even some Republicans are pushing back. Rep. Don Bacon, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, urged the administration to “stop the stupid ‘we want Greenland BS'” and called the treatment of Denmark “demeaning.”
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, said any coercion of a NATO ally “undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend.”
WHY IT MATTERS: The United States is openly threatening to invade a close ally to seize territory it wants. This isn’t some fringe hypothetical—it’s coming directly from the White House.
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego is introducing a resolution to prevent the invasion, warning: “Trump is telling us exactly what he wants to do. We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim.”