its members criticized the possibility of taking military action to annex it, distancing themselves from the president’s claims that the US needs this Arctic island for its national security.
Who opposes?
Utah Republican Senator John Curtis wrote on X yesterday Wednesday that while strengthening partnerships with Denmark and Greenland is important, the use of military force is “not appropriate, not necessary, and not something I will support.”
Greenland, an autonomous territory of about 56,000 inhabitants, officially belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO member country.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska stressed that the administration’s statements on Greenland are damaging and risk alienating NATO partners. He told CNN that the idea of absorbing Greenland is one of the “stupidest” things he’s heard from the White House in a year and called on fellow Republicans to tell the administration it’s on the wrong track.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, also a Republican, speaking after a briefing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said even a “moderately intelligent high school student” would know that invading Greenland would be “absolutely stupid.”
He added that neither Trump nor Rubio are fools and that no invasion is planned, although he did not rule out efforts to seek a new legal framework for US defense cooperation with Greenland.
What has come before
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that a US attack on Greenland would spell the end of NATO and the post-World War II security order.
Trump has long said the United States “needs” Greenland for its national security.
Denmark, the government of Greenland, the European Union and European countries have rejected Trump’s claims. The debate has returned to the fore following the recent US military operation in Venezuela.
