While the idea of the USA taking over Greenland is hardly a new one – the earliest records of it date from 1867, and the US actually offered to buy Greenland from Denmark in 1946 as part of the the reconstruction of Europe after World War Two. But every other time the subject has come up, it’s been based in diplomacy.
Donald Trump, who is to diplomacy roughly as the Joker is to Batman, had no time for this. On December 22, 2024, Trump posted to TruthSocial that “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for the US. He claimed that this was for national security, and in fairness to Trump, there is a geopolitical argument to be made there. Naturally, this caused diplomatic issues in the USA’s relationships with Denmark, Greenland, Canada and Russia, as well as sending shockwaves through NATO, given that Trump’s remarks amount to a threat by one NATO member to militarily attack another member. It was immensely popular with Republicans in the US, though.
