Is Trump’s Bold Greenland Gambit More Than Just a Threat?

Since the early days of his second term, Donald Trump’s been yammering about one of the most eyebrow-raising real estate ideas in recent memory: the U.S. snagging Greenland. Yup, that icy chunk of Arctic wilderness where fewer than 60,000 hardy souls live—none of whom exactly fancy becoming the 51st star on Old Glory. Trump insists it’s all about “security,” but is this just political theatre, or the prelude to an actual invasion? And seriously, can the U.S. military—armed to the teeth and spread across the globe—really just roll up and annex Greenland, no questions asked? Sure, the muscle’s there, but invading a NATO ally’s territory? That’s a diplomatic nightmare wrapped in a geopolitical conundrum. So why won’t the idea die? Let’s dive into the saga of Greenland, Trump, and a potential American Arctic takeover that’s making more headlines than a late-night comedy monologue. LEARN MORE.

Since the beginning of his second term of presidency, Donald Trump has been making lots of noises about the US possibly taking over Greenland, an idea most unwelcome to the people who actually live there.

In the past, he’s declared that the US is ‘100 percent getting Greenland‘, having claimed that he needs it for security reasons.

Trump’s declaration that he’d take Greenland ‘one way or another’ has not gone down well with Greenlanders, who have made it clear they ‘don’t want to be Americans‘.

There is a strong independence movement in Greenland to break away completely from Denmark, with it currently being an autonomous territory of the European country, but that is not borne out of a desire to rush into the arms of Trump’s America.

It hasn’t stopped a steady stream of threats from the US president, the latest of which was him refusing to rule out the possibility of using military force to take the territory.

No matter how many times Greenland says they don’t want to be part of the US, Donald Trump keeps talking about it (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“I don’t rule it out,” he said to NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday (4 May) when asked if he was willing to bring military force to bear upon Greenland.

“I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly.

“Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.”

So with Trump refusing to take the option of military intervention off the table, could he actually take over Greenland?

Probably.

The US is one of the only global military superpowers and Greenland has fewer than 60,000 people, there are enough American soldiers to have one for every Greenlander and still have plenty left over for all the other pies they’ve got their fingers in around the world.

So yes, the US has the military strength to go over and take it.

Even if the US has the military capability to occupy Greenland, it would destroy the NATO alliance they perch atop (Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Of course, officially the US president has to get the approval of congress to take military action, but as NPR points out, the last time the US congress formally declared war was in 1942 during the Second World War when the US declared war on Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania for siding with the Nazis.

Presidents have carried out military action without the approval of congress before, and sometimes have done it without prior notice.

Another issue is that Greenland’s defence is currently the responsibility of Denmark, a founding member of NATO which could then attempt to call in the rest of the alliance in response to American aggression.

Since NATO was set up as an American-led alliance, invading Greenland runs the risk of the US ending up at war with all of its allies or rendering the entire alliance a sham by destroying the collective defence provision.

So, it’s really best for everyone if he never actually tries it.