Donald Trump made headlines over the last year by setting his sights on having the United States acquire Greenland.
He floated the idea in his first term but he starting talking about it seriously shortly after being elected in 2024.
Trump ramped up the rhetoric in the last month and many in the EU and the mainstream media painted him as unhinged and unreasonable.
This narrative made Trump's Greenland push unpopular in public polling.
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| Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-doubles-down-greenland-push-polls-show-little-public-support |
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| Source: https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3945 |
However, neither the bad press, the poor polling or the indignation of the Europeans dissuaded Trump from continuing his efforts on Greenland.
He knows how critical Greenland is for America's future security.
I have written before that the two attributes that set Donald Trump apart from almost all other human beings.
Trump is both an iconoclast and is indefatigable.
He is an iconoclast.
Donald Trump is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom. He is not afraid to attack and call out institutions like the WHO, NATO and the WTO when he thinks they have not served the interests of the United States of America. He is not satisfied with the status quo.
Trump is also indefatigable.
Trump doesn't tire. He doesn't quit. He is persistent and unrelenting in pursuing his goals.
Both of these qualities were clearly witnessed in his pursuit of a deal on Greenland.
Greenland has been seen as a national security priority for the United States for well over 100 years.
Woodrow Wilson attempted to purchase Greenland in the period before World War I over concerns that the Germans might gain a foothold there as well as in the Caribbean islands.
Denmark agreed to sell what is now the U.S. Virgin Islands to the United States for $25 million in gold in 1917. Denmark was not interested in giving up Greenland.
This actually led to a 1917 treaty in which the United States recognized Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland.
Similar concerns arose during World War II when Denmark fell to Nazi Germany within two hours of being invaded.
The United States then took control of Greenland to protect against German occupation of the island on our doorstep and protected it during the duration of the war.
This led to the establishment of three permanent U.S. military bases on Greenland that continued in operation after the war.
One remains today---the Pituffik Space Base which was formerly the Thule Air Base.
Right after the war, President Harry Truman offered Denmark $100 million in gold for Greenland which Denmark rejected.
Greenland took on added importance as intercontinental missiles became the greatest threat to the United States in the 1950's and 1960's.
Greenland lies directly between the most direct paths for missiles to be launched at the United States by Russia (and China).
You can easily see the strategic importance of Greenland by looking at these graphics.
China lies just below the Russian sites on the globe.
Any movements of the Russian navy that night threaten the East Coast of the United States must go through the Giuk gap that abut Greenland.
It is also clear that Denmark neither has the financial wherewithal or will to protect and defend Greenland.
The United States has actually been doing that for well over the last 100 years.
Greenland has taken on even added national security significance with the development of hypersonic missiles that greatly compress the time frames for decisions on defensive responses.
President Trump is focused on developing a Golden Dome anti-missile defense system that would be most optimally deployed in Greenland since the shortest and fastest path to attack the United States is by missiles over the Arctic.
The big point here is that the strategic defense advantages of Greenland have been well known to a long line of American Presidents but none were willing to confront the issue directly and challenge the status quo.
Trump was willing to state the obvious.
Denmark is not capable of protecting Greenland.
But for the United States, Greenland would already be controlled by Germany or Russia.
Denmark had also given Greenland the right of self determination in 2009 which provides a legal right for its 57,000 residents to decide their own future, including independence.
That might include selling out to Russia or China.
If China can bribe American officials what would stop them from paying off a few thousand Greenlanders to take control of that territory?
Why shouldn't the United States be first on that list if Greenland was for sale by its own residents?
Trump the iconoclast was not afraid to challenge the status quo and be willing to take the heat that came with it.
The indefatigable Trump was unrelenting in his quest to get what the United States needed with Greenland and persisted when almost anyone else would have wilted from the criticism.
As a result, Trump got what he believes the United States needed in Greenland and boxed out Russia and China at the same time.
He also got it all without paying anything or deploying any armed forces to do it.
The art of the deal with Trump is to talk tough and use all the leverage he has to get what he wants.
We don't know the exact details of the final deal.
However, this is the reported outline of what Trump got for the United States with Greenland.
Another observer summarized it more simply.
If that is true, then why did Denmark and the Europeans complain so much along the way?
The truth is that it took an indefatigable iconoclast to get the United States what it nows has with Greenland.
It did not just happen automatically.
Like him or not, Trump is a change agent.
He is not only changing the United States... but also the world.
We have not seen anything like him for a long, long time.
We likely will not see another like him anytime soon as well.
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