Hand It Over Or Else! Trump Edges Toward Blackmail on Greenland

At first glance there isn’t a lot one might think Greenland has to offer that anyone could really want. Yes, yes – of course, there are the military considerations. One could put a massive Air Force base down to service easy flights over Europe, Siberia, or North America, right over the polar cap. Nowadays  with climate change, especially in the Arctic, it’s possible that a naval base could also have both advantages. But those considerations aren’t the only possibilities, there could be a lot of other stuff hanging out, possible mining opportunities, maybe oil, who knows? No one has ever had the technology or money to really survey the place. No one could’ve predicted what Alaska might have had to offer. So it’s not all that crazy to want Greenland under the stars and stripes. Several U.S. presidents have floated the idea over the years. None – however, have gone so far as to actually talk about taking the island by force as incoming President Donald Trump is flirting with, economic force – for now. It is getting a bit crazy, enough to border on scary.

One cannot talk Greenland without referencing Denmark, the country that holds some form of “ownership” of the self-governing island. Such discussion necessarily brings in NATO and the E.U. – not to be done lightly. It is bad enough upsetting an ally like Denmark, but there are larger considerations. So when Donald Trump muses about acquiring Greenland, it shouldn’t turn any heads. When he talks practically taking it with economic force (for now), it raises the same heads, only now with angry voices. Why on earth would one want to start up an administration with China and Russia sitting back with a smug smile while allies like Canada and the E.U. stand up in anger? And yet that’s exactly what is happening and it’s getting worse, and awfully specific.

Yesterday Trump said:

“The people of Greenland would love to become a state of the United States of America. Now, Denmark maybe doesn’t like it. But then we can’t be too happy with Denmark and maybe things have to happen with respect to Denmark having to do with tariffs.”

He’s now threatening to hit Denmark with tariffs if they don’t hand over Greenland. https://t.co/5BRept74uh

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 10, 2025

If the people of Greenland wanted U.S. statehood (Or more likely, “territory”), this would have happened long ago. Additionally Greenland’s self-government will speak for citizens going forward. For now, there’s no indication they want anything to do with us. Thus it is all one self-inflicted cluster coming out of nowhere.

It would seem rather easy to shake Denmark down with said tariffs, after all – what do they have that we could possibly want that can’t acquire elsewhere? Well, that’s where it gets a bit interesting. Denmark’s Novo Nordisk produces the increasingly necessary weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.

The situation goes both ways, obviously Denmark and Novo Nordisk don’t want tariffs. But then again, neither do Americans. The drugs are prohibitively expensive as it stands. Pumping the price up even further, as tariffs inevitably do, might infuriate a lot of Americans. Money is one thing, a price that keeps people fat when “easy-skinny” is just a shot away might bring about some heavyweight anger. Trump may be taking a bigger risk than thought.

Meanwhile, the whole Greenland thing is getting a bit insane. Junior and the ever-weird Charlie Kirk went to Nuut for a photo op that was proven to be staged. It is a worrisome indication that this could be more serious than just a distraction from the nominations or a cute troll of the E.U. It could all be real and thus really concerning:

Danish media reported Thursday that a series of photos featuring Kirk and Greenlandic residents in MAGA hats was staged. The MAGA cohort reportedly rounded up homeless people from the area—including one person from under a bridge—promising them a meal at the Hotel Hans Egede in exchange for their participation in the pro-Trump photo circuit…several local sources that spoke with DR News described the photographed individuals as “homeless and socially disadvantaged” people who are often outside the supermarket directly across from the hotel where the Trump event was held.

Again, this is an island with 50,000 people, and even if one adds the total population of Denmark (About 6 million) and you’re talking about infuriating as many people as that of the greater Houston area, not a fair fight, nor one that anyone would normally be interested in. But see above re: military and other considerations.

And it’s all so ridiculous anyway, straight-up bully stuff where a little finesse might actually turn out politically big, leaving Americans and perhaps even the E.U. a little impressed. Instead we have “this,” which has not been well-received internationally, to put it mildly, nor even here at home where “this” seems weirdly random. He was elected to bring egg prices down, not conquer glaciers.

There it stands, with military leaders now having to contemplate sending the Marines in, probably only to have coffee and some lobsters with polite locals, while the E.U. shakes it’s head, now contemplating much bigger and consequential action down the road.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on X with @JasonnowMiciak, and now on Bluesky

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