Trump weighs using U.S. military to acquire Greenland: White House

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNBC

Published Tue, Jan 6 2026 4:07 PM EST Updated 2 Min Ago


President Donald Trump and his team are considering “a range of options” in order to acquire Greenland, including “utilizing the U.S. Military,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC on Tuesday. The statement is an escalation of the Trump administration’s already aggressive rhetoric about Greenland, which the president has long sought to make a part of the United States.

Trump said Sunday that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes, pointing to Russian and Chinese activities in the region near the Arctic island. Greenland is a territory of Denmark, which, like the U.S., is a member of international military alliance the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The leaders of Denmark and other European NATO states on Tuesday morning issued a joint statement pushing back on Trump’s increasingly vocal desire to obtain Greenland.

Leavitt’s new comment on Greenland came after that joint statement was issued.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/06/trump-greenland-military-white-house.html

[Probatim]

1. He's been spending too much time talking to Putin and hitting the crack pipe.

He's a threat to us all.

[Justice matters.]

19. kingpig pedo is a International Terrorist now.

it loves the attention, the free money, and the sadistic cruelty.

[RockCreek]

2. Europe, please take this seriously

[Scrivener7]

5. Europe, my ass! CONGRESS! This is OUR responsibility!

[RockCreek]

6. So true!!

[Scrivener7]

7. I read his comments and my jaw just drops open with the insanity of them. And then the nausea hits.

[RockCreek]

8. I am comstantly agast that no one in his vicinity

has seen fit to initiate mental competency evaluation.
He is clearly in some stage of a dementia.

[Scrivener7]

9. Right? He's the proverbial toddler waving a loaded gun around the room.

He's going to get us into an absolutely insane World War 3.

He's threatening war with fucking Denmark! WTF!!!

[RockCreek]

10. The plot is so insane that 20 years ago it wouldn't have made it into a movie or book

Now I can't tell the difference between reality and the Onion.

[Scrivener7]

11. I have this constant feeling of desperation these days.

[RockCreek]

12. I'm ready to fast forward to the end of this interminable episode

I can't just close my eyes. Too painful.

[Justice matters.]

20. The EU would defend Denmark.

Although the EU will be squeezed by a west front and a east front (russia).

[mwmisses4289]

3. Shouldn't the word be "invade" Greenland?

He's talking about using force to take over a territory that belongs to another country, not buying something.

[Justice matters.]

21. That threat is a terrorist one. n/t

[popsdenver]

25. It wouldn't take much

to take over Greenland, for christ's sake.....the whole country has maybe 55,000 population and a U.S. Military base already established there.

The truth is, that PUTIN is the one that wants Greenland desperately, and can blackmail Trump into trying to get it for him.......

I remember reading somewhere that the military base there is a base shared by the U.S. and Denmark with radar to detect missiles coming over the pole by Russia????????? Like the old DEW line..........

Along with that, Putin would love to have Iceland, Canada, and Alaska......two things that Trump has already rumbled about......

The REAL worry is that we have these two elderly, extremely narcissistic, sadistic psychopaths in control of enough nuclear missiles and bombs to end all life on Earth a thousand times over......Along with Israel, NKorea, and China thrown in.......
Putin and/or Trump, if faced with defeat, could easily say: If I Go, I Am Taking Everyone Else With Me........And if anyone that has nuclear weapons launches, ................... everyone launches...........Ukraine is kicking Putin's ass, and soon he will only have the nuclear weapons as his fall back.......Trump and Republicans are under great threat to surviving politically........also, Netanyahu is a mad man with nukes, same with North Korea's mad man.......

Hell of a situation we all find ourselves in..........

[0rganism]

30. Invade + occupy + annex, apparently to "on the nose" for the editor

If this happens, NATO dissolves.

[mahina]

4. His security versus anybody else else's international security

What the heck do we do to stop this? This is complete insanity. Also, Epstein.

[BadgerKid]

13. It's a Europe-in-middle / two fronts ploy?

If he were to carry this out, it’s Europe/NATO fighting the US and trying to support Ukraine at the same time.

Think this could be a roundabout way to collapse Ukraine and have Russia take over.

[Justice matters.]

22. Baltics, Scandinavia, and Poland too.

Not "just" Ukraine.

The terrorists plan is insanely clear.

[moonshinegnomie]

14. if he goes ahead and does it nato should take the folliowng actions

1) kick the us out of nato
2) seize all us bases in europe including any equipment
3) just like sanctions on russia europe should ban all trading with the US including banning oil shipments. just like we sized ships heading to venezuela europe should seize ships heading to the US
4) europe should seize all assets of trump located in europe including his golf courses

[Bayard]

15. Where's he planning on getting all this money?

trump says we will reimburse the big oil companies for resurrecting Venezuela's oil production. That we will try to buy Greenland first. Are these his plans for our Social Security and Medicare funds?

And Miller says:
"“Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland." The arrogance of these two villains is overwhelming.

Either Congress or NATO is going to have to take trump down. He can't be allowed to keep thumbing his nose at other countries and international law. They're not going to let him start WWIII as a vanity project.

Meanwhile: EPSTEIN!

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. I think this is a negotiating ploy - pretend to go to extremes, then "settle" for something less, but still outrageous

which is a way he works a lot.

So after all the dumb imperialism, he then suggests that an American company (bribing him, and/or with ownership ties to his family) gets a good deal on something Greenland-related. Mining rights would be the obvious thing (he'd like it to be something that can be traded without actually having to fully develop a business - get the money quickly, and when it can be hyped to draw in the gullible).

Or after looking like he'd attack a NATO country, he attacks another instead (Cuba or Colombia?) and expects NATO countries to say it's OK, in relief.

[IronLionZion]

17. Germany had a similar mindset 90 years ago

It didn't go too well.

[Farmer-Rick]

29. Exactly

Venezuela is pedo Trump's Austria.

Believe it when they tell you who they are. They identify with Hitler. They sexually abuse small children. They ignore all laws and thumb their nose at the US Constitution. They are all criminals that will never allow the Dems to have any power in Congress no matter what the voters want.

Stand by for another attack, by US troops following illegal orders, on a small weaker nation. It's going to happen

[Six117]

18. Release the Epstein files

Epstein

[kimbutgar]

23. Greenland should kick out all Americans and demand the US base be closed

BUt I think those Scandinavian countries will also step and and blockade Greenland.

[TomWilm]

24. Denmark is so conditioned to support US invasions ...

... that our Danish army on autopilot will join a willing coalition invading Greenland. Like we did in Afghanistan and Iraq without any UN backing.

[OC375]

26. Needed for security purposes?

Sounds like he's cribbing a page from Khrushchev, or Brezhnev or... Putin?

You are what you eat, I guess.

[maxsolomon]

32. That simplistic BS is infuriating.

What does that mean, "Security Purposes"?

Lithium?

[no_hypocrisy]

27. Never bought the line about TSF wanting to

buy Greenland. It’s cheaper to steal it..

[Scalded Nun]

28. Military Leadership...You are about to be next up to show where you stand.

[ashredux]

31. I hear some countries are looking at Hawaii right now to take over, since it's not connected to the US continent...

I guess it’s a toss up on who gets it…. Great beaches and some good surf….. I think China is looking at it 😀

[ashredux]

33. Security? The US has had up to dozens of bases there. We closed them all but a few.

If we want to open other bases there, they are more than happy to have them. We don’t have to “take them over“ for security. This one’s so transparent it’s ridiculous.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

34. MaddowBlog-Team Trump confirms: The administration wants to buy Greenland

Where exactly does the president intend to get the money to buy a massive arctic island that isn’t for sale?

Mike Johnson: Rubio was kidding about Trump wanting to buy Greenland.

Rubio: No, I wasn’t. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-01-07T19:59:04.538Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/team-trump-confirms-the-administration-wants-to-buy-greenland

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported, and MS NOW confirmed, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a classified briefing this week that the White House is less interested in military action and more interested in trying to buy Greenland — which, by all accounts, is not currently for sale.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson brushed off the idea, telling reporters that Rubio might’ve made the comment “in jest.” The Louisiana Republican repeated the line Wednesday morning, explaining at a Capitol Hill press conference that he thinks he remembers hearing the secretary of state talk about a possible Greenland purchase, but the GOP leader said he “took it as a joke.”

Readers, it was not a joke.

Q: Does the US intend to buy Greenland?

MARCO RUBIO: That's always been the president's intent

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-07T16:31:55.422Z

Asked to clarify comments he made to lawmakers behind closed doors on Monday, Rubio told reporters late Wednesday morning that it’s “always” been Trump’s “intent” to try to buy Greenland.

Less than an hour later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said largely the same thing, explaining during a briefing that the president is “actively” discussing the purchase of Greenland.

Leavitt says Trump is "actively" discussing buying Greenland

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-01-07T17:10:56.139Z

As policy priorities go, all of this seems plainly ridiculous. And yet it also raises a host of new and related questions: Where exactly does Trump intend to get the money to buy a massive arctic island that isn’t for sale? Is he going to ask Congress to appropriate the funds? Would GOP lawmakers be willing to write an enormous check?

And how embarrassed is the House speaker right now after his “took it as a joke” line has been publicly discredited by his ostensible allies?

I was also wondering how trump will get Congress to give him the funds to buy Greenland.