As this week got underway, Donald Trump mocked Greenland’s national security measures, telling reporters, “Greenland, basically, their defense is two dogsleds. Do you know that? You know what their defense is? Two dogsleds.”
The president’s claim was, of course, utterly absurd — not to mention the fact that, as he ought to know, the United States already has a military base on the arctic island, which has more than just a couple of sleds.
Nevertheless, just days after Trump made the unfortunate comment, the military resources on Greenland are now quite a bit more robust than they were. NBC News reported:
European troops were arriving in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support, as leaders scrambling to respond to President Donald Trump’s threats were thrown another American curveball.
Trump pushed ahead with his aim of ‘conquering’ one European territory, Denmark’s top diplomat said after a high-stakes meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
While the size of the deployment is modest, it includes military personnel from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Sweden — all traditional allies of the U.S. — and French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would send additional “land, air and sea assets” in the coming days.
NBC News’ report added that Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen also said this week that the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” as soldiers from several NATO countries are expected to be in Greenland on a rotating basis, according to Danish broadcaster DR.
Two weeks ago, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN, “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
Evidently, several European countries disagree.
It’s worth dwelling on just how extraordinary the circumstances are: In recent generations, if France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Sweden were working cooperatively to deploy military personnel, it would be in concert with the U.S. and the interests of the trans-Atlantic partnership.
In 2026, however, these European giants are sending troops to Greenland in response to imperialistic threats from an American president.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, characterized the developments as “unbelievable,” adding, “Trump has turned our allies against us.”
There’s every reason to believe conditions might get worse: On Friday morning, the American president said he’s prepared to use trade tariffs to impose economic penalties on countries that stand in the way of his Greenland crusade.
Many congressional Republicans are reportedly working on curtailing Trump’s ambitions and have offered assurances to longtime U.S. allies, but as things stand, they’re going to have to start working faster and far more effectively.
