Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made a harsh criticism of the President Of Donald Trump threatened to take Greenland in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, warning it would be an “unprecedented act of self-harm” and “more disastrous” for his legacy than withdrawing from Afghanistan during President By Joe Biden term.
Trump’s rhetoric directed at the self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark has escalated as his second term has progressed, including posts on social media stating that the acquisition of Greenland was “vital” to the United States and “[a]no less that this is unacceptable.”
Officials from Greenland, Denmark, and several NATO countries have loudly rejected Trump’s claims for Greenland, citing its long history with Denmark, Greenlanders’ lack of interest in joining the United States, and its status as a NATO member.
Despite this, Trump did not give up, he even publicly put forward the idea of taking military action – despite how popular this would be with the American public.
A recent poll found only 17% of Americans supported the takeover of Greenland, and a paltry 4% supported the use of military force to do so. Even among Republicans, only 8% favored a military invasion of Greenland.
This week, Canada, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and other NATO allies are deploying troops to Greenland as a show of solidarity against American sabre-rattling.
McConnell, who has served in the Senate since 1985 and was the Leader of the GOP for years before passing the torch to Sen. John Thune (R-SD) in 2024, spoke for more than 25 minutes on the Senate floor Wednesday (transcript available here) on the subject of Greenland, digging deep into US and NATO history to make his case, and offering dire predictions about how “disastrous” it would be to pursue this further.
McConnell began by discussing the devastation caused by World War II — tens of millions dead, tens of millions more displaced, food shortages, hyperinflation — and how “America’s leaders understood that our interests and those of our European allies were connected, whether we liked it or not.”
“American security and stability depend on European security and stability,” he continued. “Not least because the conflict with Nazi Germany was immediately succeeded by the threat of conflict with the Soviet Union. Millions in Eastern Europe had gone from living under Nazi tyranny to living under Soviet tyranny.”
In the late 1940s, polls showed that “the American people understood the stakes,” McConnell said, rightly viewed Russia as a threat, and supported a “mutual defense pact” with “our Western European friends” — even going so far as to support what would become NATO’s Article 5, “a pledge of mutual aid by all members of the nation if any one member of the nation is attacked.”
“The American people knew the costs of war,” McConnell emphasized. “And they knew they’d rather preserve the peace.”
Other NATO members have “undertaken a profound transformation” in recent years, he said, increasing “dramatically” their defense spending to share the burden more equitably, so even “NATO’s newest members, Sweden and Finland, are each on track to meet the alliance’s new spending target years ahead of schedule,” and our European allies “continue assist Ukraine with an aid factor11.
Specifically on the Greenland issue, McConnell said Trump “is right that Arctic security is a central concern in our strategic competition with major adversaries, and he will find a similar interest in Arctic security among allies like Denmark, which is investing billions of dollars in its own capabilities in the region.”
“The Danes have been close partners in the Arctic since World War II,” he said, “and brave Danish soldiers have fought and died in America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
It is these “close ties” that “make possible America’s extensive reach in the Arctic,” argued McConnell, “and I have yet to hear from this Administration anything that we need from Greenland that this sovereign people is not already willing to give us.”
Therefore, he continued, trying to take control of Greenland would mean “the incineration of the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no significant change in US access to the Arctic,” and explained some of the significant and “disastrous” consequences he predicted.
This was “about more than Greenland,” and “about more than America’s relationship with its very capable Nordic allies,” he said. “It’s about whether the United States intends to face a constellation of strategic adversaries with capable friends — or commit an unprecedented act of strategic self-harm and go it alone.”
Any “good progress” made by Trump in pushing our allies to increase their defense spending “will be for naught if his Administration’s misguided threats about Greenland were to break the confidence of our allies,” McConnell said, predicting that “following this provocation would be more disastrous for the President’s legacy than his predecessor’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
McConnell cited several recent polls showing that Americans did not support the takeover of Greenland but viewed NATO alliances favorably, including meeting the Article 5 obligation to participate in a military response if a NATO member is attacked.
The American people “already understand the stakes,” and are “telling anyone who will listen that when they say peace through strength, they mean what President Reagan meant: “Lead with moral clarity, and distinguish clearly between the aggressors and the victims. We invest in the Arsenal of Democracy, and equip friends who fight for themselves. Preparation to win all wars, and prepare them.”
Watch the video above via YouTube.
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