Donald Trump Jr. (C) and hard-right activist Charlie Kirk (R) on a photo-opportunity visit to Greenland, January 8, 2025


Can Donald Trump Buy Greenland From Denmark?


I joined Poland’s TVP World on Monday for a 11-minute analysis of why Donald Trump is threatening to seize Greenland.

While I note Greenland’s strategic position and its wealth in rare earth minerals, I explain Trump’s personal interest.

He just sees a big piece of land and he wants it to be part of his empire.

He said in 2018, at a time when Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, that he would rather have Greenland because “Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor”.

That’s the level at which he operates. What we don’t know is whether there are advisors behind Trump who are calculating if they can get money out of this or play geopolitics versus Russia.

I also knock back the Trump camp’s PR stunts, with a five-hour visit by Donald Trump Jr. and hard-right activist Charlie Kirk, and a dubious “poll” claiming 57% of Greenland citizens want to become a US territory.

One of the casualties of this chatter from Trump is that it overshadows the real issue for the 60,000 population in Greenland.

They have autonomy as part of Denmark, but many of them would like independence. That is an important debate.

And a reminder:

We should start every conversation with “This is a matter of sovereignty for Denmark and Greenland”.

When Donald Trump speaks of military action to take over Greenland, you have a man threatening a NATO ally because of his personal thought bubbles.