The point is that during the Eisenhower/Kennedy/Clinton/Bush/Obama years
we got all the strategic things we wanted (and still have) without
having to buy it.
Buying it now would take well north of $1 trillion and still not get us
anything more (other than a lighter purse). That plus pissing off our
best long-term allies.
It's just stupid to try to buy it, and even more stupid to invade it.
bp
<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com>
On 1/21/2026 1:32 PM, David Hannum via AF wrote:
So many think Trump is a bully on Greenland . . . If you think he's so
terrible, you absolutely don’t know history.
1) 1867 – Andrew Johnson: explored buying Greenland & Iceland (right
after Alaska).
2) WWII – FDR: U.S. took over Greenland’s defense while Denmark was
occupied.
3) 1946 – Truman: offered $100M in gold to buy it.
4) Cold War – Eisenhower → Kennedy: nonstop negotiations for bases,
radar, missiles.
5) Post–Cold War – Clinton/Bush/Obama: expanded Arctic security &
missile defense.
6) 2019 – Trump: said publicly what presidents discussed privately
for 150+ years.
The U.S. didn’t “suddenly” want Greenland.
It’s been defending it, negotiating it, and embedding there since the
1800s.
Greenland = Arctic power, shipping lanes, missiles, minerals.
Trump didn’t invent it. His crime is he said the quiet part out loud.
=======================
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Jan. 21 at the World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Trump is spot on about the
importance of Greenland to security. He said, "When it comes to the
Arctic, I think President Trump is right. Other leaders in NATO are
right. We need to defend the Arctic. There are eight countries
bordering on the Arctic. Seven are members of NATO. That’s Finland,
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, and the U.S.,” Rutte said.
"And there’s only one country bordering on the Arctic outside NATO,
and that’s Russia. And I would argue there is a ninth country, which
is China, which is increasingly active in the Arctic region. So,
President Trump and other leaders are right, we have to do more there;
we have to protect the Arctic."
Dave Hannum
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