Senate Republicans are committing to thwart any attempts by President Trump to acquire Greenland through military action, following a Wednesday session where White House officials refused to rescind their demands for island control during talks with international diplomats.
GOP lawmakers remain bewildered by Trump’s persistent suggestion of utilizing the military to seize the territory from Denmark—a maneuver they warn would fracture the NATO alliance and hand a strategic victory to Russia amidst the war in Ukraine.
A pair of Republican legislators—Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)—are set to arrive in Copenhagen this Friday to personally guarantee the Danish leadership that there is formidable Republican resistance to any forced seizure of the island.
“I’m going to remind them that we have coequal branches of government and I believe that there [is a] sufficient number of members, whether they speak up or not, that are concerned with this,” Tillis remarked regarding the administration’s threats.
“The actual execution of anything that would involve a taking of a sovereign territory that is part of a sovereign nation, I think would be met with pretty substantial opposition in Congress,” the senator noted.
“Right now, people are trying to be deferential, but this is just an example of, whoever keeps on telling the president that this idea is achievable should not be in Washington, D.C.,” Tillis added.
Another Republican senator, speaking under the condition of anonymity, indicated that Trump’s rhetoric regarding Greenland has sparked intense pushback due to the catastrophic risks such an aggressive posture poses to the future of NATO.
“You see, more than in other incidents, pushback by Republican senators on this topic,” the legislator observed.
“I have no understanding how this is an idea to begin with,” the senator expressed with clear frustration, cautioning that an attempt on Greenland would destabilize the alliance and leave Ukraine vulnerable.
“We absolutely need NATO support Ukraine. Diminishing the capabilities of NATO to do that is a death knell to people in Ukraine,” the senator emphasized.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted on Wednesday indicated that a mere 17 percent of the American public supports a U.S. acquisition of Greenland. Only 4 percent believed that taking the island by force was a viable strategy.
Furthermore, 66 percent of those surveyed expressed deep concern that efforts to annex the territory would jeopardize NATO stability and damage vital American relationships with European partners.
Tillis and Murkowski will be joined on their Danish mission by Democratic Senators Chris Coons (Del.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), and Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.).
The delegation will also include prominent House members such as Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), according to internal sources.
These lawmakers are scheduled to meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who concluded a tense meeting with Vice President Vance and Secretary Marco Rubio on Wednesday by simply “agreeing to disagree.”
Murkowski has partnered with Shaheen to introduce legislation that would strictly forbid the use of Pentagon resources for the blockade, occupation, or annexation of any sovereign NATO member territory.
Both Murkowski and Shaheen hold senior positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee, giving them significant leverage over the budgets of the Defense and State Departments.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who leads the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, issued a stinging condemnation on Wednesday regarding the president’s threat of military intervention.
From the Senate floor, McConnell warned that such actions would “incinerate” historical alliances and undermine the global effort to check Russian expansionism in Europe.
He maintained that Denmark and Greenland are open to discussing an expanded U.S. military footprint to deter rivals like China and Russia, but only through cooperation.
“Unless and until the president can demonstrate otherwise, then the proposition at hand today is very straightforward: incinerating the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in U.S. access to the Arctic,” McConnell stated.
He further noted that the president’s “ill-advised threats” would serve to “shatter the trust” of America’s most loyal international partners if pursued.
“Following through on this provocation would be more disastrous for the president’s legacy than withdrawing from Afghanistan was for his predecessor,” he concluded, referencing the Biden administration’s military exit.
These floor remarks followed a Saturday statement by Trump at the White House, where he suggested military options remained on the table if Denmark refused to negotiate a sale of the resource-rich land.
“I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” the president had asserted.
Trump reaffirmed this position on Wednesday via Truth Social, declaring that anything less than total American sovereignty over Greenland was “unacceptable.”
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” the post read.
Sen. James Lankford (Okla.), a member of the Republican leadership, was quick to distance the party from any military escalation.
“Greenland, the Danes are allies,” he clarified. “We cannot do military action in Greenland. Should not, cannot.”
Current estimates cited by NBC News suggest that a purchase of Greenland could cost the United States Treasury approximately $700 billion.
However, the president is hitting a wall with the very lawmakers required to authorize such a massive expenditure.
“I do not support the president’s plan to annex Greenland by either force or by buying it over the opposition of people in Greenland and Denmark, a NATO ally,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters.
She suggested that while Greenland might be open to a larger base or military presence to signal strength to Russia and China, that should be achieved through diplomacy rather than “intimidation.”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) also noted on Wednesday that Denmark has no interest in ceding sovereignty.
“I made a statement last week that this is an issue that should be dropped. And then I had a meeting with the Danish ambassador… It’s pretty clear that there’s no room for negotiation on the topic of ownership,” he said.
“I do believe there are real opportunities for partnership in the area of critical minerals and bases,” Wicker added, shifting focus toward cooperation.
Rasmussen, the Danish Foreign Minister, expressed a similar sentiment alongside Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, announcing a new working group to explore mutual interests.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time, respecting the red lines of the kingdom of Denmark,” Rasmussen explained.
“That does not mean we want to be owned by the United States,” Motzfeldt concluded. “But as allies, how we can strengthen our cooperation is our interest.”