Even Republicans Are Dismissing Trump’s Plan to Make Greenland American

Congressional Republicans are dismissing President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. could use military force to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Just hours after Trump repeatedly declined during a freewheeling press conference to rule out deploying military strength to take over the areas, some GOP lawmakers said they don’t think the incoming president was being literal.

“I tried to interpret Trump not to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m 100 percent for going to war against Panama and Greenland.’ But I think what he’s saying is that we basically gave the canal away and now we’re paying all these shipping fees,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Daily Beast.

A New York Times reporter asked Trump at Mar-a-Lago whether he could promise not to use “military or economic coercion” to gain control of either the Panama Canal or Greenland. Trump replied, “I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill that he hasn’t discussed either the Panama Canal or Greenland with Trump, and was cautious to weigh in.

“But, look,” he said, “the Panama Canal, in particular, is obviously of extraordinary interest to the country and Greenland, for that matter as well. What we’ll do about it, how we’ll act upon it, is not a discussion I’ve been involved in.”

McCaul, who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee until this month, when his term ended, also gave his interpretation of Trump’s Greenland remarks.

“There’s so many rare minerals there, he’s always liked Greenland, I think because they have so many natural resources,” McCaul said.

Another senior GOP lawmaker argued that Trump could simply be posturing in an effort to spark discussion about Denmark potentially transferring control of the Arctic island.

“We would never use force to take Greenland. I believe this is just him posturing. Nonetheless, I fully agree with his desire for the U.S. to purchase Greenland. There are both national security and future economic benefits to having it as one of our territories,” the lawmaker said.

“My expectation is that he will pressure Denmark and other NATO Allies to support the transfer of Greenland to the U.S. for military security purposes. This rhetoric is probably just an early part of that process,” they added.

And a third GOP lawmaker just laughed, jokingly saying: “Yeah, let’s invade Greenland.”

The president-elect’s son, Don Jr., tweeted out a photo of himself visiting the Danish territory on Tuesday along with the caption: “Greenland loves America and Trump!!! Incredible people with an equally awesome reception. They just want to be able to utilize some of the incredible resources that they have and allow themselves, their country, and their kids to flourish.”

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen has pushed back on the notion that Greenland can be bought, stating: “Greenland is not for sale” on Tuesday.