Marco Rubio Informs Congress That Trump Wants to Purchase Greenland

Territorial expansion is one way to get yourself into the history books.

NYT:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told lawmakers that President Trump plans to buy Greenland rather than invade it, while Mr. Trump has asked aides to give him an updated plan for acquiring the territory, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

Mr. Rubio made his remarks in a briefing on Monday with lawmakers from the main armed services and foreign policy committees in both chambers of Congress. The same day, Mr. Trump told aides to deliver an updated plan.

The Danish PM has warned that if the US annexes Greenland -- without their permission, I think she means -- then that means the NATO treaty is formally nullified.

As many people have said: We accept your terms, now kindly fuck off and join the Greater Islamic Caliphate per your current political trajectory.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is warning that NATO itself would collapse if the United States moved to forcibly annex Greenland--an extraordinary escalation in rhetoric that underscores Europe's growing anxiety over President Trump's sharpened focus on the Arctic.

Frederiksen told POLITICO that Trump should be taken "seriously when he says that he wants Greenland," a position rooted in the island's immense strategic value and its vast mineral reserves. But she went further, issuing what amounted to a dire warning for the transatlantic alliance: "If the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War."

Trump has made clear that securing Greenland is a matter of national security, given its location at the front door of the Arctic--a region where America's adversaries have been expanding their footprint. And while he hasn't ruled out military action, the White House signaled this week that force is hardly the only tool available. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told CNN there was "no need to even think or talk about" a U.S. operation against Denmark, citing the island's population of just 57,000. "Nobody is going to fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland. That doesn't make any sense," he said, before questioning Denmark's historic claim altogether. "What right does Denmark have to assert control over Greenland? What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark?"

I think the whole idea is nuttier than a Snickers bar but Trump has had nutty ideas before and some of them have worked out. (Other remain nutty.)

In related news, Marco Rubio has publicly denied rumors that he's being offered the GM job with the Miami Dolphins.

That said, I don't think that's really Marco Rubio. But I thing it makes for a fun post.

posted by Ace at 05:30 PM

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