Republican Senators Don’t Believe Trump Would Use Military Force to Take Greenland

Republican senators say they don’t want — or anticipate — the U.S. having to use military force in Greenland after President Donald Trump renewed his call to acquire the territory.

The Trump administration, however, is leaving its options open.

Trump floated U.S. possession of Greenland, a Danish territory, in his first term. Since the beginning of his second term, he has not ruled out the use of military force to take it. In the aftermath of the successful operation to capture Venezuela’s deposed leader Nicolás Maduro last weekend, seven European nations issued a joint statement meant to deter Trump from taking Greenland. And several Republican senators on Tuesday shunned the possibility of military force to meet that end.

“I don’t think it’s a viable option,” Sen. Mike Rounds said.

“There is nothing wrong with the U.S. eventually having an interest in Greenland, but that is something that you would have to talk with the people that currently are there, that have a sovereign right to it today,” Rounds added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that using the military is an available option.

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” Leavitt said in a statement to NOTUS.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he didn’t see “military action being an option” in Greenland. Thune mentioned a trip he and other senators took to Copenhagen, Denmark, in August.

“We met with all the elected leaders there, and obviously they’re very passionate about Greenland, but if there’s something there that could be mutually worked out, obviously, it’s of interest to national security in the Arctic,” Thune said. “They realize that, and so do we.”

“We’ll see if there’s a path forward,” Thune added. But military action, “to me, that’s not something that anybody’s contemplating seriously at this point.”

“The president likes to think out loud,” Sen. John Kennedy told reporters when asked if Trump was serious about Greenland. “I’m not saying it’s always unintentional. Sometimes he does it just to aggravate you guys.”

The White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, told CNN on Monday that the administration’s long-held “formal position” is “Greenland should be part of the United States.”

“Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,” Miller said.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish broadcast network TV2 that NATO will end if the U.S. annexes Greenland. And the leaders of several European countries — France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark — issued a joint statement Tuesday that said security in the Arctic must be achieved “collectively” with NATO allies.

“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement says. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and only them, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

U.S. special forces capturing Maduro and his wife in an overnight operation, which Congress was not notified about beforehand, sparked speculation of similar activity in places like Cuba and Greenland in the future.

“I hope it does spread to Cuba,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday. “Greenland’s a different deal.”

“Everybody wants us to have a bigger presence in Greenland to combat the Russian, Chinese, Arctic influence. I totally agree with that,” Graham said. “I think Trump’s asking, ‘What’s the legal relationship we’re going to have if you want us to invest heavily in Greenland?’ More money, more technology, more military bases? What kind of relationship are we going to have?”

Sen. Rand Paul, one of the lone Republicans who has consistently opposed military action without congressional approval, wasn’t sure how seriously to take Trump.

“I don’t know how much is bravado, how much is bombast, but I think militarily taking Greenland, obviously, I would not support,” Paul said.

Senate Democrats, however, say they see an increasingly likely chance of military force becoming part of the equation in more places, including Greenland. Sen. Cory Booker said Trump is “threatening and posturing,” and that “he will do things in those countries if we don’t check him like the Constitution says we’re supposed to do.”

Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters this is no laughing matter.

“It’s like, we’re laughing, but this is not actually something to laugh about now because I think [Trump is] increasingly serious,” Murphy said. “Obviously, that’s a pretty dystopian world, the United States and Europe being at war with each other.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego said on X he would introduce a war powers resolution to block Trump from “invading Greenland.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he’s heard from European ambassadors about their concerns and said the operation in Venezuela may embolden Russia and China to break international norms.

“Five days ago, I would have said military action in Greenland is unthinkable or unimaginable, and clearly Trump has vastly expanded the bounds of what conceivably he’d do, but I still think it’s unlikely.”