senator. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) had harsh criticism of the president donald trump Trump threatened to seize Greenland in a Senate speech on Wednesday, warning he would be an “unprecedented act of self-harm” and “more disastrous” to his legacy than withdrawing troops from Afghanistan during his presidency. Joe Biden’s semester.
As his second term approaches, Trump has escalated his rhetoric against the autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, including posting on social media declaring that the acquisition of Greenland is “vital” to the United States and “[a]Beyond that, this is unacceptable. “
Officials from Greenland, Denmark and several NATO countries loudly rejected Trump’s request for Greenland, citing Greenland’s long history with Denmark, Greenlanders’ lack of interest in joining the United States and its status as a NATO member.
Still, Trump was undeterred and even openly floated the idea of military action — even though it was deeply unpopular with the American public.
A recent poll found that only 17% of Americans support occupying Greenland, and a measly 4% support using military force to achieve this goal. Even among Republicans, only 8% support a military invasion of Greenland.
Canada, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and other NATO allies are deploying troops to Greenland this week to express solidarity against U.S. military threats.
McConnell has served in the Senate since 1985 and served as Republican leader for many years before passing the torch to the Senate. John Thune He spoke on the Senate floor for more than 25 minutes on Greenland on Wednesday (a transcript is available here ), digging deep into U.S. and NATO history to make his case and making grim predictions about how “catastrophic” it would be to continue pursuing that goal.
McConnell began by discussing the devastation caused by World War II — tens of millions dead, tens of millions displaced, food shortages, hyperinflation — and how “American leaders understood that, whether we like it or not, our interests and the interests of our European allies are interconnected.”
“The security and stability of the United States depends on the security and stability of Europe,” he continued. “Especially because conflict with Nazi Germany was immediately replaced by the threat of conflict with the Soviet Union. Millions of people in Eastern Europe had gone from living under Nazi tyranny to living under Soviet tyranny.”
In the late 1940s, McConnell said, polls showed that “the American people understood what was at stake,” correctly viewed Russia as a threat, and supported a “mutual defense agreement” with our “Western European friends”—even supporting what would become NATO’s Article V, which is “the commitment of all members of the Alliance to come to mutual aid if any one member country is attacked.”
“The American people know the cost of war,” McConnell stressed. “They know they would rather keep the peace.”
He said other NATO members have “undertaken a profound shift” in recent years to increase defense spending “significantly” to share the burden more equitably, so that even “NATO’s newest members, Sweden and Finland, are on track to meet the alliance’s new spending targets years ahead of schedule,” while our European allies “continue to dwarf U.S. aid to Ukraine by 10 to one.”
On Greenland in particular, McConnell said Trump “correctly believes that Arctic security is a core issue in our strategic competition with our major adversaries, and he will find a similar interest in Arctic security from allies like Denmark, which is investing billions of dollars in the region to enhance its own capabilities.”
“The Danes have been a close partner in the Arctic since World War II,” he said, “with brave Danish soldiers fighting and dying in America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
McConnell believes that it is these “close relationships” that “make possible the broad U.S. influence in the Arctic.” “I have not heard from this administration anything that we need from Greenland that this sovereign people is not willing to give us.”
Therefore, trying to control Greenland would mean “burning the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in U.S. access to the Arctic,” he continued, laying out some of the significant and “catastrophic” consequences he predicted.
It’s “not just Greenland,” he said, “and it’s not just the United States’ relationship with its powerful Nordic allies.” “This is about whether the United States intends to face a range of strategic adversaries with capable friends, or to engage in an unprecedented act of strategic self-harm and go it alone.”
McConnell said any “good progress” Trump has made in pushing our allies to increase defense spending will mean nothing if his administration’s ill-advised threats to Greenland undermine the trust of our allies. He predicted that “continuing this provocation will be more disastrous for the president’s legacy than withdrawing troops from Afghanistan was for his predecessor.”
McConnell cited several recent polls showing Americans do not support the occupation of Greenland but do have a positive view of the NATO alliance, including fulfilling their Article 5 obligations to participate in a military response if a NATO member is attacked.
The American people “already understand the stakes” and “tell anyone who will listen that when they say peace through strength, they mean what President Reagan meant: ‘Lead with moral clarity and a clear distinction between aggressors and victims. Invest in the arsenal of democracy and equip friends who fight for themselves. Prepare to win wars and preserve the alliances that prevent them.'”
Watch the video above via YouTube.
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