The Midway is committed to representing a wide range of perspectives and viewpoints, including from students not on the Midway staff. Our Maroon Voices series will feature guest columnists on a wide range of issues.
When I first heard that President Donald Trump wanted Greenland to become a part of the United States, it seemed almost funny. I joked with my mom, wondering if it could ever really happen, or if it was another one of President Trump’s media stunts. Scrolling on Instagram days later, I saw a video that surprised me: a Danish politician openly cursed out President Trump for his remarks about Greenland, Denmark’s own territory. This struck me — world leaders rarely use this language, especially directed at one another. Suddenly, the possibility of Greenland becoming a U.S. territory didn’t seem so far-fetched after all.
In the past months, President Trump has cited a variety of reasons to make Greenland a part of the United States, such as national security, natural resource extraction, and the need for a larger American military presence.
President Trump’s personal agenda to take over Greenland jeopardizes the relations with some of America’s closest historical allies and reverses the original goals of NATO as a whole.
President Trump’s desperation for Greenland seems to come to no avail, as he is threatening to impose tariffs onto any European Union country that does not back his plan. Some of the United States’ closest allies are those in Europe, and to act upon these threats would have made the past decades’ collaborative efforts look useless. According to CNBC, President Trump has already imposed a 10% blanket tariff on eight U.S. allies in Europe, effectively as a punishment for not going along with what he says.
Along with publicly discussing many of his plans casually and openly, President Trump has been active on his social media site, Truth Social, often discussing and showing screenshots of messages with European leaders regarding this situation. That is a private conversation with one of the other most powerful people in the Northern Hemisphere, and you are just posting it online? Again, the president’s actions have left me confused, from a political perspective or even from a mere social perspective. President Trump claims national protection and privacy as a reason to invade Greenland but cannot even keep his own private messages to himself. As has been said before, we cannot trust President Trump for who he is, as he clearly only has the desires of himself and his close allies. President Trump is easily willing to turn on historical allies of the United States as a stepping stone to get where he wants to be.
Similarly, his desire for Greenland for “national security” reasons and “increased military presence”, threatening both the stability of NATO and the global community. The original purpose of NATO was to oppose the Soviet Union, but it has grown past that and now strives to provide security in the North Atlantic region. President Trump’s plan only seems to threaten this security, while simultaneously hurting relations with an ally. Along with this, the United States currently holds three military bases in Greenland and is planning to construct four more. What is the need to own the island, if we already have our issues covered? The answer is so that President Trump can show his dominance to the world. He wants to show himself as someone who shouldn’t be messed with to the outside world.
On the surface, owning Greenland might sound “interesting” or “fun” to President Trump and his allies, but the amount of global politics it would change, along with the impracticality of it all, is unappealing and appalling. With extensive legal loopholes and ruining relationships with our allies, the costs do not outweigh the benefits.
Weakening ties between the United States and NATO opens Pandora’s box of possibilities. Greenland is only one of many examples of President Trump putting his personal agenda ahead of the needs of the nation. While President Trump tries to cover this up with terms like “national security” and “resource collection,” it seems to be clear that he really seeks to dominate others. President Trump thrives off intimidation, as we have seen on a local scale for years, and has been attempting to spread this message worldwide. By destroying the decades-long relationships we have had with many European countries, we are destabilizing global peace as a whole, both now, and for decades to come. The need for global peace should outshine the greed of one person, so if President Trump were to halt his previous plans, it would allow for a greater collaborative community, as opposed to pushing the personal agenda of one president.
