Trump Has a Bonkers New Plan to Win Over Greenland Residents
The White House is launching a new project in its quest to annex Greenland: corruption, pure and simple.
U.S. officials are reportedly considering paying the Greenlanders up to $100,000 each to acquire the Arctic outpost, according to four inside sources interviewed by Reuters THURSDAY. The discussions included White House aides, who proposed individual payments of between $10,000 and $100,000 per islander.
Around 57,000 people reside in Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Local leaders have repeatedly declared their disinterest in joining all 50 states, going so far as to completely reshuffle their Legislature in March to prioritize opposition to the United States after a landslide election victory for the island’s independence movement.
If the Greenlanders change their minds after months of intimidation and militaristic threats from the White House, the payment plan could cost American taxpayers as much as $5.7 billion.
What exactly the White House stands to gain by controlling Greenland is unclear, particularly because myriad existing treaties already give the United States unfettered access to Greenland as a military base.
Nonetheless, Donald Trump has been obsessed with the idea since at least 2019, when he told reporters the deal could be treated like a “big real estate deal.”
In recent weeks, the president’s threats have increased in fervor and frequency. In an interview with The Atlantic released Sunday – just a day after ordering US forces to bomb Venezuela, attack Caracas and kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – Trump said: “We absolutely need Greenland. We need it for our defense. »
Even White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt failed to come up with a logical explanation for the president’s obsession with Greenland during a news conference Wednesday, vaguely suggesting the acquisition would be beneficial for national security purposes, citing China and Russia. She did not provide any specific details on how the United States could better use the island beyond its current treaty agreement.
