President Donald Trump‘s Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller confirmed this week on CNN that Trump continues to want to “get” Greenland for reported national security reasons, despite its status as a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, as recognized under international law.
When asked if the Trump administration is willing to use military force, Miller said, “Greenland should be a part of the United States,” and “Nobody’s going to fight the U.S. militarily over the future of Greenland.”
TAPPER: Can you rule out that the US is going to take Greenland by force?
STEPHEN MILLER: Greenland should be part of the US. By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? The US is the power of NATO.
TAPPER: So you can’t take military force off the table?
MILLER:… pic.twitter.com/9ikEPvlBVA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 5, 2026
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote today on social media: “There is nothing more gangster than threatening to invade Greenland as a strategy to get Denmark to sell Greenland to us. Embarrassed to be an American right now. Hoping this crazy moment in our history will pass soon.”
There is nothing more gangster than threatening to invade Greenland as a strategy to get Denmark to sell Greenland to us. Embarrassed to be an American right now. Hoping this crazy moment in our history will pass soon.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) January 7, 2026
[NOTE: After a closed-door meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of Congress, the Washington Post reported a source as saying Rubio informed lawmakers “that the escalation in public rhetoric was part of a broader strategy to pressure Denmark into selling Greenland to the United States rather than capture it by military force.”]
Fellow Stanford political scientist Ian Bremmer replied to McFaul: “i remain proud to be an american. because it remains patriotic to publicly disagree with our government when we think it’s doing objectionable things.”
Like McFaul, Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also questioned the Trump tactics, while also expressing “hope” that it was the “posturing” Rubio seemed to describe. Murkowski wrote: “I continue to hope the administration’s rhetoric on Greenland is nothing more than posturing for a new era of cooperation, because any effort to claim or take the territory by force would degrade both our national security and our international relationships.”
