'Mussolini talk': Retired ARMY general slams Trump’s claim US will 'get Greenland — 100 percent'
U.S. Vice President JD Vance poses with second lady Usha Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, his wife , former homeland security advisor, Julia Nesheiwat and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright as they tour the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025. Jim Watson/Pool via REUTERS
Elizabeth Preza
March 30, 2025
ALTERNET
Retired United States Army general Brian McCaffrey on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland, urging Republican leaders in Congress to act in response to the president’s musings.
Trump on Saturday told NBC News he’s believes the U.S. will “get Greenland ... 100 percent.”
Trump also refused to rule out annexing the self-governing Danish territory.
”I don't take anything off the table," Trump told NBC News.
As Newsweek notes, Trump’s talk about taking Greenland has led to “[strained] relations between the U.S. and [North Atlantic Trade Organization] NATO ally Denmark.”
“The inhospitable Arctic is being reshaped by climate change, new trade routes and fresh military footprints from Russia and China,” Newsweek reports.
McCaffrey on Sunday called the president’s NBC News interview “Mussolini talk,” referring to former Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.
"Where are the Republicans leaders in Congress and [the] states,” McCaffrey wondered.
As Newsweek reports, Trump's "remarks came a day after Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland in a scaled-back visit with his wife, Usha Vance, touring the U.S.'s Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, hundreds of miles from Greenland's capital, Nuuk."
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, Jim Townsend, last week told Newsweek NATO "would never recover" from a U.S. military operation in Greenland.
"It would be just a horrendous catastrophe for the trans-Atlantic relationship, or NATO or U.S. relations with Europe and the rest of the world," Townsend said.
"It would hand a huge victory to Russia and to China,” the former official added.
Retired United States Army general Brian McCaffrey on Sunday slammed President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on Greenland, urging Republican leaders in Congress to act in response to the president’s musings.
Trump on Saturday told NBC News he’s believes the U.S. will “get Greenland ... 100 percent.”
Trump also refused to rule out annexing the self-governing Danish territory.
”I don't take anything off the table," Trump told NBC News.
As Newsweek notes, Trump’s talk about taking Greenland has led to “[strained] relations between the U.S. and [North Atlantic Trade Organization] NATO ally Denmark.”
“The inhospitable Arctic is being reshaped by climate change, new trade routes and fresh military footprints from Russia and China,” Newsweek reports.
McCaffrey on Sunday called the president’s NBC News interview “Mussolini talk,” referring to former Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.
"Where are the Republicans leaders in Congress and [the] states,” McCaffrey wondered.
As Newsweek reports, Trump's "remarks came a day after Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland in a scaled-back visit with his wife, Usha Vance, touring the U.S.'s Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, hundreds of miles from Greenland's capital, Nuuk."
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, Jim Townsend, last week told Newsweek NATO "would never recover" from a U.S. military operation in Greenland.
"It would be just a horrendous catastrophe for the trans-Atlantic relationship, or NATO or U.S. relations with Europe and the rest of the world," Townsend said.
"It would hand a huge victory to Russia and to China,” the former official added.
Watch the video below or at this link.
'We cannot be allies' with US if Trump tries to 'take our territory away': Danish official
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks at the US military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025. Jim Watson/Pool via REUTERS
March 28, 2025
ALTERNET
One member of Denmark's parliament is now warning the United States that its bellicose rhetoric toward Greenland won't be tolerated much longer.
Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland on Friday, amid President Donald Trump's repeated insinuations that he wouldn't rule out using economic and/or military methods to take over the island — which is an official territory of Denmark. Vance said during a press conference that Denmark had "not done a good job" in keeping their territory safe, citing China and Russia ramping up their presence in the Arctic. He then suggested that Greenland would be better off if it separated from Denmark and agreed to be a part of the United States.
"What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we're going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there," he said.
During a Friday interview with CNN host Brianna Keilar, Danish MP Rasmus Jarlov responded to Vance's comments by pointing out that Greenland has actually had the ability to become an independent nation since 2009, but has opted to stick with Denmark instead. And he noted that even though recent elections in Greenland saw a pro-independence party make gains, the residents of the island are still hesitant about being a United States territory.
"Don't mistake the need and the desire for independence with a desire to become American," Jarlov said. "They are very clear that if they should choose between Denmark and the United States, they will choose and prefer to stay with Denmark."
Jarlov further characterized Vance's remarks as "trying to drive a wedge" between the Greenlandic population and Denmark. He added his country was "not happy with Americans going to a fully integrated region of Denmark and ... trying to make an alliance with separatists to try to to take that region."
"How would you react if China went to Hawaii and started a campaign trying to bribe people there to make them become part of China? I don't think any country would accept that," he said. "This is not acceptable behavior from an allied country. And it's really very bad for the Western alliance. We cannot be allies if one country tries to take another country's territory. We are allied with the Americans because we want to be protected from others taking our territory, not because we want allies to take our territory away from us. So it's it's really not something that we can accept."
Watch Jarlov's segment below, or by clicking this link.
One member of Denmark's parliament is now warning the United States that its bellicose rhetoric toward Greenland won't be tolerated much longer.
Vice President JD Vance visited Greenland on Friday, amid President Donald Trump's repeated insinuations that he wouldn't rule out using economic and/or military methods to take over the island — which is an official territory of Denmark. Vance said during a press conference that Denmark had "not done a good job" in keeping their territory safe, citing China and Russia ramping up their presence in the Arctic. He then suggested that Greenland would be better off if it separated from Denmark and agreed to be a part of the United States.
"What we think is going to happen is that the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we're going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there," he said.
During a Friday interview with CNN host Brianna Keilar, Danish MP Rasmus Jarlov responded to Vance's comments by pointing out that Greenland has actually had the ability to become an independent nation since 2009, but has opted to stick with Denmark instead. And he noted that even though recent elections in Greenland saw a pro-independence party make gains, the residents of the island are still hesitant about being a United States territory.
"Don't mistake the need and the desire for independence with a desire to become American," Jarlov said. "They are very clear that if they should choose between Denmark and the United States, they will choose and prefer to stay with Denmark."
Jarlov further characterized Vance's remarks as "trying to drive a wedge" between the Greenlandic population and Denmark. He added his country was "not happy with Americans going to a fully integrated region of Denmark and ... trying to make an alliance with separatists to try to to take that region."
"How would you react if China went to Hawaii and started a campaign trying to bribe people there to make them become part of China? I don't think any country would accept that," he said. "This is not acceptable behavior from an allied country. And it's really very bad for the Western alliance. We cannot be allies if one country tries to take another country's territory. We are allied with the Americans because we want to be protected from others taking our territory, not because we want allies to take our territory away from us. So it's it's really not something that we can accept."
Watch Jarlov's segment below, or by clicking this link.
'Absurd and unlawful': JD Vance slams Denmark to promote Trump’s Greenland takeover bid
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to board Air Force Two after touring the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025. Jim Watson/Pool via REUTERS
David Badash
U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to board Air Force Two after touring the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025. Jim Watson/Pool via REUTERS
David Badash
NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
March 28, 2025
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Greenland to promote President Donald Trump’s claim that America has to have the Danish territory—and that Greenlanders would be more secure under U.S. protection.
President Trump “has repeatedly suggested the U.S. should take over Greenland ‘one way or the another’ for national security purposes,” ABC News reported. On Friday in the Oval Office, Trump said: “We have to have Greenland. It’s not a question of: Do you think we can do without it? We can’t.”
During his visit to Greenland, Vance added, “We can’t just ignore the president’s desires.”
The original plan appeared to be a charm offensive: Second Lady Usha Vance would travel to Greenland with one of the couple’s sons to attend cultural events in a show of support to pave the way for the administration’s efforts to annex one of the world’s largest islands.
85% of Greenlanders oppose any form of U.S. takeover of Greenland, CNN has reported. But when the advance team could find not a single Greenlander to welcome Vance and her son, that mission was scrapped.
“Amid the lack of enthusiasm among Greenland residents about the Americans’ visit, JD Vance announced in a video on X that he would be joining his wife on the trip,” USA Today reported.
“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said, a remark that was “at odds” with reports stating that the “Americans’ charm offensive mission has failed.”
It was the first of several calculated claims the Vice President has unleashed about Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
“The president has said clearly he doesn’t think that military force is going to be necessary,” Vance told reporters while speaking at Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. military base operating under NATO. “But he absolutely believes that Greenland is important part of the security, not just of the United States, but of the world, and of course, the people of Greenland, too.”
“It’s very simple. Greenland really matters for the security of the United States,” Vance continued. But he claimed that Greenland is “extremely vulnerable right now, and if the people of Greenland were willing to partner with the United States and I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States, we could make them much more secure, we could do a lot more protection, and I think they’d fare a lot better economically as well.”
The Vice President’s remarks were made on the same day the stock markets in the U.S. crashed, reports show inflation rising, experts are warning of “stagflation” and increasing unemployment all in anticipation of President Trump’s tariffs, more of which are set to be introduced next week.
“This has to happen, and the reason it has to happen,” Vance threatened. “I hate to say it is because our friends in Denmark have not done their job in keeping this area safe. They they just haven’t done It . it it’s very simple for for all of our our friends in the American media who attack the administration for pointing out the obvious, what is the alternative to give up the North Atlantic, to give up the Arctic to China, to Russia, and other regimes that don’t have the best interest the American people at heart.”
“We have no other option, we need to take a significant position in Greenland to keep the people here safe, but to keep our own country safe too.”
Vance went on to say, “our friends in Denmark, I hate to say it, have not done their job in keeping this area safe.”
Dr. Jana Puglierin, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), asked why the Vice President ignored NATO.
NATO solves all the concerns Vance listed. As the New York Times columnist David French explained: “We don’t have to own Greenland to protect our interests. Denmark is part of NATO. We’re bound to defend each other, and we have every ability to defend our interests without an absurd and unlawful annexation.”
“As China and Russia have taken greater and greater interest in Greenland, in this base, in the activities of the brave Americans right here,” Vance also said, “we know that too often our allies in Europe have not kept pace. They haven’t kept pace with military spending. And Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations.”
CBS News’ Jim LaPorta, who has written extensively on the military, remarked: “82 years ago. That was the last ‘aggressive incursion’ by a military force in Greenland.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that President Trump’s frequent rhetoric promoting a U.S. takeover of Greenland is not “just some eccentric talk of the new American administration.”
Veteran and veterans activist Paul Rieckhoff blasted Vance.
“Another ridiculous and nationally embarrassing statement, position and photo op,” Reikhoff wrote. “Vance is becoming more ridiculous and shameless by the day. He makes Dan Quayle look like a superstar. This charade is a perfectly terrible bookend to the week after Noem’s disgusting debacle. Dear Greenland (and world), please know that he does not speak for most Americans.”
“This is called blatant aggression,” warns economist and former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Anders Åslund, responding to Vance’s claim that the U.S. has “no other option.”
“Hitler did the same before attacking Poland in 1939 & so did Putin before his full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022,” Åslund said.
Watch the videos above or at this link.
Vice President JD Vance traveled to Greenland to promote President Donald Trump’s claim that America has to have the Danish territory—and that Greenlanders would be more secure under U.S. protection.
President Trump “has repeatedly suggested the U.S. should take over Greenland ‘one way or the another’ for national security purposes,” ABC News reported. On Friday in the Oval Office, Trump said: “We have to have Greenland. It’s not a question of: Do you think we can do without it? We can’t.”
During his visit to Greenland, Vance added, “We can’t just ignore the president’s desires.”
The original plan appeared to be a charm offensive: Second Lady Usha Vance would travel to Greenland with one of the couple’s sons to attend cultural events in a show of support to pave the way for the administration’s efforts to annex one of the world’s largest islands.
85% of Greenlanders oppose any form of U.S. takeover of Greenland, CNN has reported. But when the advance team could find not a single Greenlander to welcome Vance and her son, that mission was scrapped.
“Amid the lack of enthusiasm among Greenland residents about the Americans’ visit, JD Vance announced in a video on X that he would be joining his wife on the trip,” USA Today reported.
“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said, a remark that was “at odds” with reports stating that the “Americans’ charm offensive mission has failed.”
It was the first of several calculated claims the Vice President has unleashed about Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
“The president has said clearly he doesn’t think that military force is going to be necessary,” Vance told reporters while speaking at Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. military base operating under NATO. “But he absolutely believes that Greenland is important part of the security, not just of the United States, but of the world, and of course, the people of Greenland, too.”
“It’s very simple. Greenland really matters for the security of the United States,” Vance continued. But he claimed that Greenland is “extremely vulnerable right now, and if the people of Greenland were willing to partner with the United States and I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States, we could make them much more secure, we could do a lot more protection, and I think they’d fare a lot better economically as well.”
The Vice President’s remarks were made on the same day the stock markets in the U.S. crashed, reports show inflation rising, experts are warning of “stagflation” and increasing unemployment all in anticipation of President Trump’s tariffs, more of which are set to be introduced next week.
“This has to happen, and the reason it has to happen,” Vance threatened. “I hate to say it is because our friends in Denmark have not done their job in keeping this area safe. They they just haven’t done It . it it’s very simple for for all of our our friends in the American media who attack the administration for pointing out the obvious, what is the alternative to give up the North Atlantic, to give up the Arctic to China, to Russia, and other regimes that don’t have the best interest the American people at heart.”
“We have no other option, we need to take a significant position in Greenland to keep the people here safe, but to keep our own country safe too.”
Vance went on to say, “our friends in Denmark, I hate to say it, have not done their job in keeping this area safe.”
Dr. Jana Puglierin, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), asked why the Vice President ignored NATO.
NATO solves all the concerns Vance listed. As the New York Times columnist David French explained: “We don’t have to own Greenland to protect our interests. Denmark is part of NATO. We’re bound to defend each other, and we have every ability to defend our interests without an absurd and unlawful annexation.”
“As China and Russia have taken greater and greater interest in Greenland, in this base, in the activities of the brave Americans right here,” Vance also said, “we know that too often our allies in Europe have not kept pace. They haven’t kept pace with military spending. And Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations.”
CBS News’ Jim LaPorta, who has written extensively on the military, remarked: “82 years ago. That was the last ‘aggressive incursion’ by a military force in Greenland.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned that President Trump’s frequent rhetoric promoting a U.S. takeover of Greenland is not “just some eccentric talk of the new American administration.”
Veteran and veterans activist Paul Rieckhoff blasted Vance.
“Another ridiculous and nationally embarrassing statement, position and photo op,” Reikhoff wrote. “Vance is becoming more ridiculous and shameless by the day. He makes Dan Quayle look like a superstar. This charade is a perfectly terrible bookend to the week after Noem’s disgusting debacle. Dear Greenland (and world), please know that he does not speak for most Americans.”
“This is called blatant aggression,” warns economist and former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Anders Åslund, responding to Vance’s claim that the U.S. has “no other option.”
“Hitler did the same before attacking Poland in 1939 & so did Putin before his full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022,” Åslund said.
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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