Stephen Miller’s wife played a surprising role in Donald Trump’s obsessive pursuit of Greenland.
The president has frayed relationships with several NATO allies over his interest in the frozen territory, none more so than with its owner, Denmark, which has been incensed by the domineering rhetoric coming from a key strategic partner.
Katie Miller married the president’s now-deputy chief of staff in a Trump hotel in 2020, and since his return to the White House, the couple has emerged as a powerful force in the administration.
The MAGA podcaster’s influence was on show in a new Wall Street Journal report, which claims she gave Trump a pep talk about his desire to take control of Greenland.
The Journal reports that in January, Katie Miller was at Mar-a-Lago when she observed Trump in a contemplative mood. Just hours later, U.S. special forces would launch an operation in Venezuela, which would see strikes carried out on the capital, Caracas. Meanwhile, the country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, was captured and brought back to the U.S.
Trump, however, was reportedly unsatisfied by what was about to play out.
“I wish I had more time,” Trump told Katie Miller, the Journal reports. “If I had more time, I would do Greenland.”
She is said to have replied: “You do have time.”
When Maduro was back in the U.S. in captivity, Katie Miller posted a picture on X of Greenland colored in with the Star-Spangled Banner and the caption “SOON.”
The post sparked panic among the U.S.’s allies in Europe, to the point that some in the Danish government feared the worst.
It led Denmark to conclude that a military threat from the U.S. was no longer impossible.
“The possibility of employing military force—even against allies—is no longer ruled out,” a Danish Defense Intelligence report, seen by the Journal, said.
Seven months on, and the sour taste and instability continue.
On Tuesday, Trump flew to the Turkish capital, Ankara, for a NATO summit, where he beat the same drum.
On Wednesday, Trump spoke with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who reminded the president that at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he and Trump had agreed to increase the U.S. military’s presence in Greenland.
Rutte promised Trump to “make sure that deal is step by step being implemented,” but it didn’t have the desired effect on the 80-year-old.
Greenland, he said, is “very important for the U.S., but it’s not important for Denmark.”
He then spiraled off on a rant about Nazis in Denmark during WW2, before rounding off by saying he was “very unhappy with NATO.”
It followed on from the day before, when Trump said that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark” and threatened to pull troops out of Europe if he didn’t get his way.
It drew a no-nonsense response from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“Our position is clear as it has been all through. Greenland is, of course, not for sale,” she said.
“We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenlandic people’s right for self-determination and we are a sovereign state, and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.”
The Daily Beast has made efforts to reach Katie Miller for comment.
