A conservative GOP congressman who has become a regular thorn in the side of the White House is on the attack on a new issue: the Trump administration’s obsession with taking over Greenland.
Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon, a retired military officer, has spoken out against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bizarre Pentagon investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly, blasted Donald Trump for seeming “drunk” in his controversial Rob Reiner tribute, and even questioned the president’s raid on Venezuela.
He has now called out senior White House aide Stephen Miller for his musings about Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark that sits in the North American continent. Trump’s top aide appeared on Monday’s episode of The Lead with Jake Tapper and reiterated the administration’s desire to take the island from the European nation, a NATO ally.
When asked if military action against Greenland was off the table, Miller responded with his own question: “The real question is by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?”
Denmark’s involvement in Greenland dates back nearly 300 years. In 1721, Denmark–Norway began the modern colonization of Greenland. In 1814, after the Treaty of Kiel, Denmark retained Greenland, while Norway was ceded to Sweden.
Bacon, 62, who has already announced he will not be standing for re-election this year, responded by calling Miller’s appearance on the channel “dumb.” He posted on X, sharing a clip of the interview: “This is really dumb. Greenland and Denmark are our allies. There is no up side [sic] to demeaning our friends. But, it is causing wounds that will take time to heal.”
Urged to critique behind closed doors by a follower, Bacon added: “No, he deserves public pushback.”
“The United States is the power of NATO,” Miller said elsewhere in the interview. “For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States.”
Statements like these from Trump and his allies have caused a stir at home and across the Atlantic. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that if the U.S. were to attack Greenland, it would mean the end of the NATO alliance.
“I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2. “But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”
