Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are pushing new legislation to keep President Donald Trump from effectively dismantling NATO with attacks on other members of the security alliance.
“This is about our fundamental shared goals and our fundamental security, not just in Europe, but in the United States itself,” Rep. Bill Keating told Politico.
The Massachusetts Democrat is spearheading the legislation alongside his Republican counterpart Don Bacon and Democratic colleagues Steny Hoyer and Brendan Boyle.
“This isn’t just about Greenland,” Keating added in a letter to other lawmakers, obtained by Politico. “This is about our security.”
After launch targeted strikes on Christmas Day against Islamist insurgents in U.S. ally Nigeria, Trump kicked off the new year by invading Venezuela to capture the country’s despotic ruler Nicolas Maduro, who now faces narcoterrorism charges in New York federal court.
Trump has since followed up with threats of further military action against Iran and Cuba, as well as otherwise friendly countries like Colombia, Panama, Mexico, and Greenland, the last of which is a territory controlled by Denmark, a NATO ally.
No NATO member has ever engaged in a military campaign against another. That’s principally because the 76-year-old alliance, of which the U.S. is a founding member, was specifically set up to protect signatory members from attack, albeit by non-member states.
Moscow has observed these developments with glee. Kremlin propagandists have even suggested that Russia should help Trump with any prospective takeover.
Keating and colleagues’ move to introduce legislation blocking any prospective attack against a NATO ally comes after Rep. Jimmy Gomez submitted a three-page bill to block federal funding from being used in any prospective action against Greenland specifically.
The California Democrat’s move came after Rep. Randy Fine, a MAGA loyalist, proposed his own legislation Monday to grant Trump authority to annex the Danish territory.
“Whoever controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lines and the security architecture protecting the United States,” the Florida Republican wrote in a statement. “America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security.”
Again, Greenland is a territory of Denmark, which is a member of NATO, which exists specifically to protect the security of members, including the United States.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
