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Trump's calls for Taking Greenland face opposition by GOP leaders
Wendy Schiller, Professor of Political Science at Brown University, reacts to the ICE shooting in Minneapolis and the Trump administration's pressure campaign on Venezuela.
Senior Republican lawmakers who have largely welcomed the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela pushed back at White House statements about acquiring Greenland by force.
The use of force to seize sovereign territory from a loyal ally “would be an especially catastrophic act of strategic self-harm to America and its global influence,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), chair of the Senate defense spending panel.
“Threats and intimidation by US officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive,” McConnell said in a statement Wednesday.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said a preferred scenario would be “if Greenland decided they wanted to become part of the United States and if Denmark said, ‘We understand the reason why you want it.’”
In contrast to the White House, Wicker added: “We are not looking at doing a military operation.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) concurred, suggesting Denmark could “make a deal” with the US, but also drew the line at a forceful annexation.
Senate Intelligence Committee member and NATO-supporter Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) was more direct.
“We need to not threaten a peaceful nation that’s an ally where we have a military base already,” he said.
Senators emerged from a briefing Wednesday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth about the most recent events in Venezuela, including the confiscation of an oil tanker to enforce the US oil blockade on the country.
Outside the briefings, the question of Greenland came up repeatedly.
“If the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means,” Rubio told reporters. He noted Trump’s wish to purchase Greenland dated back to his first administration.
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Published Jan 8, 2026
