After two Senate Republicans dramatically flipped their votes on a war powers resolution for Venezuela, Democrats say they no longer trust Republicans to stand up to the president if he tries a power play with Greenland.
Instead, they want Republicans to turn their growing discomfort with President Donald Trump’s Greenland comments into action — starting with a new war powers resolution.
“I believed that my Republican colleagues would say no deployment of troops to Venezuela, and yet we weren’t able to pass a war powers resolution,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said earlier this week.
He added that if enough of his Republican colleagues see Trump trying to seize Greenland through military action as “the genuine risk that it is,” then they should “speak up about it.”
But many Democrats want Republicans to do more than just speak out. Democrats say a war powers resolution to limit Trump’s ability to take Greenland should be a no-brainer — particularly with the president heightening his threats against the country.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who authored the failed Venezuela war powers resolution, wants to put Republicans on record now about Greenland, telling reporters that he expects “overwhelming Republican support” for legislation blocking Trump from taking Greenland.
“Not unanimous, but we’ll get very strong Republican support,” Kaine said.
Kaine explained the strategy earlier this week after the failed Venezuela vote, telling reporters that Democrats should make Republicans “have to work their ass off to keep their people in the corral.”
He suggested that even if Congress couldn’t adopt these war powers resolutions, Democrats could force Trump to make “some commitments” to uncomfortable Republicans.
Kaine is right to question Congress’ ability to actually enact legislation limiting Trump’s military power. Even if Democrats could persuade a handful of Republicans to go along with those votes, it would be much more difficult to get a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a Trump veto that would almost certainly accompany the adoption of such a resolution.
While there probably aren’t enough Republicans willing to stand up to Trump — at least not to preemptively prohibit a strike on Greenland — there are clearly some GOP voices who seem ready to support a war powers resolution. Chief among those Republicans are Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Tillis and Murkowski were the only two Republicans who visited Copenhagen this weekend with a congressional delegation — a trip meant to assure leaders from Denmark that Trump would not take Greenland by force.
“When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Tillis said in a statement with Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
But again, Tillis and Murkowski were the only Republicans on the trip. And Democrats feel burned after a GOP-controlled Congress failed to stand up to Trump with the failed war powers vote on Venezuela. Other Republicans have shown some doubt that a GOP-controlled Congress would proactively stand up to Trump.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said that even though some Republicans might personally disapprove of military action to seize Greenland, he doesn’t think Republicans would check Trump’s authority, citing the president’s ability to successfully pressure GOP lawmakers.
“You see pressure often from the White House,” Kelly said, citing recent examples like the war powers vote on Venezuela.
“It works, unfortunately,” he said.
Republicans backed up Kelly’s assessment, with some GOP senators explicitly saying they aren’t on the same page about Greenland as Democrats.
“I’m not sure what the page is on Greenland,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told MS NOW. “If your question is, do I think the administration is going to take Greenland by force? The answer, in my opinion, is no, nor should they.” But he wouldn’t commit to a war powers vote. “I’d have to look at the resolution and the circumstances,” Kennedy said. It was a similar story with Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who told MS NOW that she didn’t know “that there is a page” on Greenland. “I don’t see why we can’t just go sit down with the citizens of Greenland and say, ‘Hey, can we have a presence here to protect you and protect the United States from China and Russia?’” Lummis said. “We don’t need to buy them. We don’t need to take them over to do that. We can do it with just [a] military protection agreement.” That doesn’t seem to be Trump’s position, however. The president explicitly said last week that expanding the United States’ military presence in Greenland isn’t enough. “When we own it, we defend it,” Trump said. “You don’t defend leases the same way.” Although those comments have alarmed a number of lawmakers — and Trump’s comments over the weekend about imposing tariffs on European allies until the U.S. reaches a deal to buy Greenland won’t help — it’s clear there are Republicans who are much warmer on the idea of acquiring Greenland. When asked if his conference is on the same page as Democrats about Greenland, the answer from Sen. Ted Cruz, R.-Texas, was “of course not.” “The Democrat Party is defined by one thing, hatred of Donald Trump, and so they’re not focusing on the merits,” Cruz said. But Democrats don’t need every Republican to unite with them; they just need a few. And Democrats don’t even need any Republicans to force a vote on a privileged war powers resolution. Democrats suggested that even though most Republicans may not be willing to speak out, there are plenty of GOP lawmakers who are uneasy with Trump’s Greenland comments. “Republicans and Democrats are on the same page thinking it is absolutely bizarre and absurd,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.
Peggy Helman is a desk associate at MS NOW. Recommended
