Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in a classified briefing earlier this week that the White House is less interested in trying to acquire Greenland through military force and more interested in trying to buy the arctic island — which, by all accounts, is not currently for sale.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said soon after that he thought Rubio was kidding. Leading Trump administration officials — including Rubio — contradicted the Louisiana Republican and publicly confirmed that, no, actually, the White House really does want to buy Greenland.
That led to a great many questions, including a practical one: Who, exactly, is Donald Trump going to pay? Reuters shed some light on one possible answer (as part of a report that has not been independently verified by MS NOW):
U.S. officials have discussed sending lump sum payments to Greenlanders as part of a bid to convince them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the United States, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
While the exact dollar figure and logistics of any payment are unclear, U.S. officials, including White House aides, have discussed figures ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 per person, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Because nothing says “America First” like writing generous checks to tens of thousands of Danish citizens.
As for why the president has made this such a priority, the Republican spoke to The New York Times this week about his need to acquire the island.
“Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success,” Trump said. “I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”
Trump started emphasizing his desire to add Greenland to the U.S. in late December 2024 during his postelection transition period. I mention this because it’s a reminder he’s had more than a year to come up with compelling explanation for his pursuit of this goal, given the risks to the NATO alliance and polls that show broad public antipathy to the idea. Trump has come up with a talking point rooted in his perception of what’s “psychologically” necessary. As for our traditional allies abroad, officials are taking the White House’s threats quite seriously. The Associated Press reported that “Denmark and Greenland’s envoys to Washington have begun a vigorous effort to urge U.S. lawmakers as well as key Trump administration officials to step back from President Donald Trump’s call for a takeover of the strategic Arctic island.” Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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