‘Deeply Concerned’: GOP Pushes Back on Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

In an article published Friday by Politico, Representative Jeff Hurd (R-CO) said he was “deeply concerned” about President Donald Trump’s potential plan to take over Greenland, a move he’s said is imperative to U.S. “national security.”

Per Politico’s Jordain Carney, Hurd made clear that he “would be opposed to military action in Greenland,” adding, “I don’t think it is productive, and I don’t think this is the way to treat an ally.”

During a Friday appearance in the White House, Trump said, “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland. We need Greenland for national security. So I may do that.”

Hurd is notably not the only GOP lawmaker to break with the president over this latest foreign policy move. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE), who went on record against the plan for the Omaha World-Herald earlier this week, told Politico that a Greenland takeover was “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” even surmising it could lead to impeachment.

According to Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), “If there was any sort of action that looked like the goal was actually landing in Greenland and doing an illegal taking … there’d be sufficient numbers here to pass a war powers resolution and withstand a veto.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) made clear to Politico that “Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said of military action that “there’s certainly not an appetite here for some of the options that have been talked about or considered.”

A bipartisan group of both senators and representatives, including Murkowski and Tillis, traveled to Copenhagen on Friday to emphasize that there is minimal backing on Capitol Hill for the use of force against Greenland.

Earlier this week, in a press conference with the prime minister of Denmark, Greenland Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen said, “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.”

Trump countered, saying on Tuesday that such a decision by Greenland would be a “big problem.”