Former Ambassador Can’t Believe Trump’s Greenland Plan: ‘I Can’t Stress Enough How Completely Insane This Idea Is’ 

Michael McFaul harshly criticized President Donald Trump over the latter’s plan to annex Greenland.

Trump has reiterated his designs for Greenland in the wake of Saturday’s invasion of Venezuela, in which U.S. soldiers abducted President Nicolas Maduro. On Monday, Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in federal court in New York. The president’s rhetoric has become increasingly bellicose in recent days, and has threatened against Colombia, Cuba, Iran, and Mexico.

And on Tuesday, the White House issued a statement saying that when it comes to acquiring Greenland, “utilizing the U.S. military is always an option.”

Greenland, which has about 56,000 people, is an autonomous territory that belongs to Denmark, a NATO ally of the U.S.

McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, appeared on Tuesday’s 11th Hour on MS NOW, where Stephanie Ruhle asked about the possibility of hostilities between NATO members.

“If the United States takes Greenland by force, would that not be one NATO country going after another?” she said. “And if that takes place, wouldn’t that be the end of the NATO alliance? That feels monumental to me.”

“I can’t stress enough how completely insane this idea is on so many levels,” McFaul replied. “First of all, there is no national security interest that we need to seize Greenland. They have not made the case. We can have as many soldiers there as we want. We have bases there. I worked in the government. I know how we’ve used Greenland before. We can do that through negotiation.”

McFaul added, “There is no reason to go back to 19th-century imperialism,” before agreeing that such a confrontation would be the end of NATO as we know it.

“Not only would it blow up NATO, it would alienate the United States from the entire world, from the democratic world, the free world, the autocratic world,” he said. “And then we will empower countries like China. ‘Well, if they can take Greenland, of course we can take Taiwan.'”

He added, “It’s the craziest idea I’ve ever heard of.”

Watch above via MS NOW.