Multiple Donald Trumps and Greenland

Molly Butler / Media Matters

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Many right-wing media figures fell in line after Trump renewed threat to acquire Greenland

White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said Europe should be “grateful that we don't take a whole lot more”

Written by Payton Armstrong, Reed McMaster & Jack Wheatley

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Many right-wing media figures backed President Donald Trump’s vow to take control of Greenland, a move that threatened the NATO alliance formed after World War II, telling Denmark to “just sell us Greenland” and arguing that it’s “worth talking about” taking Greenland by force because “that's the only way that America exists in the first place.” Some in conservative print media outlets came out against Trump’s threats, suggesting that some of his tactics were “dangerous,” calling it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends,” and asserting that his “foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.”

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  • Trump vowed to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally

    • Trump has said acquiring Greenland is critical to U.S. national security and recently threatened a trade war with Europe. The Associated Press reported that “President Donald Trump’s pledge to provoke a sweeping tariff fight with Europe to get his way in taking control of Greenland has left many of America’s closest allies warning of a rupture with Washington capable of shuttering the NATO alliance that had once seemed unshakable.” On January 21, Trump for the first time ruled out using force to acquire Greenland, saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “I don't have to use force, I don't want to use force, I won't use force.” Trump later further softened his position, posting on Truth Social that he would not enact tariffs and that he had agreed with the head of NATO on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security. [CBS News, 1/21/26; The Associated Press, 1/20/26, 1/21/26]
    • Trump has repeatedly brushed off NATO allies who have offered diplomatic solutions meant to address his alleged security concerns but do not include U.S. annexation of Greenland. As The New York Times noted, Trump “has shown no interest so far in looking for diplomatic offramps, or the kind of defense partnerships that NATO has long fostered. Every time the Europeans offer solutions — everything short of outright American ownership of the Danish territory — Mr. Trump turns them aside.” [The New York Times, 1/19/26]
    • Even some Republicans have criticized Trump’s actions involving Greenland. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) condemned Trump’s tariff threat, criticizing the “advisors who are actively pushing for coercive action to seize” Greenland and calling the move “beyond stupid.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called Trump’s tariffs “unnecessary, punitive, and a profound mistake,” adding, “They will push our core European allies further away while doing nothing to advance U.S. national security.” [Time, 1/19/26]

  • Right-wing media pundits cheered on Trump's push to take Greenland, with some supporting purchasing it and some showing openness to military conquest

    • White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes said that Europe should be “grateful that we don't take a whole lot more” than just Greenland and that he would “like to see Denmark try and stop us” from using Greenland for a military base or more. “As a matter of fact, I would like to see all of Europe try to stop us,” he continued. “They let us use Greenland? They let us do whatever we want? Try and stop us from doing whatever we want.” [Rumble, America First, 1/15/26; Media Matters, 12/19/25]
    • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said that it’s “worth talking about” taking over Greenland by force because “that's the only way that America exists in the first place.” Walsh said, “It's interesting to me when people today get so offended by the very notion that we would try to acquire land, that we would try to grow sort of the empire, and in particular, that we would try to do it by force. … America became what it is today, the continental United States plus Hawaii and Alaska, that happened through purchasing land, in some cases, going to war, taking it by force, displacing people, kicking them out, and taking the land for ourself. … And that's how the entire world has taken the shape that it's taken. This is the way that it goes. So that doesn't mean that I'm going to support any effort to just go and conquer land, but it does mean that I'm not going to automatically rule it out because that's the only way that America exists in the first place. So it's worth talking about.” [The Daily Wire, Friendly Fire, 1/16/26]
    • Fox host Sean Hannity announced his support for giving $100,000 to every person in Greenland in exchange for the island. Hannity said that “the beauty of Donald Trump” is “he's in a perpetual state of negotiation” adding, “maybe $100,000 to every person in Greenland to start, and America is uniquely qualified. They have vast natural resources and rare earth. We would be in the best position to help them extract these natural resources that they can have a profit share in. I could make an argument that every person in Greenland, who only gets $10,000 a year from Denmark, could be a multimillionaire if American ingenuity were ever unleashed in Greenland.” [Fox News, Hannity, 1/20/26]
    • Fox prime-time host Jesse Watters declared: “What is good and proper for the United States of America is adopting the world's biggest island: Greenland.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 1/20/26]
    • On The Five, Watters said: “We have to secure Greenland. It will happen.” Watters claimed: “Globalism's dead. We have to protect our own supply lines, we have to protect ourselves from missiles coming in from China. And we're going to do it whether they like it or not.” [Fox News, The Five, 1/20/26]
    • On Fox, former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland claimed that “at the end of the day we're going to get control of Greenland.” She explained that Trump would “probably figure out how to have the companies invest in Greenland so that the United States doesn't have to pay for it. But I think money changes hands at the end of the day, and the United States takes the leadership role permanently in Greenland.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/15/25]
    • Podcaster and Trump ally Benny Johnson told Denmark to “just sell us Greenland,” adding that America “purchased its entire empire.” Johnson said: “Greenland, ladies and gentlemen, absolutely essential and something that is worth buying, which I think is the role right now that Trump has put Marco Rubio and a number of other people from the administration in — just come up with a deal. America has, of course, purchased its entire empire. Obviously, there is plenty of conquest to be done, but most of American land was simply bought, bought from Russia, bought from European powers, including the Danish, which sold us the Virgin Islands.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 1/19/26; Media Matters, 11/25/25]
    • Newsmax host Greg Kelly said he supports the U.S. acquiring Greenland, saying, “I personally vote yes. I'm still learning about it but it seems like yeah, I like it. I like it. It's about time.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 1/20/26]
    • On Hannity's radio show, guest John Solomon claimed Denmark opposes the U.S. acquisition of Greenland because of “Trump derangement syndrome.” He claimed, “The Danish government, the very people who said we don't want the Americans here now, They were warning as most recently, Sean, as December that Greenland was in grave danger from Russian and Chinese aggression. But the second Donald Trump offers a solution, they turn around on it. They act against their own self-interest because it seems like Trump derangement syndrome is pretty well positioned in Europe these days.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 1/15/26]
    • Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson said the U.S. taking Greenland would end NATO, calling it a “huge victory for the world and for the United States.” He claimed, “NATO will effectively be done. How can you have a defensive alliance when one member acts against another? Probably can't. NATO was going out anyway. Is it really bad that NATO's going away? No. It's a huge victory for the world and for the United States.” [YouTube, The Tucker Carlson Show, 1/14/26]
    • Fox host Laura Ingraham insisted it was “critical” for Greenland to be under the authority of the United States. She claimed, “Having Greenland under U.S. authority, however that's structured, it's critical given both Russia and China's ambitions in the region. So except for wounding their pride, you know U.S. command of the second largest island in the world will mean both Denmark and Greenland are better off, because after all a strong and safe America means a stronger, safer Europe.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 1/14/26]
    • All-In podcast host Jason Calacanis celebrated Trump’s vow to control Greenland, adding, “If he wants to buy some other land, I'm here for it. I love building the empire.” Calacanis asked: “Why not get it done? Trump loves real estate. We got him for another three years. I say let President Trump cook.” [YouTube, The All In Podcast, 1/16/26]
    • Podcaster Tim Pool said that “if you asked me should we take Greenland, even by force, I’d say no,” adding, “We should buy it.” [YouTube, TimcastIRL, 1/15/26]

  • Some conservative media outlets – mostly print – came out against annexing Greenland and called it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends”

    • Conservative pundit Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in National Review headlined “Don’t Annex Greenland” and argued that Trump’s “foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.” Lowry wrote: “A NATO ally seizing the territory of another NATO ally would obviously be a grave threat to the integrity of the alliance. Would Denmark invoke Article 5 against the United States? It has the makings of a good spoof musical, but it’s not something anyone should want to experience in reality. … We can almost certainly get whatever we need from Greenland without violating a friendly country’s sovereignty or straining a world-historical alliance to the breaking point. … Even the unsentimental, results-oriented Trump foreign policy needs to distinguish between friend and foe.” [National Review, 1/6/26]
    • National Review editor Andrew Stuttaford argued the U.S. should not annex Greenland, saying that “for the administration to even be talking about such a move is counterproductive.” He added that the discussion “is alienating the Greenlanders, and its is alienating Denmark, an ally.” [National Review, 1/6/26]
    • An editorial in The Washington Examiner argued that “Trump’s deranged text on Greenland is damaging and dangerous.” The Washington Examiner said: “President Donald Trump has taken a bad situation and made it worse. His recent text messages to the prime minister of Norway about the U.S. administration’s desire to acquire Greenland were extraordinarily uncouth, self-defeating, and, to speak plainly, almost deranged.” [The Washington Examiner, 1/20/26]
    • The Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized Trump's attacks on Greenland, calling it “Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends.” The Journal criticized Trump for dismissing U.S. allies, writing, “Whether or not Mr. Trump believes it, the U.S. needs friends in the world. He seems to think that if he captures Greenland, history will remember him as another Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana purchase) or William Seward (Alaska). The cost of his afflatus to U.S. interests will be greater than he imagines.” The editorial also noted that the “fondest dream of Russian strategy has been to divide Western Europe from the U.S. and break the NATO alliance. That is now a possibility as President Trump presses his campaign to capture Greenland no matter what the locals or its Denmark owner thinks.” [The Wall Street Journal, 1/20/26]
    • Though still generally supportive of Trump’s efforts, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt questioned the president’s “tactics” toward acquiring Greenland, saying the U.S. does not “have to be so forceful.” Schmitt: “Anything that we probably wanted out of Greenland, we could probably get that. That we could probably just get very easily with a little negotiating and not have to be so forceful.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 1/20/26]