It's very well known President Trump made his name in real estate long before his presidential days. Now President Trump is looking for a new real estate purchase: the world's biggest island.
According to people close to the situation President Trump has an eye for Greenland. He is interested in the United States buying the ice-covered Danish territory that sits between the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.
President Trump made his name on the world’s most famous island. Now he wants to buy the world’s biggest. https://t.co/GSOXri7lj3
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) August 15, 2019
During meets, dinners and even in casual conversation, President Trump has questioned whether it is a possibility for the United States to purchase Greenland. From its abundance of resources to its geopolitical importance, this has driven President Trump to have his White House counsel to take a look at the idea.
More on the story, from WSJ.com:
Some of his advisers have supported the concept, saying it was a good economic play, two of the people said, while others dismissed it as a fleeting fascination that will never come to fruition. It is also unclear how the U.S. would go about acquiring Greenland even if the effort were serious.
With a population of about 56,000, Greenland is a self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and while its government decides on most domestic matters, foreign and security policy is handled by Copenhagen. Mr. Trump is scheduled to make his first visit to Denmark early next month, although the visit is unrelated, these people said.
The White House and State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment. Officials with Denmark’s Royal House and the Danish embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did officials with Greenland’s representative office in Washington and Greenland’s prime minister’s office.
While it is unclear how far the president will push the idea, U.S. officials view Greenland as important to American national-security interests. A decades-old defense treaty between Denmark and the U.S. gives the U.S. military virtually unlimited rights in Greenland at America’s northernmost base, Thule Air Base. Located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it includes a radar station that is part of a U.S. ballistic missile early warning system. The base is also used by the U.S. Air Force Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
It's a very outside-of-the-box idea from President Trump, but when you consider his background it makes a lot of sense.
Last spring during a dinner President Trump was at a dinner with associates and heard that Denmark was having trouble assisting Greenland financially. Denmark provides $591 million in subsidies annually to Greenland.
According to a person in the room, President Trump asked, “What do you guys think about that? Do you think it would work?”
The person in the room claims that this was more of a joke and was asking the question more to pose himself as someone that has so much power he could buy a country.
What do you think? Should the United States look to purchase Greenland?
Check out some of the reactions on Twitter:
Not going to lie, I've gone from, "Buy Greenland? Trump's insane!" to, "Ackshully, why not?" to "OMFG, how have we not done this already and we must do it RIGHT NOW!" in a matter of minutes.
— Drew McCoy (@_Drew_McCoy_) August 15, 2019
Maybe Trump figures that with a couple of degrees of warming Greenland might actually be more inhabitable. A good real estate deal if the price is right! https://t.co/T2l2mX6vsI
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) August 15, 2019
I will be disappointed if we determine that there *wasn't* an episode of The Simpsons about this. Has to have been, right?https://t.co/ewlxaNbF7e
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) August 15, 2019