Republican senators are flummoxed by Trump's insistence that he's willing to use military force to seize control of Greenland from Denmark, something they fear will destroy the NATO alliance and give Russia a bigger advantage in its war against Ukraine.
Two Republican senators — Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — plan to travel to Copenhagen on Friday to assure the Danish prime minister that there would be strong Republican opposition to any effort by Trump to use military force to seize Greenland.
"I'm going to remind them that we have coequal branches of government and I believe that there [is a] sufficient number of members, whether they speak up or not, that are concerned with this," Tillis said of Trump's threats.
"Right now, people are trying to be deferential, but this is just an example of, whoever keeps on telling the president that this idea is achievable should not be in Washington, D.C.," Tillis said.
A Republican senator who requested anonymity said Trump's talk of taking over Greenland has generated more opposition from Republicans in Congress because of the dire implications such an aggressive move would have for the future of NATO.
"I have no understanding how this is an idea to begin with," the senator said with exasperation, warning that taking Greenland will undermine NATO and put Ukraine at greater risk.
"We absolutely need NATO support to Ukraine. Diminishing the capabilities of NATO to do that is a death knell to people in Ukraine," the senator said.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found that only 17 percent of Americans would support a U.S. takeover of Greenland. Only 4 percent of respondents said taking Greenland by force would be a good idea.
The lawmakers will meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who joined a meeting with Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday, after which the two sides "agreed to disagree."
Murkowski has teamed up with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to co-sponsor a bill that would prohibit the use of Defense Department funds to blockade, occupy, annex or conduct military operations against Greenland or any sovereign territory of a NATO member state. Their bill would also block the State Department from using funds to do the same.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which controls the Pentagon budget, on Wednesday delivered a searing rebuke to Trump's threat to seize control of Greenland by military force.
Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell warned it would "incinerate" long-standing NATO alliances and cripple efforts to contain Russian aggression toward Europe.
He argued Denmark and Greenland are ready to accept any request Trump might make to bolster the United States's military presence in Greenland to deter Russian and Chinese expansion into the Arctic.
"Unless and until the president can demonstrate otherwise, then the proposition at hand today is very straightforward: incinerating the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in U.S. access to the Arctic," McConnell declared.
He said Trump's "ill-advised threats about Greenland" would "shatter the trust of our allies" if acted on.
Read the full report at thehill.com.
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