Trump Says He Won’t Quit Greenland — He Probably Won’t

Greenland gives his politics exactly what it needs: distraction, leverage, and headlines.

It was slightly unusual—the trio of targets Donald Trump chose to launch his post-election shock-and-distract campaign in late 2024: Panama Canal, Canada, and Greenland.

Canada was utter nonsense. He likely wanted to rattle Justin Trudeau and hand the Canadian right a political gift. That it backfired spectacularly is beside the point. The pattern was unmistakable. Trump tried to boost the right in Canada. Musk played the same game in Germany. And the MAGA machine has been working overtime to tip Romania red.

But it was Panama and Greenland that gave Trump his favorite trick: anchor the story in a grain of truth, then build an entire ship of lies on top of it. He used all three—Canada, Panama, Greenland—to throw the media off the scent of his scandalous cabinet nominees.

Instead of grilling Kash Patel, RFK Jr., Pete Hegseth, and the rest—laying their records bare and pressuring Senators to reject the worst—the American press breathlessly followed Trump’s circus of distractions.

And while the media marveled at his noise, the nominees waltzed through.

A lot has shifted since. Canada’s election came and went. The new government in Panama isn’t pushing back—they’ve chosen silence over friction. That leaves Greenland: Trump’s favorite toy, his go-to misdirection.

“I don’t rule it out,” he told Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. “We need Greenland very badly… We’ll take care of the people, cherish them and all of that. But we need it for international security.”