2 Republican senators head to Denmark to reassure NATO Trump won't take Greenland
WASHINGTON, DC: Republican Sens Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are traveling to Copenhagen on Friday, January 16, in an unusual diplomatic mission of reassuring Denmark and NATO allies that President Donald Trump will not use military force to seize Greenland.
The visit comes amid growing alarm in Europe over Trump’s repeated threats to acquire the Danish territory “by any means necessary,” rhetoric that has sparked backlash not only abroad but also within Trump’s own party.
“I’m going to remind them that we have coequal branches of government,” Tillis said on Thursday. “I believe that there is a sufficient number of members, whether they speak up or not, that are concerned with this.”
Congress as a check on presidential power
Sen Thom Tillis emphasized that any attempt to take sovereign territory from a NATO ally would face overwhelming resistance on Capitol Hill.
“The actual execution of anything that would involve a taking of a sovereign territory that is part of a sovereign nation,” he said, “would be met with pretty substantial opposition in Congress.”
He added that while many lawmakers are currently trying to remain deferential to the president, the idea itself is fundamentally flawed.
“This is just an example of whoever keeps on telling the president that this idea is achievable should not be in Washington, DC,” Tillis said.
Lisa Murkowski moves to lock in NATO commitments
Murkowski, a longtime critic of Trump who voted to convict him during his second impeachment trial in 2021, has gone a step further by introducing legislation this week aimed at reinforcing US commitments to NATO.
“Our NATO alliances are what set the United States apart from our adversaries,” Murkowski said in a statement. “We have friends and allies who are willing to stand firmly alongside us as the strongest line of defense.”
She called the idea of using American power against allied nations “deeply troubling” and said it “must be wholly rejected by Congress in statute.”
Thom Tillis says he warned Trump directly
Tillis, who announced his retirement after a public clash with Trump late last year, said that he has personally confronted the president about the Greenland issue.
“If I prove anything else to you in the next year and a half,” Tillis recalled telling Trump, “I hope I will prove to you that I care about your legacy and you have people around you who don’t.”
Trump’s ongoing refusal to rule out acquiring Greenland by force has intensified divisions within the Republican Party and provoked anger across Europe.
Outgoing Rep Don Bacon, a former Air Force general, recently told a local newspaper that he would “lean toward” impeaching Trump if the president attempted to take Greenland from Denmark.
“I’ll be candid with you. There’s so many Republicans mad about this,” Bacon said. “If he went through with the threats, I think it would be the end of his presidency.”
