On January 6, Senate Majority “Leader” John Thune assured us no one is seriously thinking of invading Greenland:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday dismissed the prospect of deploying the military to seize mineral-rich Greenland, even though top White House adviser Stephen Miller declared the ice-covered territory should rightfully belong to the U.S.
“I think that’s probably getting the cart ahead of the horse. I don’t see military action being an option there,” Thune said of a possible U.S. takeover of Greenland after President Trump deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro over the weekend.
Thune noted he led a congressional delegation to Denmark, which controls Greenland, last year.
“I led a delegation in August, of senators, and one of our stops was in Copenhagen. We met with all the elected leaders there, and obviously they’re very passionate about Greenland,” he said.
But the GOP leader said that something might be “worked out” between the Trump administration, Danish leaders and the populace of Greenland to expand an American business presence on the island.
“If there’s something there that could be mutually worked out, obviously it’s of interest to national security and the Arctic. They realize that, and so do we,” he said.
Thune said a U.S. military takeover of Greenland is “not something that anybody is contemplating seriously” [Alexander Bolton, “Thune Dismisses Prospect of Military Seizure of Greenland,” The Hill, 2026.01.06].
After two weeks of Trump and his henchmen talking very seriously about taking over Greenland, Thune is still spouting wish-washy namby-pamb:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who led a CODEL here [to Copenhagen] in August, has similarly sought to lower the temperature as Trump ratchets up his threats. Thune wants his colleagues to deliver a similar message here this weekend.
“There’s certainly not an appetite here [in Congress] for some of the options that have been talked about or considered,” Thune told us, urging senators making the trip to “demonstrate a willingness to work constructively” [Andrew Desiderio, “Congress’s Trump Reassurance Tour Goes NATO,” Punchbowl News, 2026.01.16].
Thune resorts here to his regular rhetorical dodge, talking vaguely about vote counts without offering any direct, instructive evaluation of or opinion on the actual issue at hand for which he might be held accountable.
Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska at least shows some useful spine and honesty in deeming conquest of Greenland both stupid and impeachable:
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Wednesday he’d consider impeaching President Trump if the U.S. decides to invade Greenland, which he described as “utter buffoonery.”
“It’s ridiculous that this has to even be done,” Bacon told the Omaha World-Herald. “But when the president talks about taking Greenland one way or the other way every day this last week or so and that it’s unacceptable if Greenland refuses to be part of the United States, I felt like I needed to make a statement that Republicans disagree.”
“It’s utter buffoonery to think that we should compel Greenland to be part of the United States,” he added [Ashleigh Fields, “Bacon Says He Would ‘Lean’ Toward Trump Impeachment If Greenland Invaded: ‘Utter Buffonery’,” The Hill, 2026.01.16].
Bacon’s forthright declaration that taking over Greenland is criminally bonkers shows how Thune and any responsible lawmaker should respond to Trump’s reckless foreign policy. Seizing Greenland would put the United States on a moral par with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1991 when it invaded Kuwait. Seizing Greenland would destroy NATO, unravel generations of work led by the U.S. to build a peaceful global order after World War 2, and a resurgence of imperialism that will play into Russian and Chinese designs and leave America with no allies and no defense but brute force.
That destruction of America’s hard-won security amidst stable alliances and international law could be the highest crime a President can commit. Instead of wishing away the President’s threats, Senator Thune should Representative Bacon in telling Trump to drop his dangerous talk of taking over Greenland or face removal from office.
Related Reading: from Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Republican leader of the Senate NATO Observer Group:
Calling the NATO alliance “critically important,” he told Tapper that “shaking that alliance sends a signal to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that he’s winning.”
…“It’s very important for the NATO alliance to know that we have their back because they’ve had ours.”
“We need to make it very clear that our strength and our ability to project power to stand off against Putin, to stand off Russia, to stand off China, Iran, it all rests on this exquisite capability that we have under NATO,” he said.
The remarks came just hours after Tillis delivered a searing speech on the Senate floor.
“I’m sick of stupid,” a fiery Tillis declared in the Senate. “I want good advice for this president, because I want this president to have a good legacy. And this nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs” [Morgan Rimmer, “GOP Senator’s Scathing Message to Stephen Miller: Get Informed on Greenland or Leave the Job,” CNN, 2026.01.07].
It was the billionaire heir to Estee Lauder fortune that suggested the felon buy Greenland, not national seciurity interests…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/15/ronald-lauder-billionaire-donor-donald-trump-ukraine-greenland
The heir also wants Ukraine’s precious metals.
When the history of the Trump era is written Thune will be considered just as many of the conservative leaders in Weimar Germany are now considered: deluded by their own selfish desire for power and prestige. The Weimar conservatives placated a narcissist with extreme and crazy ideas just so the could gain power. They thought they could control this leader or guide him to be more reasonable. They were just as deluded as the man who kill millions and start World War II.
Trump is not going to be controlled by Thune, a man who has gained his own perch of power by going along and getting along. Thune has proved over his long career that he has no real core and no courage. His Chrisian faith is whimpy, at best. His so-called “conservative” values about the sanctity of life vanish as fast as Trump’s thugs extiguish more lives on the streets of major cities. That’s how the Holocaust started, but Thune summon up the courage to confront the demon. He’s gutless, if not a demon himself, just as the Weimar conservatives were.
Thune brings dishonor on his party, but maybe he knows history a bit more than I give him credit for. Hitler, after all, kolled off many of the conservatives, too. And, of course, he threatens family members of politicians who gave him too much trouble. I suspect that hangs heavily on Thune, as it would with many folks.
No, Thune will never be a hero. To find those, look to the streets of Minneapolis. That’s where you’ll find many ordinary folks confronting Trump’s thugs. They risk death to raise their voices against Trump’s Gestapo. The real heros of the Trump era are nowhere near the US Senate. They are in the streets.