There would be an ‘unprecedented act of strategic self-harm’

Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sharply criticized the president of Donald Trump Threatening to take Greenland in a Senate floor speech on Wednesday, he warned that it would be an “unprecedented act of self-harm” and “more devastating” to his legacy than withdrawing from Afghanistan during the president’s term. Joe Biden’s period.

Trump’s rhetoric directed at the autonomous region of Denmark has increased as his second term has progressed, including social media posts declaring that acquiring Greenland was “important” for the US.[a]That is nothing short of unacceptable.”

Officials from Greenland, Denmark, and several NATO countries have loudly rejected Trump’s demand for Greenland, citing its long history with Denmark, Greenlanders’ lack of interest in joining the U.S., and its status as a NATO member.

However, Trump has been undeterred, even publicly floating the idea of ​​military action — despite how highly unpopular it is with the American public.

A recent poll found only 17% of Americans supported taking Greenland, and 4% supported using military force. Even among Republicans, only 8% favored a military attack on Greenland.

This week, Canada, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and other NATO allies are deploying troops to Greenland as a show of solidarity against American saber-rattling.

McConnell, who has served in the Senate since 1985 and was the GOP leader for years before passing the torch to Sen. John Thune (R-SD) in 2024, spoke for more than 25 minutes on the Senate floor Wednesday ( transcript available here ) on the subject of Greenland, digging deep into U.S. and NATO history to make his case, and offering dire predictions about how “catastrophic” it would be to continue pursuing it.

McConnell began by discussing the devastation caused by World War II—tens of millions dead, tens of millions more displaced, food shortages, hyperinflation—and how “America’s leaders realized that our interests and those of our European allies were intertwined, whether we liked it or not.”

“American security and stability depends on European security and stability,” he continued. “Not least because conflict with Nazi Germany was immediately succeeded by the threat of conflict with the Soviet Union. Millions of people in Eastern Europe went under Nazi tyranny to live under Soviet tyranny.”

In the late 1940s, polls showed that “the American people understood the stakes,” McConnell said, rightly viewed Russia as a threat and supported a “mutual defense pact” with our “Western European friends” — as far as NATO’s Article 5, which “pledges mutual aid in case of attack by all member nations.”

“The American people knew the cost of war,” McConnell insisted. “And they knew they wanted to keep the peace.”

Other NATO members have “transformed deeply” in recent years, he said, “dramatically” increasing their defense spending to share the burden more proportionately, so “the newest members of NATO, Sweden and Finland, are each on track to meet the alliance’s new spending targets years ahead of schedule,” and our European allies “continue to support America in war. 10 to 1.”

Specifically on the matter of Greenland, McConnell said that Trump is “correct that Arctic security is a key concern in our strategic competition with major rivals, and he will find a similar interest in Arctic security among allies like Denmark, which is investing billions of dollars in its capacity in the region.”

“The Danes have been close partners in the Arctic since World War II,” he said, “and brave Danish soldiers have fought and died in America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

These are the “closer ties” that “make America’s broader reach in the Arctic possible,” McConnell argued, “and the only thing I’ve heard from this administration that we need from Greenland is that its sovereign people are unwilling to give it to us.”

Therefore, he continued, trying to take control of Greenland would mean “burning the hard-won confidence of loyal allies in return without making any meaningful changes to US access to the Arctic,” and he predicted some significant and “disastrous” consequences.

It was “more than Greenland” and “more than America’s relationship with its highly capable Nordic allies,” he said. “It’s about whether the United States wants to face a constellation of strategic adversaries with capable allies — or commit an unprecedented act of strategic self-harm and go it alone.”

Any “good progress” Trump has made in pressuring our allies to increase their defense spending “will not be for naught if his administration’s ill-advised threat about Greenland shatters the confidence of our allies,” McConnell predicted, adding that “pursuing this provocation from Afghanistan will be even more devastating to the president’s legacy.”

McConnell cited several recent polls that showed Americans did not support taking Greenland but viewed NATO alliances favorably, including fulfilling Article 5 obligations to participate in a military response if a NATO member is attacked.

The American people “already understand the stakes,” and “anyone who will listen knows that when they say peace through force, they are saying what President Reagan meant: ‘Leading with moral clarity, and a clear distinction between aggressors and victims. Investing in the arsenal of democracy, and equipping friends to fight for them. Preparing to win wars and prepare to win all.'”

Watch the video above via YouTube.

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