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Who is the intended audience? Americans? Greenlanders? Danes? If Greenlanders, it will likely backfire. They don't want to join America in any way, shape or form. In a poll from a year ago, 85% of Greenlanders said they do not want to become a part of the U.S., with only 6% saying they WOULD like that to happen. It is likely even worse now that Donald Trump is talking about annexing the island by military force. On Tuesday, Greenland's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said that if Greenland has to choose between America and Denmark, it will choose Denmark.
What about Denmark? Yesterday, the Danish foreign minister, Lars Rasmussen. and Greenland's foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, had a meeting with J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Afterwards, Rasmussen and Motzfeldt held a press conference outside the Danish embassy in D.C. Rasmussen and Motzfeldt said the parties had a fundamental disagreement over the future of Greenland. In easy-to-understand terms, Trump wants to buy Greenland but Denmark doesn't want to sell it. At the presser, Rasmussen added: "We didn't manage to change the American position. It's clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland. We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the Kingdom."
Yesterday, Denmark began moving defense forces to Greenland and said other European NATO members would soon do so as well. The ministry said the move was to train the troops in Arctic fighting, but didn't specify who the potential enemy might be. There is no way the European troops could stave off an American attack, but having them there trying to at least slow an American advance would be a major PR hit to Trump. If American troops have to force their way in, against even nominal resistance, it would be impossible for Trump to say to the American people: "The Greenlanders welcomed us with open arms. It is also worth noting that, even if you have a force of superior size, it can be very, very hard to gain control of an enormous, largely empty, very cold piece of land. Ask Napoleon, if you have any questions.
On the positive side, the parties agreed to set up a working group to address security issues and whether they could be addressed without changing Greenland's ownership. It is possible they will come up with something, but that is unlikely to satisfy Trump. At heart, he is a real estate developer, and he likes to buy ground and develop it. He sees Greenland as a large chunk of undeveloped land he could buy and develop in case his deal to buy Gaza doesn't work out. The two have different problems. Greenland is cold and has no people. Gaza is hot and has a lot of people. However they are similar in that neither of the current owners are interested in selling the place to him. How long will it be before he gets the idea of moving all the people in Gaza to Greenland, so he can build hotels and condos in Gaza? That would violate international law, of course, but so what?
Tennessee is next.