# Trump now wants to use military force to take the Panama Canal and Greenland **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 7, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691 "2025-01-07T20:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/301 "2025-02-12T06:43:58Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Why isn’t it obvious to those who thought the oh–he’d-be-safer president now that all American policies are getting blocked or diminished, and Gaza with Greenland are only real estate properties for Trump and rich supporters to add wealth to themselves? Apparently the writing on the wall isn’t going to be visible to them until it’s in blood. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/302 "2025-02-12T07:16:46Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > You have your unabomber cabin picked out yet? I’m just sorry Elon hasn’t made it possible to go live on Mars yet, because I’d like to spend the next four years in a coma in a cave there. > [@](#): > > I think we are about two weeks out from Google bowing down to their orange master. Again. Remember when their motto was “Don’t be evil”? ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/303 "2025-02-12T10:50:44Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > “Red, White, and Blueland”. I like the way it rolls off the tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/304 "2025-02-12T10:58:44Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > catchy new name is as stupid as you could imagine: “Red, White, and Blueland” They got the order of the Russian flag wrong, they are giving Greenland away to the Netherlands! 🇳🇱 Or perhaps Luxemburg: 🇱🇺 ETA: Or maybe they got confused believing the **[Prince of Orange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Orange)** meant something tanTrumpian, the fools! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/305 "2025-02-12T11:29:03Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > They got the order of the Russian flag wrong, they are giving Greenland away to the Netherlands! 🇳🇱 Or perhaps Luxemburg: 🇱🇺 Or France, or maybe just Cleveland. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Flag_of_Cleveland%2C_Ohio.svg/255px-Flag_of_Cleveland%2C_Ohio.svg.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Flag_of_Cleveland%2C_Ohio.svg/255px-Flag_of_Cleveland%2C_Ohio.svg.png) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/306 "2025-02-12T12:18:14Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Or perhaps Luxemburg We don’t have the people to manage it, but we’d be happy to resell it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/307 "2025-02-12T19:45:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Or France, or maybe just Cleveland I can’t decide! Trump: What color is “cleve”? Trump: I thought we already had a “cleveland”? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/308 "2025-03-23T20:31:24Z")
Usha Vance and, more ominously, U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, are planning to visit Greenland this week. Google translate of [comments by Múte Bourup Egede, the outgoing Greenland prime minister](https://www.sermitsiaq.ag/samfund/mute-nu-ma-det-internationale-samfund-traede-til/2212338): > [@](#): > > We have tried all diplomatic and democratic options, but it all backfires on Donald Trump and his administration in their mission to own and control Greenland. We must therefore face the seriousness of the situation and acknowledge that every minute counts to ensure that the Americans’ dream of annexing our country does not become a reality . . . > > We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician’s wife, which is a prospect. Because what is the security advisor doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to show a demonstration of power to us, and the signal is not to be misunderstood. He is Trump’s confidential and closest advisor, and his presence in Greenland alone will certainly make the Americans believe in Trump’s mission, and the pressure will increase after the visit. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/309 "2025-03-24T09:26:53Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Usha Vance and, more ominously, U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, are planning to visit Greenland this week. Surely they need a visa to get in, or does that only apply to us unwashed? ETA, it seems a 90 day stay is visa free for the US visitors. More is the pity, it’s as if the US and Denmark are not ALREADY in a serious diplomatic dispute. Refusal of entry would be… lækker (trans: “delicious”) ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/310 "2025-03-24T12:07:10Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Refusal of entry would be… lækker (trans: “delicious”) Waltz perhaps only is traveling to our military base, so his passport may never be presented for stamping or, potentially, refusal of admission. But both Waltz and Vance, despite rudely showing up without a diplomatic invitation, will be admitted, as to do otherwise would be daring Trump to retaliate. The idea of risking retaliation only sounds good if you are not the national leader putting your country at risk for a brief delicious feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/311 "2025-03-24T13:29:38Z")
Buy a couple of [**fog machines**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_machine) and claim the airport is closed due to bad visibility. Alternatively: Could local air traffic control make the plane land on a melting iceberg, long enough to land safely but too short to take off again? The thing that really gets me is that the USA already control Greenland, have military bases there, and can pretty much do as they please there. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/312 "2025-03-24T14:44:38Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > The thing that really gets me is that the USA already control Greenland, have military bases there, and can pretty much do as they please there. AFAIK, the US only has one base there, the Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) and it’s way up in the northwest corner, a long ways from the capital and main population areas. The US can do pretty much anything they want at the base, but that doesn’t apply elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/313 "2025-03-24T14:49:43Z")
But that base is also the only strategic value Greenland has. The population centers still aren’t populous enough to really matter. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/314 "2025-03-24T15:30:34Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > a long ways from the capital and main population areas I don’t know what a main population area is in your view, but the whole of Greenland has an estimated population of 57,000, not all of them native. Including the US-Americans in that base. And the other base is abandoned, but was way cooler (no pun intended): > **[Camp Century](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Century)** > > Camp Century was an Arctic United States military scientific research base in Greenland, situated 240 km (150 mi) east of Pituffik Space Base. When built, Camp Century was publicized as a demonstration for affordable ice-cap military outposts and a base for scientific research. > According to documents declassified in 1996, Camp Century was a preliminary camp for Project Iceworm whose goal was to install a vast network of nuclear missile launch sites that could survive a first strike. Missiles we... The US interrupted that experiment, but if they want to, they can start digging in the snow again, I am sure. Or at least they could have, a couple of weeks ago, when there was still good will and good faith. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/315 "2025-03-24T17:57:06Z")
Greenland’s Prime Minister – and no doubt the PM of Denmark, too, **[are furious about being symbolically invaded](https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/24/world/greenland-prime-minister-us-usha-vance-intl-hnk/index.html)** by JD Vance’s wife and the Orange Felon’s security adviser Mike Waltz. The White House claims that Usha Vance is there to watch Greenland’s national dogsled race and to spread sweetness and light. 🙄 Yeah, sure. If she was interested in dogsled racing, the Iditarod was held in Alaska just couple of weeks ago. Why not stay in your own fucking benighted country and leave the Greenlanders alone. And they didn’t even try to explain what Mike Waltz was doing there. This is the advanced guard of the Ugly Americans, scoping out the new territory they’re about to steal. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/316 "2025-03-24T18:21:28Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > This is the advanced guard of the Ugly Americans, scoping out the new territory they’re about to steal. I have to wonder - before this, how often did high-level US government officials and unofficial people like the Second Lady ever visit Greenland? I mean, it’s got the population of a smallish town, how many reasons could there be for people such as that to visit? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/317 "2025-03-24T18:31:56Z")
Okay, I googled a bit for stories from the before times, prior to Oct. 31, 2018. I found this: > Throughout the Arctic Council’s 20-year history, it has been difficult to get the U.S. fully engaged with the council’s work. The breakthrough came in Nuuk in 2011, when Hillary Clinton became the first U.S. Secretary of State to attend an Arctic Council meeting. Her successor, John Kerry, joined the meeting in Kiruna in 2013. > > In 2015, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit Alaska. His trip took him to a number of villages north of the Arctic Circle and allowed him to meet with representatives from across the Arctic region, including Denmark’s foreign minister Kristian Jensen and Greenland’s foreign minister Vittus Qujaukitsoq. John Kerry visited Greenland six months later, emphasizing the importance of the relationship between the U.S., Greenland and Denmark. So, it looks like two visits over the course of the 8 years before that date. Trump and his affiliated people have beaten that just since last December. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/318 "2025-03-24T18:51:21Z")
A quibble: Warren G. Harding was the first sitting president to visit Alaska. (It was the last thing he ever did.) I guess Obama must be the first sitting president to visit Alaska _after_ it became a state. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/319 "2025-03-25T15:17:37Z")
This was shared by a FB friend: > A report on a recent meeting between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, by a WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, someone who was present in the room quoted below… > > From a WH Reporter, > > > I’ve covered a lot of Donald Trump press conferences over the years. I’ve seen him lie, deflect, and embarrass himself in countless ways. But what I just witnessed in the Oval Office may have been the most off-the-rails, unhinged display yet. > > > > Trump sat down with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte — a serious figure there to talk about security and alliance unity — but Trump wasn’t interested in that. No, Trump used the opportunity to fantasize about annexing Canada. He actually said, “Canada only works as a state,” and gushed about how the U.S. would look on a map if we just erased the border and took Canada as our own. This wasn’t satire. This wasn’t a joke. This was the president rambling about absorbing another sovereign nation — while the NATO secretary general sat there watching this clown show unfold. > > > > And it didn’t stop there. Trump started pushing the idea of conquering Greenland too, saying NATO might need to get involved in helping the U.S. take it over — as if it’s a game of Risk. He literally said we “need it for international security” and tried to rope NATO into his imperial fever dream. The look on Rutte’s face said it all. > > > > Then, Trump pivoted to his usual bigotry. Instead of talking about defense cooperation or global security, Trump bragged about how he uses transgender people as political pawns to rile up his base before elections — saying Republicans should “bring it up a week before the election” to win votes. In other words, he openly admitted he sees cruelty and manufactured culture war nonsense as a campaign strategy. Despicable. > > > > When asked about American small businesses hurting from tariffs, Trump did what he always does: lie and bluster. “You’re going to be so much richer,” he said. Meanwhile, Medicaid is being gutted, Social Security is under threat, and Trump’s billionaire cronies are cheering as the safety net burns. > > > > Oh, and then Trump suggested we start sending drug dealers to the Netherlands — yes, you read that right — in a bizarre attempt at humor that landed more like a diplomatic insult, especially considering the NATO secretary general used to be the prime minister of the Netherlands. > > > > He kept rambling about how the U.S. doesn’t need anything from Canada, said the European Union is “very nasty,” claimed we can’t sell cars in Europe (not true), and then told an utterly deranged story about how he “invaded Los Angeles” to turn on the water — another lie pulled from his fantasyland. What actually happened was that he diverted water from Northern California, destroying farmland and hurting his own voters in the process. > > > > To top it off, he said our allies shouldn’t worry about Putin, brushing off any concerns about Russian aggression with a shrug. > > > > Let me be blunt: This is not normal. This is not politics-as-usual. This is a dangerous, unstable person with authoritarian fantasies, spewing nonsense in front of our closest allies while the world watches.” > > > > Keep speaking up. Don’t accept any of this as normal. > > > > Ben Meiselas ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/320 "2025-03-25T15:49:52Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > AFAIK, the US only has one base there, the Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) and it’s way up in the northwest corner, a long ways from the capital and main population areas. Fun fact: my dad was in the Navy and spent six months in Thule during the original construction of the US air base (he wasn’t building; he was in one of the transport ships). He did not enjoy it - it was extremely boring and he had some sort of bad skin reaction to the climate. Anyway - I’m thinking that right about now Trump is thinking about sending Mike Waltz there on a one-way ticket only. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=17)