# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/441 "2025-04-02T02:27:11Z")
[White House studying cost of Greenland takeover](https://wapo.st/42qDMgZ) > [@](#): > > One option under analysis is to offer a sweeter deal to the government of Greenland than the Danes, who currently subsidize services on the island at a rate of about $600 million every year. > > “This is a lot higher than that,” said one official familiar with the plans, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that remain in the works. “The point is, ‘We’ll pay you more than Denmark does.’” I’m sure Greenlanders will realize what a Trump administration promise is worth. If TrumpWorld does take Greenland by the only practical way — military force — they’ll try tormenting impoverished Greenlanders will claims that if only they had gone voluntarily, they’d be rich. Not true. This sound bad: > [@](#): > > Of the potential acquisitions Trump has floated, including Canada and the Panama Canal, “he views Greenland as the easiest,” said the official with knowledge of his thinking. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/442 "2025-04-02T03:10:43Z")
Is there any chance of the UN threatening to leave Manhattan if the U.S. conquers Greenland? Trump might listen to that because it would probably lower the value of real estate there. We could veto in the Security Council. But can the General Assembly do something? ---
**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:** [April 2, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/443 "2025-04-02T03:13:08Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Is there any chance of the UN threatening to leave Manhattan if the U.S. conquers Greenland? Evicting the UN from the US has been a rightwing wet dream for as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/444 "2025-04-02T06:41:58Z")
Hasn’t Trump mentioned the United States leaving the United Nations? ---
**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:** [April 2, 2025, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/445 "2025-04-02T06:55:35Z")
> **[Proposals for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_the_United_States_to_withdraw_from_the_United_Nations)** > > There have been various proposals for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations, where it is one of the founding members and one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. > Alabama congressman Mike Rogers has called to leave the U.N. Utah state representative Don Bush has claimed that many programs by the supranational entity have violated the US Constitution, such as the implementation of the International Court of Justice and the Law of the Sea Treaty. Which contained this memory jogger, > The John Birch Society, an anti-communist group founded in 1958, was opposed to US involvement from the society’s beginning. From an early date they had bumper stickers with the slogan “Get the U.S. out of the U.N. and the U.N. out of the U.S.!” I remembered the slogan but not the source. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/446 "2025-04-02T11:28:39Z")
> [@rippingtons\_fan](#): > > Hasn’t Trump mentioned the United States leaving the United Nations? Parts of the UN, yes. What he will not mention is the Birch Society line about the United Nations leaving the United States. All those missions to the UN use a tremendous amount of Manhattan office space. This illustrates a difference between Trumpism and fascism. No real fascist leader would tolerate a disorderly nest of opposition ideas like UN headquarters. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/447 "2025-04-07T02:40:04Z")
Recommended from the Atlantic: [Take Trump Seriously About Greenland](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/take-trump-seriously-about-greenland/ar-AA1ClUHr?cvid=7c1ad7415f2547c9d60a7c4c65b34778&ei=11) > [@](#): > > If the U.S. military is given direct orders to seize Greenland . . . These would be illegal orders, because they would violate not only our treaty obligations but also international prohibitions against unprovoked wars of aggression. At home, the president would be contravening the Constitution . . . > > At that point, every senior commander, from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs on down, has a moral obligation to refuse to accept or support such a command. To me, conquering another country with intent to keep it is the biggest red line. If the Greenland flags in Nuuk are replaced with the stars and strips, that marks full decent into dictatorship. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/448 "2025-04-07T04:05:01Z")
They could just try to take it over the same way they took over the United States. Find some true believers or buy off people to put in positions of authority. Use them to disregard norms and traditions and look for loopholes to change laws. Flood the country with disinformation. Hell, maybe Elon could give everybody a million bucks to sign a petition. Soon enough, Greenland is pro-USA all the way. I don’t know how well these tactics would work in such a small population. But who knows? ---
**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:** [April 7, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/449 "2025-04-07T14:57:14Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Hell, maybe Elon could give everybody a million bucks to sign a petition. Soon enough, Greenland is pro-USA all the way. > > I don’t know how well these tactics would work in such a small population. I believe there’s a documentary about such a plan… > **[Local Hero (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Hero_(film))** > > Local Hero is a 1983 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam. It stars Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Peter Capaldi, and Fulton Mackay. Riegert plays an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. The musical score was composed by Mark Knopfler. > The film premiered on February 17, 1983. It receive... > The villagers, however, are tired of their hard life and are more than eager to sell, though they feign indifference to induce a larger offer. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/450 "2025-04-10T22:11:14Z")
Apparently the plan is now to bribe Greenlanders $10000 each into wanting to join the US. > **[Major NYT report exposes Trump's 'formal plan' to seize control of Greenland](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-greenland-2671742286/)** > > The New York Times is reporting that President Donald Trump's administration has crafted a "formal plan" to take control of Greenland — although for the moment the plan does not involve using military force to seize the territory.Instead, the Times... ---
**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:** [April 10, 2025, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/451 "2025-04-10T22:16:19Z")
Nice link, also there: > “Greenland’s Inuit population is descended from people who migrated from Alaska hundreds of years ago, and the island’s official language is derived from Inuit dialects that originated in Arctic [Canada](https://www.rawstory.com/tag/canada).” Which could be turned into the best argument to incorporate Alaska to Greenland and take it away from the USA’s greedy claws, right? Good that he is too distracted tanking the economy to worry about Greenland, Canada, or the Panama Canal. In other words: Never let a good crisis go to waste. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/452 "2025-04-10T22:34:35Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Which could be turned into the best argument to incorporate Alaska to Greenland and take it away from the USA’s greedy claws, right? The obvious linkup is a union of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/453 "2025-04-10T23:20:40Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Apparently the plan is now to bribe Greenlanders $10000 each into wanting to join the US Careful, Greenlanders. You can be out that and more in a short period of time in USA medical bills. I suspect that at least some of them know that, and will tell the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/454 "2025-04-10T23:27:32Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Careful, Greenlanders. You can be out that and more in a short period of time in USA medical bills. Also, odds are Trump would just not _actually_ pay them, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/455 "2025-04-10T23:40:35Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Good that he is too distracted tanking the economy to worry about Greenland, Canada, or the Panama Canal. Seriously? This week tells us Trump does what he wants, not what his staff says. Maybe he will start the buildup for Greenland gradually to see how far he can move the Overton window. Perhaps the U.S. will build additional housing units just outside our Pituffik Space Base to demonstrate that the U.S. is serious about invasion and can do what it wants (although we would give some other excuse). If a pinprick like that results in real sanctions against the U.S. – say, no more Danish pharmaceuticals for the U.S. – the bully would back down. But doing that would both cause big hurt to Denmark’s economy and break humanitarian norms, so it’s probably a non-starter. Then once it’s established that the Danes are spineless, invasion comes the next summer. I hope I’m totally paranoid about this, but U.S. conquest of Greenland seems to me too damn easy for Trump 47 to lose interest in it. Being worried about it is just what Trump wants me to be, but I am worried anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/456 "2025-04-11T01:03:32Z")
$10,000 each? What cheap assholes! If you gave them each a million dollars it would still be cheap! ---
**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:** [April 11, 2025, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/457 "2025-04-11T07:03:34Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Perhaps the U.S. will build additional housing units just outside our Pituffik Space Base to demonstrate I don’t think additional housing is necessary. There has been 6000 soldiers and 4000 civilians when it was greatest. Now there are 200. Repairs should be enough. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2025, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/458 "2025-04-11T09:09:05Z")
I suggest igloos. Add cultural appropiation to the invasion to make the humiliation complete. And make the innuit pay for it and slap a tariff on that too. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/459 "2025-04-11T11:58:09Z")
> Col. Susan Meyers, the commander of the 821st Space Base Group who also oversees the Pentagon’s northernmost military base, sent a March 31 message to all personnel at Pituffik seemingly aimed at generating unity among the airmen and Guardians, as well as the Canadians, Danes and Greenlanders who work there, following Vance’s appearance. She wrote that she “spent the weekend thinking about Friday’s visit – the actions taken, the words spoken, and how it must have affected each of you.” > > “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” Meyers wrote in the email > **[Space Force Commander in Greenland Sent Out Email Breaking with Vance After...](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/04/10/space-force-commander-greenland-sent-out-email-breaking-vance-after-his-visit.html)** > > The emailed remarks, confirmed as accurate to Military.com by the Space Force, mark a rare pushback within the ranks of the Trump administration's repeated criticism and critiques of NATO members and longtime allies. So naturally: > **[Head of US military base in Greenland fired after JD Vance visit](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/col-susannah-meyers-head-of-us-military-base-greenland-fired-after-jd-vance-visit)** > > Col Susannah Meyers removed amid reports she distanced base from Vance’s criticism of Denmark’s oversight of territory ---
**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:** [April 11, 2025, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/460 "2025-04-11T12:45:33Z")
What would a military conquest of Greenland even look like? In a normal conquest of a piece of land, you move troops in, fight any opposition troops you encounter, and once there are no opposition troops left (or at least, not enough to matter), you declare victory. But that’s what Greenland already looks like. We have the only troops there. So far as I can tell, declaring victory is the only step left. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=24)