# 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:** 54
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1061 "2026-07-12T08:55:48Z")
Trump can’t even win a war with HIS OWN PARTY right now. He screams “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER” and the Senate ignores him. He screams “I WILL NOT SIGN THE HOUSING BILL” and it passes into law without his signature. He demands “TOTAL LOYALTY” from his Supreme Court appointees and two of them rule against him on citizenship. Your continued faith in his omnipotence is not supported by the facts. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1062 "2026-07-12T09:13:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Trump can’t even win a war with HIS OWN PARTY right now. Which hasn’t hampered his war with Iran at all, and wouldn’t hamper one with Greenland either. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1063 "2026-07-12T09:16:31Z")
Say the U.S. “conquers” Greenland. You have several thousand US. troops standing in a frozen wasteland. Good for you. What happens next? ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1064 "2026-07-12T09:18:05Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Which hasn’t hampered his war with Iran at all Hasn’t it? His war with Iran is an abject failure. He’s stuck in a cycle of “threaten genocide”, “announce a deal has been made and try to manifest it into existence through force of will”, “deny the deal exists because its terms are embarassing,” and “GOTO 10”. He’s too afraid of American casualties to actually dedicate the kind of force it would take to win the war, so he just keeps lobbing missiles occasionally and posting empty threats in the hope that Iran will just come up to him with tears in their eyes and say “Sir, nobody has ever won a war as tremendously as you have”. He has achieved none of his goals and the actual sane adults who are supposed to be negotiating on his behalf are fully aware that any agreement they manage to reach is subject to being blown up due to his insane whims. The US is objectively worse off as a result and the Iranian regime is stronger than it was before he started bombing them. So tell me more about how unstoppable God-Emperor Donald I is. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1065 "2026-07-12T09:42:49Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Say the U.S. “conquers” Greenland. You have several thousand US. troops standing in a frozen wasteland. Good for you. What happens next? They raise an American flag, sing “God Bless America,” look around for amber waves of grain, find none, freeze their butts off, and wonder why they’re there. The locals dismiss them as invading, the rest of the world hates them for invading, and threatens NATO invoking Article 5, and Trump has to explain why this is good for Greenland. Or the US. Or something. “It’s good for Greenland because … did you know I won the 2020 election? The Democrats cheated!” Time to put President Dementia to bed with his teddy bear and his binkie, and let the adults run the show. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1066 "2026-07-12T11:58:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > > I think that Trump will almost certainly successfully conquer Greenland, with good odds that he follows up the conquest by deporting the entire present population as “illegals” and ordering that the existing settlements be leveled. > > 0% chance of that happening. I agree that Donald Trump is unlikely to ethnically cleanse Greenland. However, opinions on all sides are being expressed with greater certainty than warranted. Wars are hard to predict. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1067 "2026-07-12T12:06:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So tell me more about how unstoppable God-Emperor Donald I is. > [@Smapti](#): > > He’s stuck in a cycle of “threaten genocide”, “announce a deal has been made and try to manifest it into existence through force of will”, “deny the deal exists because its terms are embarassing,” and “GOTO 10”. So show me the STOP in this routine. Because this, and every other time he uses the same routine to destroy America, is what we’d like to stop. Unless you have suggestions, he appears unstoppable. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1068 "2026-07-12T12:12:35Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I agree that Donald Trump is unlikely to ethnically cleanse Greenland. He’s trying to ethnically cleanse the US itself; Greenland has far fewer people, so why _wouldn’t_ he do it where he’d have a good chance of succeeding? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1069 "2026-07-12T12:14:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Say the U.S. “conquers” Greenland. You have several thousand US. troops standing in a frozen wasteland. Good for you. What happens next? What Spoons said, although I would leave out the Trump dementia medical diagnosis. In addition to what Spoons said, the U.S. would fly in dollars and tell their banks to stop giving out Danish Krones. Unless Greenland’s bankers are bolder than any I have heard of in past colonial conquests, Greenland would have to use the Yankee Dollar. And there would be a Trump-appointed territorial governor. Does an unelected territorial governor need Senate confirmation? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1070 "2026-07-12T12:17:59Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Say the U.S. “conquers” Greenland. You have several thousand US. troops standing in a frozen wasteland. Good for you. What happens next? Does anything have to come next? I doubt he’s given much thought to the logistics of what happens after they surrender. All he wants is the win. What led up to it and what happens afterwards is irrelevant. Remember, this is a guy that will happily take someone else’s trophy or award as his own. He doesn’t care that he didn’t earn it. To him, having the prize means he wins. IOW, IMO, not having a plan for what comes after he ‘conquers’ Greenland isn’t going to stop him from attempting to conquer Greenland. He’s like a kid that steals a car for the sole purpose of stealing a car. There’s no plan beyond stealing the car other than to drive it around for a little while. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1071 "2026-07-12T12:29:14Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > There’s no plan beyond stealing the car other than to drive it around for a little while. In this case, I believe the plan would be to extract rare earth minerals. I think this is why Trump is so keen on Greenland. > **[The story behind the scramble for Greenland's rare earths](https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20251104-the-story-behind-the-scramble-for-greenlands-rare-earths)** > > As the US and the West races to break China's stranglehold over rare earths production, some firms are betting that Greenland will become a new mining frontier. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1072 "2026-07-12T12:44:50Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > In this case, I believe the plan would be to extract rare earth minerals. I agree with that, but I doubt he’s given much thought to the logistics of making that happen. In fact, I’ll bet the extent of his plan after winning Greenland is to make the global mining companies bribe him for a chance to buy some of the land and set up operations. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1073 "2026-07-12T12:50:19Z")
Except that no Western mining corporation will want it, out of fear of European retaliation, so the contracts will almost certainly go to Russian or Chinese companies. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1074 "2026-07-12T13:02:55Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > So show me the STOP in this routine. Because this, and every other time he uses the same routine to destroy America, is what we’d like to stop. Unless you have suggestions, he appears unstoppable. There is also a difference between “Trump can do what he wants” and “What he wants will turn out the way he thinks it will”. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1075 "2026-07-12T13:34:27Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > To Trump, Greenland is big. To Europeans, it is a 57,000 population microstate. It would not be, to them, worth going against a superpower, except in a small, almost symbolic, way. The symblism of the USA taking over a NATO member by force would not be in any way minor. > [@Smapti](#): > > It’s a “Hitler invades Poland” level event. Yup. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1076 "2026-07-12T15:43:13Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I agree with that, but I doubt he’s given much thought to the logistics of making that happen. In fact, I’ll bet the extent of his plan after winning Greenland is to make the global mining companies bribe him for a chance to buy some of the land and set up operations. That, and point out how big Greenland looks on a Mercator projection map so he can boast about how much he’s added to the US. Greed and ego are two of his main driving forces (the other being spite). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1077 "2026-07-12T17:08:16Z")
Lets put him in a small cabin on the center of Greenland. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1078 "2026-07-12T17:55:21Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That, and point out how big Greenland looks on a Mercator projection map so he can boast about how much he’s added to the US. Greenland _is_ pretty big. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1079 "2026-07-12T18:10:28Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Greenland _is_ pretty big. Biggest island in the world. But not Africa sized, which is what it looks like in a Mercator projection map. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2026, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1080 "2026-07-12T18:17:11Z")
Greenland (2,166,086 km2 / 836,330 sq mi) is the size of México (1,972,550 km2 / 761,610 sq mi) plus a 10% bonus. Ten percent of México is almost twice the size of Cuba. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=53) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=55)