Republican Warns Trump’s Takeover Plan Is Already Backfiring
Republican Senator Rand Paul said President Donald Trump shot himself in the foot with his aggressive stance on Greenland.
Trump has stepped up threats to take over the mineral-rich island. I tell the reporterS. “We will do something in Greenland whether they want it or not,” Friday said. The 79-year-old president said he would “do it the hard way” if he could not reach an agreement to seize the region.
On Sunday, Paul warned that Trump’s “derogatory” aggression was backfiring by alienating GOP lawmakers in Washington and people in Greenland.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was one of five GOP senators who joined Democrats in developing a resolution on the War Powers Act last week. The decision would hinder the president’s ability to use military force against Venezuela. /Tom Williams/Getty Images
“Let’s say you wanted to buy Greenland, and I’m not disputing that that would be something we would want,” the 63-year-old Kentucky senator told ABC News. this week. “You don’t get there by making the people who live there angry and insulting and saying, ‘If you don’t sell to us, we’re going to bring the Marines in and take it.’ That doesn’t make them very willing to sell to us.”
Paul continued, “So really, if your goal is to somehow swing the sword, then they’re going to sell it to us, which I think has the opposite effect. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Greenland for that, but you’d also be hard-pressed to find anyone in Washington who is in favor of a military invasion on either side of the aisle.”
What the senator, one of the few Republicans who regularly challenges Trump, seems to say is true.
Greenland’s party leaders issued a joint statement Friday night rejecting Trump in response to his recent claims that the United States “needs” the island, a semi-autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark, and his refusal to rule out the use of military force.
The statement said, “We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders. The future of Greenland should be decided by the Greenlandic people.” “We would like to emphasize once again our wish for the US’s contempt for our country to end.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also scolded Trump and reminded that the USA has no legal basis to annex the region.
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she “hates” the idea of the United States seizing Greenland by purchase or force. His party colleague Susan Collins also condemned rumors of a US takeover of the island. /Bill Clark/Getty Images
In Congress, several GOP lawmakers, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, publicly condemned rumors of a U.S. takeover of Greenland.
Paul, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: CBS Mornings He said last week that US military action “will not happen on my watch.”
“I will do everything to stop the military takeover of Greenland,” he said.
ABC News’ Martha Raddatz asked Paul on Sunday: “Do you really think he’s going to use military force, or are we overreacting to this?”
“I hope not,” Paul replied, reiterating his belief that Congress should decide whether the military should be deployed in Greenland, Venezuela or Colombia.
“This is about whether the public has a say in whether or not to go to war,” added the senator, who was one of five GOP senators who joined Democrats in developing a resolution on the War Powers Act last week. The decision would hinder the president’s ability to use military force against Venezuela.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
A White House official previously told The Daily Beast that “using the U.S. military has always been an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”
