As his inauguration draws near, President-elect Donald Trump has been floating controversial ideas about taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
The leader of Wyoming’s Democratic Party called these goals harmful distractions from the real issues that affect the nation.
“These are the absurd and dangerous rantings of a man more focused on imperialistic fantasies and delusions of grandeur than addressing issues,” Joe Barbuto, Wyoming Democratic Party Chair, posted Wednesday to X, formerly Twitter. “Distractions and chaos — the modus operandi of Trump.”
Barbuto did not respond by publication time to a Thursday request for comment.
Wyoming Republican Party Chair Frank Eathorne declined Thursday to comment on the incoming president’s ambitions.
The Options
With respect to Greenland especially, Trump has been growing more insistent with each public statement that the U.S. should take control of the world’s largest island.
“We need this financial security,” Trump told reporters in a Friday press conference. “You look over, the Russian ships, the China ships, they’re all over the place.”
Greenland is a self-governing region of Denmark, but aims for ultimate independence. Danish leaders have spurned the idea of the island becoming a U.S. state.
“We fully recognize that Greenland has its own ambitions. If they materialize, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States," Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told the media this week.
While much of the rhetoric surrounding Greenland has to do with buying it, Trump declined Tuesday to rule out a forceful takeover.
Greenland is rich in resources and could become a strategic military outpost. The U.S. decades ago offered to buy Greenland from Denmark, as part of a long-secret plan revealed in the 1990s, Politico reported.
Potentially, the U.S. could buy or conquer Greenland or strike a deal with it establishing friendly military or economic permissions.
The Man In The Hoodie Speaks
In contrast to Barbuto’s remarks, fellow Democrat, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, said people should consider U.S. prospects toward Greenland before condemning Trump's comments.
“I know there’s a lot of freakouts and of course, I’d never support taking it by force,” Fetterman told Fox News on Wednesday. “But I do think it’s a responsible conversation, if they were open to us acquiring it.”
Fetterman harkened to the Louisiana purchase of what is now the Southeast region of the United States from France in 1803; and to the 1867 purchase of Alaska from Russia.
“I think Alaska was a pretty — a great deal,” he said. “(Yet) I think it was referred to as Seward’s folly.”
Fetterman said he’s open to discuss Greenland’s future.
“It’s not helpful to freak out. Some things might work out, some might not; but that’s part of an ongoing dialogue,” the senator said.
Fetterman is now slated to become the first sitting Democratic senator to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida this weekend, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Approached by a News Nation reporter about the gesture this week, Fetterman said, “I am not a senator for just Democrats in Pennsylvania. I’m everyone’s senator in Pennsylvania. So I’m just having a conversation.”
Pressed on the issue of Greenland, Fetterman joked that he demands to be the region’s pope.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.