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President Donald Trump has doubled down on his push to acquire Greenland, threatening 10 percent tariffs on eight NATO allies—rising to 25 percent in June—until an agreement is reached for the U.S. to buy the Arctic island.
European countries responded by deploying small contingents of troops to Greenland for military exercises, prompting protests in Nuuk where a quarter of the capital's population marched with "Yankee Go Home" signs.
Trump dismissed Denmark's defenses as "two dogsleds as protection, one added recently." Denmark insists the island isn't for sale, but with Trump appointing a special envoy and giving no comment when asked if he'd use military force to take the territory, the crisis shows no signs of cooling.
Read More on Opinion
- Essential Reading: Trump’s Greenland Gambit Leaves Americans Out in the Cold
Jonas Gahr Støre⬇
Norway's prime minister received a late-night text from Trump on Sunday: "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize…I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace." Store patiently explained that Norway's government doesn't award the prize—a detail Trump either doesn't know or doesn't care about. Who knew the Donroe Doctrine was just a Nobel Prize campaign?
Alice Weidel ⬇
The German far-right AFD leader has spent months cultivating Trump ties, sending dozens of party officials to Washington for MAGA photo ops and pledging to fight European "civilizational erasure" cited in the new US National Security Strategy. But she's said his Greenland threats violate international law "just like Putin." When your political ally in nationalism is annexing your continent, the cognitive dissonance writes itself.
Ken Howery ⬆
Trump nominated the PayPal co-founder and Peter Thiel protégé as Denmark ambassador specifically to negotiate Greenland's acquisition. His venture capital firm is also backing the tech bro Praxis vision of creating an "internet-native nation" on the island. Nothing says libertarian "freedom city" like trashing international sovereignty.
Ronald Lauder ⬆
The Estée Lauder heir first pitched Greenland acquisition to Trump during the first term, according to John Bolton. Now he's invested in Greenlandic business interests while Trump threatens war over the territory. From anti-aging serums to Arctic conquest: American cosmetics wealth finds a way.
King Frederik X ⬇
Denmark's monarch changed the royal coat of arms for the first time in 500 years, emphasizing a bear and a ram to symbolize Greenland's place in the kingdom. Even after 800 years of sovereignty, heraldic damage control has its limits against a supposed NATO ally.
Hans Christian Febiger ⬇
The American Revolutionary commander known as "Old Denmark" served as George Washington's trusted confidant at Valley Forge, led the assault at Stony Point, and helped America break free from colonial rule. Two and a half centuries later, the country he helped liberate is threatening to seize his homeland's territory. The Founding Fathers wouldn't recognize this inheritance.
Originally a staple of Newsweek's print edition, Conventional Wisdom used arrows to track whose stock was rising or falling in the political circus. We're reviving it in the digital age because the problem it lampooned—hyperbole and partisan certainty masquerading as insight—has only intensified.
CW assigns arrows—up, down, or sideways—to the figures and forces shaping current events. The arrows don't predict the future or claim special insight. They capture the prevailing winds of the moment, uncluttered by tribal howling. In an era when partisan media reinforces rather than questions assumptions, CW operates from the center—skeptical of left and right alike, committed to puncturing inflated reputations and recognizing overlooked truths.
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