Bulwark Takes - Trump’s Delusional Plan To Take Greenland Makes Us The Bad Guys

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Tim Miller and JVL discuss JD and Usha Vance's trip to Greenland, along with national security adviser Mike Waltz, and what message this sends to our allies as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin continue to say the US should annex the territory.

Hey everybody, it's Tim Miller from the Bulwark here with my colleague JVL. We want to go deep on this Greenland story because it is insane what is happening right now. Today, our country, the United States, is sending three top officials to Greenland as part of our neo-colonial effort to seize the country, I guess. Meanwhile, the Greenlanders and people of Denmark have been pushing back aggressively, much more aggressively than the opposition here in our own country. So we want to give you a play-by-play of everything that's happened. But to kind of set the tone for that, JVL, I want to play for you a real-life ABC World News Tonight segment that aired last night.

A high-level American delegation led by Vice President J.D. Vance is heading to Greenland. President Trump insisting the U.S. will, quote, go as far as we have to go to gain control of the island. ABC's senior national correspondent Terry Moran is there. And Terry, this has really become a high-stakes visit. Yeah, this is a dramatic moment in the struggle for Greenland. Vice President Vance is going to be visiting a U.S. Space Force base in the far north of Greenland, but his message is much bigger. The administration is arguing that Greenland, which is part of Denmark, has been neglected by the Danes and by previous U.S. administrations, and Greenlanders would be better off under

U.S. ownership. This is a wild land. It's rich in rare earth materials, and it sits along strategic sea lanes that are opening up from climate change and russia and china see that too right now most greenlanders reject trump's goals the foreign minister saying that if the vice president visits a town here he'll be greeted by chance of yankee go home this is a dramatic moment in the struggle for greenland the struggle for greenland that's a thing it's not a's a thing? It's not a Christopher Guest movie. It's real, and it's

spectacular. I, you know, this is I guess America just needs some living space. The Germans have a word for this. I don't remember. Lebensraum? Lebensraum. Maybe that's all we just need. So, Donald Trump said today, quote, we need Greenland for national security and international security. So we'll, I think, we'll go as far as we have to go. We need Greenland for national security and international security. So we'll, I think we'll go as far as we have to go. I mean, if we need it for national security and international security, Tim, then that's a line in the sand, isn't it? It's not a, this is a nice to have, we think it would

be really good for us to be able to get some rare earth minerals you know he's laid down a marker if he doesn't do it he's putting america's national security at risk right yeah and i mean and if you're greenland obviously good reason to fear this i repeat the population of greenland here in louisiana you probably haven't even heard of these cities. It's about the size of Monroe, Louisiana or Bossier City. It's not smaller than Lake Charles, smaller than Lafayette. I mean, like it's a very, it's a very small country. Obviously, if America decided, I don't know what that would mean as far as going as far as we have to. But it's a very intimidating threat to make to Greenland in the context of the vice president, the second lady, and now the national security advisor being there later today.

The other thing that happened tonight – What's the national security advisor doing there? Right? I mean, again, it's preposterous. We're going to get to this. He got out of our way. There is no way to spin that except as a threat, right? I mean, this is like the old gunboat diplomacy. Why do you go and park a battleship three miles off the coast of some banana republic?

And you do it because you're letting them know that they got to do what you want or else. And sending the NSA there. I mean, that's it's ridiculous. And you see what Putin said today. So, you know, who knows a little something about this kind of diplomacy? You tell me. I didn't. I haven't seen it.

OK, so on Thursday, Vladimir Putin was in Murmansk and he just, he was speaking at a policy forum and he had some things to say about America's designs on Greenland. And he basically vouched for U.S. interests. And he said that, uh, look, America has had a long history of claims on Greenland and it all makes perfect sense. And here's the quote. It can look surprising only at first glance, and it would be wrong to believe that this is some sort of extravagant talk by the current U.S. administration. It's obvious that the United States will continue to systematically advance its geostrategic, military, political, and economic interests in the Arctic. You know, it's just... Vladimir Putin is talking about the U.S. and Greenland the way he talks about Russia and Ukraine.

Yeah. Right? He says this is the... The Russians have a historical claim on the land of Ukraine. Ukraine's not even really a country. And so, you know, it's in their interest. They need to have it. And from his, from Poodie Pood's perspective, America's the same as he is with Greenland.

We're now in a place where Vladimir Putin is advancing American foreign policy interests, according to his own lights. And we are threatening NATOo treaty members correct and vladimir putin sees this more clearly than people in our country who are a lot of whom are treating this as a joke he sees what has happened and i just i just want to tick through this all for everybody for the week for the week because you might think this is like some big troll or whatever but how how would you look at this if you're denmark or if you're greenland this series events i you have no choice but to take it deadly seriously to see it the same way that that putin is saying it i guess is that this is a legitimate effort for america to try to seize the country of greenland so i obviously tries to talk about this for a while but i just

want to go through what's happened this week jd'sD.'s on the Sunday shows on Maria Bartiromo, and he says this about his explanation for why we are making advances on Greenland. Denmark, which controls Greenland, it's not doing its job and it's not being a good ally. So you have to ask yourself, how are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security? If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do because he doesn't care about what the Europeans scream at us. He cares about putting the interests of America's citizens first. So J.D. says that Denmark is not doing its job and not being a good ally. Tsk, tsk, Denmark. Have you said thank you lately? Tsk, tsk.

When's the last time? It doesn't even make sense. He doesn't give any proof for it. Denmark spent 2.5% last year on defense. They're going to spend over 3% this year. That's way above the NATO target that Trump always obsesses over, that they aren't paying their fair share. What is he even talking

about this is nothing except just a threat or a shakedown okay yeah then on top of that you know denmark has also sent troops to in harm's way on behalf of us i want to play a clip from rufus gifford friend friend of mine. He's a former ambassador to Denmark. And he was talking about this on his social media earlier this week. Hi, all. Okay. So to say I'm a bit worked up this morning is an understatement. And that's because of this. Yesterday, the Vice President of the united states goes on fox news and says that denmark is not a very good ally now i i know that a lot of people would know how i feel about this but i want to tell you why and and it is in part because yes i was the one for a number of years that would

go to the prime minister or the foreign minister or the defense minister and ask on behalf of the United States government for them to send their young men and women to Iraq to fight ISIS, to help go remove chemical weapons from Syria, to go fight Ebola in Africa. I did it every time and every single time they said yes, and they said yes without hesitation, and in part because it was the United States of America, a great ally, asking them to do it. Have lost more people per capita, young men and women in Afghanistan than any country other than the United States of America. It is just shameful. I have been to go through numerous surgeries and now live in constant pain because of something that happened to them on the battlefield. For them and their families to now hear the vice president talk like this is just heartbreaking. And honestly,

Americans, we have to show outrage to our European partners. This is shameful and this is a moral shortcoming. And honestly, look, we understand that the reason he's saying it is because they are not bowing, bending the knee to Trump's authoritarian, imperialistic takeover of Greenland. We get that. But at some point, this is about something so much bigger. This is about the men and women. I hope that J.D. Vance could say this, not just to the face of Maria Bartiromo, but go to Denmark and say that to the face of the parents of the young men and women who've lost their lives alongside U.S. troops. Say it to them, and then you will have just an ounce of courage,

but until then, it is just shameful. And look, Americans, we need to show a little outrage here. Our partners and allies expect it from us, and they deserve better. Thanks. So this is the ambassador to Denmark. He's saying, what are you talking about? They haven't been a good ally. They have been a good ally.

We've gone to them and asked them, will you put Danish young men and women in harm's way on behalf of America and American interests? They've said yes. What have we ever done for Denmark? So, like, I don't know i don't know what j what i mean what does jd vance want is there even an ask here is this just simply jd vance like being a condescending prick and trying to push him around no i i mean who knows here's the thing the The American claim on Greenland exists purely in the mind of Donald Trump. You notice this vital national security interest. Did you hear about it in the first administration? Like we talked about it for like two days, right? And then he stopped talking like, why didn't why didn't we pursue it throughout all those four years?

It was so vital. And the minute he backburners it, then everyone be like, yeah, Greenland, whatever. We were just kidding. Look at you suckers. We got you to think we were serious about annexing Greenland. Right. Isn't this how it's governed by troll? Yeah, I guess so. But I i mean their trolls eventually like become real right i mean like the 2020 election fraud was a troll for a while like this is this is how these guys work so you know i i don't i i guess we should go without saying but like the party being a bad ally here is the one that is threatening their ally for no reason over nothing. So anyway,

so, so this is Sunday again, imagine you're met Fredrickson, your leader of, of, of Denmark. And you're just kind of watching this all unfold. Here's the U S vice president on Sunday, randomly insulting you saying that you're a bad ally.

Fast forward a day later, his wife, second lady announces that she is going on a cultural visit in one of the most awkward videos that I've ever seen in my life that really could be a Christopher Guest video. Let's play that. Hello. I'm so excited to share that I'll be visiting Kuala Lumpur, Greenland next weekend. I'm particularly thrilled to visit during our national dog sled race, which our country is proud to support as a sponsor. I've been reading all about it with my children, and I'm amazed by the incredible skill

and teamwork that it takes to participate in this race. I'm also coming to celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations, and to express hope that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years. I look forward to meeting many of you soon, and to learning

from you about your beautiful land, culture, and traditions. See you soon. Okay, that's Usha. My favorite part of the video, did you catch it, JV? Did you catch my favorite part in the back corner? The Hunter is a book. Do you know what book it is? Oh boy. It's not what we did. Al Gore, Life in Balance. It's an Al Gore climate change book I and the whole thing is again it's just it's veep it's like what she can't even read she's got this climate change book behind her the second lady is going to come to a dog racing thing right after my husband is has as saber rattled ridiculous right then you fast forward a couple of days later,

the vice president himself says he's coming. Let's watch. Hey guys, it's Shady Vance, the vice president. And you know, there was so much excitement around Usha's visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't want her to have all that fun by herself. And so I'm going to join her. I'm going to visit some of our guardians in the Space Force on the Northwest coast of Greenland. and also just check out what's going on with the security there of Greenland. As you know, it's really important. A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada,

and of course to threaten the people of Greenland. So we're going to check out how things are going there. And I say that speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland. So we're going to check out how things are going there. And I say that speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it's important to protecting the security of the entire world. Unfortunately, leaders in both America and in Denmark, I think, ignored Greenland for far too long. That's been bad for Greenland. It's also been bad for the security of the entire world. We think we can take things in a different direction. So I'm going to go check it out. The excitement was so great, JVL, that they've demanded him to come. But here's what actually

happened in the meantime. This is a report from a Danish outlet said that American representatives have been walking around Greenland. So not only, by the way, is the VP threatening them. Not only is the second lady now saying that she's coming. The president's obviously been threatening them. We've got representatives on the ground, according to Danish journalists. I don't know what Doge thinks about this as far as the efficiency and use of our money. But they're walking around knocking on doors asking if people might be interested in a visit for from usha it's like there was this advanced team i guess that said we're gonna go try to find some friendly green lenders and everybody's like

no fucking pound one person one person who's willing to be in the same room as this woman they weren't able to find it pound ice they weren't able to and i understand it's a small country but still you know like in any population of 40 000 people you'll find somebody who believes in aliens or something right you should be able to find one person who's like yeah i'd like to meet her seems like a nice lady over the house we can have tea do they do tea in greenland i don't know what they do you can have some narwhal blubber. Yeah, have some blubber. Well, you know, I'll braid your horse, kaboobin. You would think.

No. So what had been initially announced. Maybe play some flugelball. As a three-day cultural visit by Usha. She needs a husband to come. And now it's all been abandoned. And they're going to travel just themselves together for a one-day visit to a sealed-off military base. And as mentioned at the top, they're bringing along the National Security Advisor.

National Security Advisor, right. Maybe they're going to look at the fortifications, see what the armory looks like, right? Be like a Christy Noem checking out the armory of the El Salvadoran Supermax present, looking at the rifles and nodding her head. Yeah, oh, that's a good one. Tim, I don't want to be too serious here. No, this is serious i mean like what is not serious about the national security advisor and the vice president going to a military installation in greenland after repeated threats at their sovereignty so like how is nato supposed to survive this it's unsurvivable

and it's already dead i mean a member state threatening another member state with annexation? I mean, I just, I don't know what to, I don't know what to say or do. you've got to look at this and start to believe that not only is the United States not your ally anymore, but they are a potential adversary now. Yeah, I mean, I think if I'm the Brits, I'm doing a flyover. Well, J.D. Vance and Michael Waltz are there, right? you know and what would you be doing if putin had sent you know and like his security attache and the whoever the fake vice premier is the who's the drunk guy that used to be president and sends mean tweets all the time now uh like send send that guy and the security like to greenland uh you know that that would be a real like there would be real NATO.

It would feel like they'd have to do something. I mean, France, France has a bunch of boomers. France's nukes are on are on nuclear, nuclear submarines, ballistic subs. Maybe one of them want to just like pop up off the coast of the coast of Greenland over the this weekend and just wave hi. Tim, we're at the point where we're the bad guys. And I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't quite know how to live with that. You know? Like, how do you internalize that? Like, I don't know. I wrote today about, you know, we we had we had masked federal agents not in uniforms yanking a woman off the streets this week up in Boston.

We have the secretary of Homeland Security posing in front of prisoners who have been forced to stand at attention in a cage so that she can have a nice backdrop for her for her video like this is it's like what the vietcong did this is i i don't like i just get this sense that things are moving very very fast and that nobody else sees it. Yeah, well, I mean, everyone else is, I think, just very Pollyanna. And they're making a bet that I just don't know how you can make right now. That's possible. It's not a 0% chance they're right. But that just, this is kind of a brinksmanship of its own. Like that Trump, and Trump was just, is backing down.

Right? Like that this is all, it's a bet that it's all kayfabe right that it's all WWE and that like they're gonna do the Greenland thing is just this week's Monday Night Raw and next week's Monday Night this, on disappearing actual citizens that they're going to step away from the brink. They're going to step away from the cliff and they're just going to do the showy stuff. I mean, that's the best case scenario. I just don't know how you get there right now when we're nine weeks in and this is off as far as we are already we're sending the national security advisor to threaten greenland on thursday night tim uh we had reports

in the media that a russian national who's been living here on a visa in america who's a professor up in boston um was returning to Loken Airport from a conference abroad and was seized by ICE and sent to the Louisiana detention facility. We don't have confirmation as of when we're taping as to whether or not all the particulars of this are true. But this professor is a... There's some reports it might have been

that she had some scientific materials that were whatever, not that were not customs approved. But again, like Louisiana. A Putin critic. Yeah. Is the position of the United States now that we're going to do favors for Putin and ship people that he wants to kill back to Russia for him? We're about to find out the answer to that question. Is that, is that what the United States government does now?

Cause I, I I'm sorry. That's just evil. Like all this stuff is Stasi shit. And I, to the extent that I don't know, not everybody in America, but like 250 million Americans are walking around like,

eh, it's all fine. You know, like it'll all work out. I just don't understand how, like, I feel like I'm at DEF CON 3 already. And as you said, we're only eight or nine weeks in. I don't know, man. I'm with you. I'm with you.

I don't know. I think it's, I don't know. It's so much to bear. And that is why I wanted to do this with you and put it out there because I think that there's a way – there are basically two other ways to cover the Greenland story. The ABC way that we showed at the top, which is just like full – Straight down the middle. Straight down the middle straight straight down the middle we're just gonna treat this like it's any other news item like that like it's like just as if we were you know the vice

president was going to meet with the new leader of another country and we're gonna have a bilat and a press conference and it's like the vice president is pushing for our interest today in a meeting with the new leader of romania right like it's like you could president is pushing for our interest today in a meeting with the new leader of Romania. Right. Like, it's like you could do it like that. You could do it joking. Like, it's just like these fucking guys. Like, what a goof.

Like, what? How silly is this? Right. Or you can just look at the series events and say, like, this is a this is at least a quasi-serious effort to invade another country, invade another sovereign country that is associated with one of our treaty allies. For the purposes of simply pillaging it and taking its resources? Yeah. And that's the other thing, right? I mean, this is no different really than Iraq, or it would be no different than Iraq invading Kuwait.

Right. No. Right. Right? Correct. Well, this is another time we're on the side of the baddies. Okay, JVL, another uplifting video. Good to see you.

Hey, everybody, subscribe to the feed. We'll be monitoring the visit today, and we'll maybe be back on to discuss if, I don't know, Mike Waltz puts the American flag in Greenland like he's Neil Armstrong. Who the hell knows what could happen? Whatever it is, we'll be here. We'll see you all then. Good luck, America.