Bulwark Takes - Watch Scott Bessent Debase Himself Defending Trump’s Greenland Threats

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Will Saletan surgically dissects one of the most embarrassing interviews of the Trump administration: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent twisting himself into knots on Meet the Press to defend Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland and Europe.Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/TAKES and use promo code TAKES at checkout.

Hey, it's Will Salatin from The Bullwork. I want to show you today one of the most embarrassing interviews of the entire Trump administration. So it happened on Sunday, and it's Scott Besant, the Treasury Secretary, and he's twisting himself into a pretzel to justify Trump's totally crazy threats against Greenland. Okay, so on Saturday, Trump posted an insane message on truth social. He said that unless Europe agrees to sell Greenland to the United States, he's going to tariff a bunch of European countries, all the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, plus France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. And Trump accused the Europeans of playing a dangerous game against America. And he said,

strong measures will have to be taken against them. So he's implicitly threatening a military confrontation with Europe to get Greenland. So obviously this is completely insane. But on Sunday, Besson went on Meet the Press and he tried to justify Trump's insanity. So let me take you through his 10 most embarrassing arguments. Ready? Okay. Rationalization number one. We don't want to get dragged in to a war. Here's Besson. If there were an attack on Greenland from Russia, from some other area, we would get dragged in. So better now, peace through strength, make it part of the United States. The United States needs to be in control to prevent a war

and that we do not want to get dragged into someone else's war. Oh, no. We don't want to get dragged in to somebody else's war. See, if we just hang back and wait, somebody else might go in and start a war in Greenland. See, they would attack Greenland. And then Greenland would drag in Denmark. And then Denmark would drag in NATO. And then NATO would drag in us. So Trump and Besson have a much, much better idea. Why don't we just cut out the middlemen and we'll go in now and start our own war to take Greenland? See, we'll start a trade war. And if that doesn't work, we'll start a shooting war to take Greenland. And that way, we won't get dragged in to somebody else's war. genius, right? Rationalization number two.

We have to take Greenland because it's an emergency. Here's the question that was posed to Bessent from the host of Meet the Press, Kristen Welker. The president, as you well know, has justified his authority to impose previous tariffs without going to Congress by declaring national emergencies. It's an issue before the Supreme Court right now. We're all awaiting the high court's decision. What is the national emergency that justifies this? these new slate of tariffs? The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.

It is a strategic decision by the president. This is a geopolitical decision. And he is able to use the economic might of the U.S. to avoid a hot war. Oh, so there might be a war somewhere down the line if we don't act. And that, that possibility of an emergency is the emergency. Bessent literally says the emergency is that we have to avoid an emergency. So any situation is an emergency since it could lead eventually to an actual emergency.

Right. Rationalization number three is we have asymmetric information. Here's Welker again. Senior Democrats say there are no pressing threats on Greenland security from Russia or China. The Danish foreign minister says, There hasn't been a Chinese warship in Greenland for a decade. What evidence do you have that this is a pressing threat? Well, first of all, Kristen, we have asymmetric information.

Ooh, we have asymmetric information. See, that is information nobody else has. Not the Danish government, which actually has sovereignty over Greenland and has way, way, way better intelligence than we do. And not the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee who would know if we really did have secret information about Russia and China operating in Greenland. No, Trump and Besson have information that is so secret. They haven't shared it with anybody else, almost as though they're making it up. Bollwork takes a sponsored by Delete Me. Delete Me makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online at a timeline. And surveillance and data breaches are common

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private life private by signing up for Delete Me. Now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to join DeleteMe.com slash takes and use promo code takes at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to join DeleteMe.com. slash takes and enter code takes at the checkout. That's joined delete me.com slash takes code takes. Rationalization number four. We don't need to have any intelligence that Russia is about to attack Greenland. We should just assume that they're going to attack because Russia attacks without warning. Watch what happens when Bessent tries to use Ukraine as an example. What evidence was there that the Russians were going into crime?

What evidence was, well, actually there was a lot of evidence that the Russians were going to go into Ukraine. And Joe Biden said, well, just take a little bit of it. This is such a dumb argument that Besson had to stop after the first sentence. Well, actually, what an idiot. Rationalization number five, America should never outsource our security. We are not going to outsource our hemispheric security to other countries. Again, we are not going to outsource our Western Hemisphere Security to others. Did you catch how Besant described our security? Not just national security. He said our

hemispheric security. So when he says we won't outsource the security of our hemisphere, what he's saying is we won't let other countries in our hemisphere control their own security. We have to control everything because if we actually let other countries control themselves, that would be outsourcing. So what he's really justifying here is American world domination. Okay, rationalization number six, Europe needs our security umbrella. The European leaders will come around and they will understand that they need to be under the U.S. security umbrella. Oh, right. What Europe really needs is to be.

under the nice, safe, warm protection of the United States. And how do we show them that we're a trustworthy protector by threatening them with tariffs or an invasion if they don't give us what we want? That is what Besson's calling a security umbrella. Seriously? Okay, rationalization number seven. If we stop supporting Ukraine, it's going to collapse. What would happen in Ukraine that if the U.S. pulled its support out. The whole thing would collapse. Okay, first of all, we did stop supporting Ukraine. Trump constantly brags that Joe Biden gave Ukraine way too much military aid, and Trump stopped it. But instead of giving the aid, Trump is now selling weapons to NATO, and NATO is giving those weapons to Ukraine. So it sounds, it sounds like Besson is saying, you know, we could cut off that

supply of weapons. And that kind of sounds like a threat. You give us Greenland or we cut off Ukraine. What an absolute dirtbag. Rationalization number eight, America knows best. Here's Welker. If the United States were to take Greenland by force, how would that be different than Russia's annexation of Crimea? Look, I believe that the Europeans will understand that this is best for Greenland, best for Europe and best for the United States. That's it. That was his whole answer. She asked him how America taking Greenland is morally different from Russia taking part of Ukraine. And he has no answer.

His only answer is we know best, which is pretty much what Putin said about taking Ukraine. Rationalization number nine is Denmark sterilized women in Greenland. So according to Besant, this. outrageous treatment of natives is why Denmark, which again has sovereignty over Greenland, should surrender it to the United States. Let's look back. Denmark has a terrible history with Greenlanders. There was forced sterilizations up until the 80s or the 90s. Okay, first of all, let's get the story right. It wasn't sterilization. It was IUDs. But it's true. A report came out a few months ago confirming that Danish doctors put IUDs.

in hundreds of girls in Greenland without their consent or knowledge. And that is really bad. But you know what country actually did literally sterilize Native women? The United States. Here's a summary from our own National Library of Medicine. It says our Indian Health Service sterilized more than 3,000 Native American women without their permission in just three years in the 1970s. And overall, we did that to one of every four Native American women.

So if that kind of abuse means that Denmark should get out of Greenland, then the United States government should get the hell out of North America. And finally, rationalization number 10, Europe is too weak to defend Greenland. The United States right now, we are the hottest country in the world, we are the strongest country in the world. Europeans project weakness, U.S. project strength. We have seen the Europeans are unable to push back against Russia. Let me get this straight.

Besson is telling Europe, you guys are such cowards. You are so weak that you won't fight to defend Greenland. So we, the United States, are going to come in and take it from you. That is basically a dare. If the Europeans want to show America that they're willing to defend Greenland, then the obvious answer is to defend Greenland against America. We are the bad guys in Greenland. And this whole disgusting interview by a punk in a suit who will say absolutely anything

to justify American world domination is why the world needs to stand up to America. See you next time.