What A Day - Why Greenland Keeps Rejecting America's Advances

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

President Donald Trump’s obsession with Greenland isn’t new. Back in 2019, he made an offer to buy the island, but was told by Denmark and Greenland that it was not for sale. It still isn’t – as Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, and the good people of Greenland itself keep making incredibly clear. But Trump is not the first U.S. President to express interest in the island. So how did we get here? For more on our long, weird relationship with Greenland, we spoke to Ronald Doel. He’s a professor at Florida State University and co-editor of “Exploring Greenland: Cold War Science and Technology on Ice.”And in headlines, Congress releases the text of a new funding package to keep the government open, President Trump gives a very weird press briefing, and the measles is having a record resurgence in the U.S.Show Notes:Check out Exploring Greenland: Cold War Science and Technology on IceCall Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Wednesday, January 21st. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show celebrating Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for speaking up for the everyday retiree landlords, who may be affected by the president's new, quote-unquote, affordability agenda. We are going to give guidance at some point to see what is a mom and pop that someone, maybe your parents for their retirement, about five, ten, ten, twelve, homes, so we don't want to push the mom and pops out. We just want to push everyone else out. Yes, everyday moms and pops with their 10 to 12 homes. You know, normal stuff. On today's show, Congress released the text of a new funding package to keep the government open.

Yay! But it gives immigration and customs enforcement $10 billion. Bo. And measles is back. Maybe. The contagious disease that was once considered eliminated in the U.S. of is having a record resurgence. But let's start with Greenland. We've sure been talking a lot about the world's largest island, haven't we? That's because, as we've mentioned on this show, President Donald Trump is absolutely obsessed

with obtaining Greenland by any means necessary. He made his latest vague threat on Tuesday during a very weird press conference, even by Trump standards, because for one thing, he also praised the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. How far are you willing to go to acquire green? You'll find out.

But Trump's obsession with Greenland isn't new. Back in 2019, he made an offer to buy the island, but was told by Denmark and Greenland that it was not for sale. It still isn't, as Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, and the good people of Greenland itself keep making incredibly clear. In fact, thousands of Greenlanders gathered in the capital city of Nuka on Saturday to send exactly that message. Here are two protesters' perspectives, courtesy of Forbes.

So Donald, we don't want to be Americans. we are Greenlanders and we want to be in a democratic world and we hope Americans they will support us. I've never met an American who thinks anything other.

Greenland should be free and Greenland should be for the Greenlanders, not for the Americans. Some protesters in Newk even wore red hats that read, make America go away, which is a great sign for American diplomacy.

But all of this insanity isn't just affecting Greenlanders, though seriously, they do not want this. stocks are plummeting, and Trump's obsession with a semi-autonomous region is putting NATO at risk, scrambling decades-old alliances, and even putting European right-wing parties on defense, because it turns out that, actually, even right-wing anti-liberals don't want America running Greenland. And have I mentioned that American voters opposed taking control of Greenland by, like, massive margins?

So how did we get here? Well, as we've mentioned, Greenland is a part of Denmark and has been for a really, really long time. But this is not the first time the United States has expressed interest in the island. So to talk more about our long, weird relationship with an island I have learned more about in the last three weeks and in the 38 years I've been alive, I spoke to Ronald Dole. He's a professor at Florida State University and a co-editor of exploring Greenland, Cold War Science and Technology on Ice. Ronald, welcome to what today. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. You visited Greenland.

Everything I know about Greenland is very recent, or it's about the fact that Greenland isn't very green. So what's it like? It's an extraordinary place to fly into. If one's lucky has a window seat, you look out over the immense ice cap and then start to see some rocks and local mountains coming up as the plane. approaches the coast, and then it is a really rugged, almost in many places, treeless landscape. The old airport that used to be one of the U.S. bases was relaxed enough that if you had time between flights, you could walk out of the airport, cross a small road, and get pizza at a local shop across the way or walk into the small town nearby or see an immense fast-flowing stream

of glacier water heading towards the ocean. There are about, what, 57,000 people in Greenland. How do Greenlanders feel about their relationship with Denmark now? Have they pushed for complete independence? Has there been an independence movement previous to all of this? The people in Greenlanders, like so many people who were in colonial-type relations, shafed under some of the limitations, restrictions. At the same time, Denmark has continued to support the residents in Greenland with social services, with health service, with general levels of support parallel to what citizens in Greenland.

would receive. So it's a complicated, rich relationship. If the Greenlandic folk could become fully independent in an ideal world, that might be a high desire. But all that is mitigated by the limited resources available, the economic situation, and just general, in that broadest sense, welfare support that is coming from Denmark. All those are positives that mitigate somewhat the sting of still having something of a colonial relationship. And of course, Greenland's been moving towards gaining ever greater autonomy over its affairs, certainly domestic affairs. And Greenlanders, very recently, when asked to choose,

that the choice is between staying with Denmark or the United States made clear they really preferred Denmark. The U.S. first started talking about acquiring the Arctic Island more than 100 years ago. Why have we historically been so interested in Greenland? It's a really good question. Think back to 1867. It's just after the end of the U.S. Civil War, Secretary of State Seward has negotiated to purchase Alaska.

Yes, Seward's Folly. Right. He's looking at the map and he's seeing, my gosh, there's yet another possible territory in the north that could be valuable. for instance, for fishing. So interest goes way back, and there were other attempts beginning of the 20th century, a kind of complicated land swap possibility with Denmark that didn't go through. Greenland became really central to how the U.S. military was operating in the North during the key years of World War II.

And that relationship solidified into the early Cold War, the Arctic, particularly at the very start of the Cold War, was seen as a potential theater of military operations. It was the closest distance one could travel to get from North America over to the Orasian continent. and military experts, Pentagon planners, were really concerned. War could break out, and if it did, it would be at least largely centered up in the Arctic, and having a facility in that region became really important. One description of Greenland that was given at the very early part of the Cold War, the world's largest stationary aircraft carry. Harry Truman was well aware of the value of Greenland made it offer.

Would Denmark relinquish Greenland for a payment of $100 million? Greenland very firmly then said no. So at what point do other countries start getting interested in Greenland themselves? And have there been other attempts to just seize it? Not like what we are seeing in the past few years since. the Trump administration back in 2019 first started expressing interest in acquiring Greenland in some way.

There are mineral deposits in Greenland that are potentially quite valuable for a number of industries and those have been coveted by major industrial centers. China had wanted to gain a bit more access more than a decade ago. But uranium's no longer being mined. And there really hasn't been that much activity from other foreign actors in Greenland now for quite some years.

You mentioned that this latest push by Trump differs from past attempts to acquire Greenland. So what's different this time? A sense that maintaining the larger Western alliance, recognizing. recognizing Denmark as one of the founding members of NATO and wanting to keep good relations with Western Europe, all that was paramount. And the U.S. and Danish authorities, they differed in what they sought to do for policy and activities in Greenland. But they figured out ways to work it out. in the last, really, just the last few months, that level of trust has really been hammered. I'll just ask, is this the biggest threat Greenland has faced?

That's what a number of commentators have recently said. And certain politicians, the ones who just went on the mission to Copenhagen to talk directly with Dana officials, some of whom have access to briefings to know the larger state of play, said in the moment, the threat to Greenland is not coming from Russia, not coming from China, but coming from the U.S. So it's pretty clear that President Trump isn't backing down on this. Like we keep hearing the like, no, no, no, this is a negotiation tactic. But like, there's no negotiation happening. Greenland, Denmark, none of their allies are backing down either.

As a historian, where do you think we go from here? The one thing that keeps historians from becoming futurologists is how hard it is to try to predict what could happen. Clearly, scenarios in view. If the NATO alliance is limited or shattered, it's nearly eight decades' worth of ways of operating that would be overturned. really quickly, and just what would emerge out of that is uncertain what kinds of conflicts that have long affected Europe might be further inflamed if there weren't those kinds of controls and reassurances that come with the NATO alliance.

Ronald, thank you so much for taking the time to join me. It's my pleasure. That was my conversation with Ronald Dole, professor at Florida State University and co-editor of Exploring Greenland, Cold War Science, and Technology on Ice. Love Water Day? Great. Show your support by hitting that subscribe button and giving us five stars wherever you listen. And check out our YouTube. More to come after some ads. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. The new year doesn't require a new you. Maybe just a less burden to you. Therapy can help more easily identify what weighs you down by offering an unbiased perspective to better understand your relationships, motivations, and emotions. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals.

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Offer valid only for new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto-renewing subscription purchase. Make healthier eating easy with Factor. Here's what else we're following today. Headlines. We have a book that I'm not going to read to you, but these are the accomplishments of what we've produced. All page after page after page, individual things. I could stand here and read it for a week, and we wouldn't be finished. President Trump joined the White House press briefing on Tuesday to mark the first full year of his second term.

Lucky ass. The president's anniversary speech was long, arduous, low energy, and full of weird tangents. First, Trump held up photographs of alleged criminals in Minnesota under the caption, Worst of Worst. Then he rattled off the administration's wins from a prepared packet. Spoiler alert, he's still standing behind those goddamn tariffs. Anyway, we listened to the presser so you don't have to. Here's a little recap of Trump's best moments.

I love Hispanic. They are unbelievable, entrepreneurial. They have everything. I did great. I did the highest. Nobody ever got numbers like I got from the standpoint of being a Republican. What? But don't worry.

There's more. And by the way, I did more for NATO than any other person alive or dead. Nobody's done for NATO. And I think for the most part, they'll tell you that. They would not. Of course, it wouldn't be a Trump speech if he didn't mention former president. Joe Biden 500 million times. That's like I said to Dana White the other night.

I said, you know, Dana? It's like you have a fighter, two fighters. One guy is winning by a lot. And they say, oh, let's take this guy out. Let's put a new fighter in the ring with him. That's what happened to me. I was doing great with Biden. The whole campaign was against Biden.

All the money was spent against Biden. And all of a sudden I got Kamala. Everyone said, who the hell is she? It's time to let it go. I think God is very proud of the job I've done. And that includes for religion. You know, we're protecting a lot of people. Let's end on that display of narcissism.

I think that's enough. Leaders like Tim Walts or Mayor Frye have relied on heated rhetoric and accusations that distract from the facts. Aspiring SS officer, Gregory Bovino, held a press conference Tuesday defending federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and casting blame for the chaos thereon. state and local officials. The Border Patrol Chief's comments came as federal prosecutor served grand jury subpoenas to a slew of those officials. According to a person who spoke with the Associated

press on condition of anonymity, subpoenas were sent to the offices of Minnesota Democrats, Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Allison, and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The source said it's part of an investigation into whether the officials obstructed or impeded federal law enforcement during the sweeping immigration operation in the Twin Cities. A.G. Allison noted the subpoena his office received, was for records and documents. He wrote in a statement on Twitter, quote,

everything about this is highly irregular, especially the fact that this comes shortly after my office sued the Trump administration to challenge their illegal actions within Minnesota. Hmm, you don't say. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye also took the Twitter writing in part, quote, When the federal government weaponizes its power

to try to intimidate local leaders for doing their jobs, every American should be concerned. Congress released the text of a 1,000-plus page $1.2 trillion funding bill on Tuesday, ahead of the January 30th deadline to avoid another government shutdown. Please God, not another shutdown. The bipartisan package would fund a majority of the federal government, including the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Arguably, the most controversial portion of the bill is the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It keeps immigration and customs enforcement's annual budget at about $10 billion through the end of September.

But it does reduce the money set for enforcement and removal operations. It also attempts to add some guardrails, like allocating $20 million to buy and operate body cameras for immigration enforcement agents. Democrats in the House and Senate have said they want broader reforms to restrain officers following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis. But other Dems argue the bill is better than a shutdown. Washington Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement, quote, The suggestion that a shutdown in this moment might curb the lawlessness of this administration is not rooted in reality. Under a CR and in a shutdown, this administration can do everything they are already doing, but without any of the critical guardrails and constraints imposed by a full-year funding bill.

One question. Do they seem constrained now? The House is expected to vote on the package later this week, with a separate vote just in the DHS portion. South Carolina health officials announced an additional 88 cases of the measles on Tuesday, marking a total of 646 cases reported there since October. Yes, those measles, the highly infectious disease that can kill you, and is easily preventable with a highly effective and safe vaccine that came out over 60 years ago. The U.S. was considered to have eliminated measles in 2000 and has remained measles free for the last quarter century. But in recent years, as childhood vaccination rates have dropped,

the virus has made a mysterious and inexplicable comeback. Or, you know, the opposite of mysterious and inexplicable. Actually, very explicable. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed more than 2,000 measles cases across 44 states, the most since 1991, and nearly 50 separate outbreaks. International health authorities say they will meet in April to determine if the U.S. has lost its measles-free designation.

It's based on whether a single measles chain has spread uninambriced, interrupted within the country for at least 12 months. Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the West Texas outbreak, which included almost 800 cases and killed two children. And that's the news. Before we go, it's time to warm up for the midterms of sweatshirts from the Crooked Store. There are styles for everyone, crewnecks, hoodies, zip-ups, and all-black options for people who spill coffee on everything they wear.

If you're looking for your election, your emotional support sweatshirt, I particularly love the call Congress crewneck. the America Wall Supplies last zip-up, and the classic Crooked logo hoodie. Stop poutling around your overheating phone for warmth and pick up some cozy merch to help you get through this year. Head to crooked.com slash store to shop sweatshirts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, check out the latest list of Trump pardons, which is full of fraudsters, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just about how it's very clear that despite his rhetoric on Somalis and welfare fraud,

Trump is pretty into fraud as long as he likes the fraudsters, like me. Whataday is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston. And one of Trump's pardons marks, round two for one fraudster. Because he pardoned Adriana Kambaros the first time during his first term, then she did more fraud, was convicted, and as of last week, pardoned by Trump again.

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