Today's News: Greenland might be back on Trump's agenda

I am a little amused at how startled Americans are now, to learn that Greenland and Europe, plus Canada, was ready to fight back in January, to defend Greenland against Trump.

What did they think the North would do? Just roll over? 

This is truly insane, and it should be front page news across America. Denmark secretly deployed soldiers to Greenland prepared to blow up airport runways to stop a U.S. invasion.

— Mike Levin (@mikelevin.org) March 25, 2026 at 9:42 AM

Rachel Maddow reported on this in her Monday MSNOW show:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Pk... U.S. ally prepares to defend itself against ...the United States Rachel Maddow looks at the news stories we would have trouble believing including Denmark, a U.S. ally, making preparations to defend itself and Greenland against the U.S

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— Canadian Curmudgeon 🍁 (@cdncurmudgeon.bsky.social) March 24, 2026 at 3:58 PM

Fascinating commentary today from Obama's ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford The Lasting Impact of Trump’s Greenland Madness

...When I hear well intentioned Danish and American politicians and national security experts criticize Trump’s Greenland desires by talking about decades old treaties or the ease of our ability to re-establish American military presence on Greenland by working through the process – all important points that I make as well – this “think tank speak” misses a larger point. There’s something much more fundamental on the line. Something more human.
Trump’s Greenland rhetoric has inspired anti-American sentiment across Denmark and the continent because it is grounded in fundamental disrespect. He challenges their capabilities, mocks their commitments, dismisses their sacrifice. Something that every other American President publicly valued, and of which Danes are very proud, is how a country of 5.6 million people could consistently “punch far above their weight.”
Trump’s rhetoric and subsequent actions have demolished the trust of Danes and Europeans that we have worked decades to build. So much so that Danes have made preparations to defend its territory from a potential military invasion from its greatest ally on earth. Even writing these words right now still feels unthinkable to me.
But… with all the focus on Prime Ministers and Presidents, they are not the ones who truly matter here. It is the average citizen who sends their teenage kids to study in every corner of the US, their young adults who aspire to an elite American University education, their soldiers who dream of serving alongside American troops, their entrepreneurs who look to the US as their dream expansion territory for their young business, and their tourist who invest in a month long holiday exploring the American west. You can’t walk the streets of Copenhagen without hearing these stories.
Trump and Vance’s visceral disdain for Europe and NATO, best evidenced in the Greenland rhetoric, has sent shockwaves through the parliaments in Europe but also through the cafes, schools and streets. Danes have gone through various stages of grief over the course of the past year. Disbelief. Shock. Sadness. Anger. Some are boycotting American products. Some are boycotting travel to the US. Some are rethinking their investments.
As my inbox is floods with comments from folks around the world, some express hope for the midterms, some implore Democrats to fight harder against the “madman” in the White House, some yearn for the past and hope for the future in 2029, and then there are the folks who say with a mix of anger and sadness that their trust in the United States of America is gone for good.
If you are an American who loves freedom and democracy and everything we have collectively fought for, that should break your heart. We risk being an adversary or even an enemy of the same people who have fought for and died alongside us.
The world mourned alongside us on 9/11. Danes and the rest of NATO invoked article 5 and sent their young men and women to Afghanistan to defend the United States. Just like in the US, many European soldiers enlisted for the mission and many never came home.

Trump: "I'm so disappointed in NATO, because this was a test for NATO. We're gonna remember. Remember this in a number of months from now. Remember my statements."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 26, 2026 at 8:56 AM

Trump: One missile went 2,500 miles. They shot the now famous Ireland. Uh, the... the island. We're very disappointed in NATO

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— Headquarters (@headquartersnews.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 9:02 AM

It isn't clear exactly which island he was talking about - Ireland? Iceland? Greenland? Diego Garcia? All of the above? - but also note the stone-faced reaction from Rubio and Hegseth as Trump babbles his warnings to NATO.
They still need to remember this:

NATO mobilized just fine when Trump threatened Greenland.

— Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (@hottycouture.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 9:02 AM

Today Prime Minister Carney sent out this press release - every word carefully aimed at the elephant in the room:

Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, participated as a special invitee in a virtual meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), hosted by the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, alongside leaders from Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as a representative from Denmark.
The leaders discussed the evolving security environment in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, and reiterated their commitment to preserving security and stability in the Arctic and Northern Europe. The Prime Minister reinforced the Arctic’s importance to Canadian security and underscored his recent visit to Norway to bolster Canadian and Allied military readiness. The Prime Minister noted that Canada is now investing 2% of its GDP in defence, including recently announced investments to bolster Canada’s Arctic, deter emerging threats, and support NATO Allies and continental defence. He underscored Canada’s recent investments of more than $35 billion to defend, build, and transform Canada’s North and Arctic region.
The Prime Minister welcomed the JEF’s role as a flexible, high-readiness framework that strengthens deterrence and contributes to the security of Northern Europe and the Baltic region. He emphasised the importance of close cooperation among like-minded partners to address shared threats, counter hybrid activities, and reinforce collective defence. The Prime Minister noted Canada’s participation in the fall 2025 JEF Exercise TARASSIS in Latvia, which sought to strengthen Baltic defence and responsiveness of the JEF.
The leaders discussed opportunities for JEF collaboration, including with Canada and in alignment with NATO, to enhance military capabilities through joint exercises. The Prime Minister highlighted Canada’s enduring partnership with JEF nations and looked forward to continued engagement with JEF members.

Carney is keeping his eye on the ball:

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Because it was a close call in January.
EuroNews. reports Denmark deployed troops to Greenland in January fearing US invasion, local media report

...DR [a Danish broadcaster] said it had seen a military operations order dated 13 January, which served as the basis for the deployment of Danish forces in the autonomous Danish territory as tensions spiked over US President Donald Trump's bid to annex it.
The document described an operation organising the defence of Greenland, immediately after the US operation in Venezuela to oust President Nicolás Maduro.
"When Trump says all the time that he wants to buy Greenland, and then we see what happens in Venezuela, we had to take all possible scenarios seriously," a Danish military official speaking on condition of anonymity told DR.
"The official machinery of the United States is not working the way it used to," the official added.
In January, several EU nations, including France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and others, sent troops to Greenland under a Danish-led NATO exercise dubbed "Arctic Endurance". It was, in fact, a real deployment and not an exercise, another military source told DR.
"There was no possible ambiguity," he said. The troops were deployed with blood for transfusions and explosives, the source said to back up the claim it was not an exercise.
Neither the Danish military nor government, nor the Greenlandic government, have commented on the report.
Trump has repeatedly said he believes the US must control Greenland to ensure its national security, and long refused to rule out the use of military force to get it.
Like the US, Denmark is a founding member of NATO.
After several intense weeks of aggressive remarks that plunged the alliance into its deepest crisis in years, Trump backed down from his threats on 21 January, announcing that he had reached a "framework" agreement on Greenland with NATO's secretary general, the details of which remain vague.
In the weeks that followed, NATO launched its Arctic Sentry mission to beef up security in the region, in which Danish and US forces are participating, among others.

In a January substack article, Rachelandthecity wrote The Generals Said No: Inside Trump’s Failed Greenland Invasion Order

So Trump ordered the military to invade Greenland, and the generals told him to fuck off.
Not hypothetically. He actually ordered it. The Joint Special Operations Command got the directive – draw up invasion plans for Greenland. And the Joint Chiefs of Staff said no. Because it’s illegal. Because Denmark is a NATO ally. Because you can’t just invade our friends.
The Daily Mail broke the story on January 11th. According to their sources: “The generals think Trump’s Greenland plan is crazy and illegal. So they are trying to deflect him with other major military operations. They say it’s like dealing with a five-year-old.”
They’re trying to distract the President with other wars. How about we intercept Russian ghost ships? Or hit Iran? Literally anything except invading Denmark....

I guess he picked Iran.
But he hasn't forgotten about taking Greenland. He still desperately wants to cement his place in US history by expanding the United States somehow:

BREAKING 🚨 Trump threatens to invade Greenland again if Europe doesn’t help him against Iran.

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— alexjungle.bsky.social (@alexjungle.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 3:33 AM

I suspect Thursday's Joint Expeditionary Force meeting was in response to these renewed threats.
Because now that the Iran War has become a lengthy quagmire like Vietnam rather than a quick "victory" like Venezuela , Trump will be increasingly anxious to distract Americans from that failure by hosting a new adventure. 

And hey, those plans to invade Greenland have already been drafted, so....

On a side note, I was today years old when I heard about Greenland Sharks - there is an outstanding new article by Katherine Rundell just out in the London Review of Books titled Consider the Greenland Shark that everyone is excited about:

Might be the greatest opening paragraph of anything ever.

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— Jordan (@jordanpfot.bsky.social) March 26, 2026 at 1:19 PM