(NewsNation) — As President Trump escalates his rhetoric about acquiring Greenland, his former security advisor John Bolton is ramping up his own arguments about why it’s a bad idea — possibly Trump’s worst ever.
Trump on Saturday threatened to slap retaliatory tariffs on European allies that oppose his suggestions that the U.S. take over Greenland for national security reasons, possibly even through military action. Even some Republican members of Congress have been pushing back on the proposal, which could sever the U.S. from NATO.
So, why does the Republican commander-in-chief continue to fixate on the autonomous territory under Denmark?
“He said the other day we need Greenland ‘psychologically,’” Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday. “The United States does not need Greenland psychologically. Donald Trump does … This is not about American national security. This is about Donald Trump alone.”
Bolton, who penned an op-ed for The Telegraph over the weekend, rejects the president’s suggestion that Chinese and Russian ships are surrounding Greenland. Under a 1951 treaty, the U.S. and Denmark can collaborate on security, he added.
Bolton said downplaying Trump’s comments as mere saber-rattling isn’t helpful.
“He’s the president of the United States, and overseas, people take what he says seriously. And they think that the risk of military force is real. I don’t think it is, but other people could be forgiven if they do,” he said.
Trump Greenland push ‘flummoxing’: Batya
The president’s increasingly aggressive push for Greenland is beginning to confuse many Americans, NewsNation’s Batya Ungar-Sargon said.
“It’s just leaving me very flummoxed, because I just don’t see the urgency here, especially with the American people really wanting the president to make the case for how he’s going to make their lives better here and now,” she said.
As foreign policy, Trump’s threat to use military force to acquire Greenland is more of a “4-D chess move,” Ungar-Sargon said. But it threatens a longstanding relationship, she said.
“We have such a great relationship right now with the Danes over Greenland,” Ungar-Sargon said. “There’s absolutely nothing they wouldn’t allow us to do if there was, God forbid, some sort of threat from one of our adversaries. And so, I just really struggle to understand why this is so important to the president.”