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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Simon Jenkins

Panicking over Greenland plays into Trump’s hands – it’s time for cool heads and stalling diplomacy

Donald Trump departs after making a speech at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, 22 December 2025.
Donald Trump departs after making a speech at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, 22 December 2025. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Is Greenland Donald Trump’s 25th-amendment moment? Last time around, this was when the Washington “grownups” debated his capacity to be president, notably in the final fortnight of his presidency, after the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Under the constitution, a president can be replaced should the vice-president and a cabinet majority decide their leader is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. The trouble today is that there are no grownups.

The US president’s designs on Greenland are clearly mad. He claims Russia and China are scheming to seize the island and that Denmark should be forced urgently to transfer its sovereignty. Denmark had long allowed the US extended military access to Greenland, but Trump seems to want to own it. None of his staff has been able to say why.

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