Republicans Warn Trump That Invading Greenland Would End His Presidency
Donald Trump’s renewed interest in taking control of Greenland has become a subject of pointed dissent among congressional Republicans, with several allies speaking out in recent days against the idea after the president reintensified his interest following the US raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Congressional Republicans are typically loath to disagree openly with the president, who has repeatedly called for his party’s dissenters to be voted out of office. But amid polling that shows an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose taking control of the island and warnings from Denmark that an invasion would spell the end of Nato, some congressional Republicans have issued forceful warnings against pursuing the issue.
“The thought of the United States taking the position that we would take Greenland, an independent territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, is absurd,” North Carolina senator Thom Tillis said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday.
Nebraska congressman Don Bacon told the Omaha World-Herald: “If he went through with the threats, I think it would be the end of his presidency. And he needs to know: the off-ramp is realizing Republicans aren’t going to tolerate this and he’s going to have to back off. He hates being told no, but in this case, I think Republicans need to be firm.”
Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, compared the possibility of the US seizing Greenland to Joe Biden’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, which became an unpopular moment in the Democrat’s presidency.
“Following through on this provocation would be more disastrous for the president’s legacy than withdrawing from Afghanistan was for his predecessor,” McConnell said, warning that it would amount to “incinerating the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in US access to the Arctic”.
Source: The Guardian
Comments
Post a Comment