Susan Glasser

pulled on the thread and discovered that in fact, it never became public. But Trump was obsessed for years in his first term with purchasing Greenland. Privately, he was bringing it up at cabinet meetings. We talked to one of his former cabinet secretaries who said they literally were like, oh my God, this is crazy. What is he talking about? And this was years before it became public.

pulled on the thread and discovered that in fact, it never became public. But Trump was obsessed for years in his first term with purchasing Greenland. Privately, he was bringing it up at cabinet meetings. We talked to one of his former cabinet secretaries who said they literally were like, oh my God, this is crazy. What is he talking about? And this was years before it became public.

pulled on the thread and discovered that in fact, it never became public. But Trump was obsessed for years in his first term with purchasing Greenland. Privately, he was bringing it up at cabinet meetings. We talked to one of his former cabinet secretaries who said they literally were like, oh my God, this is crazy. What is he talking about? And this was years before it became public.

Then when John Bolton, his third national security advisor, comes in in March of 2018, so again, really a long time before we ever heard about it, at one of his first private meetings with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Trump tells him, hey, there's this really interesting idea that's come up, you know, from a friend of mine that we should purchase Greenland.

Then when John Bolton, his third national security advisor, comes in in March of 2018, so again, really a long time before we ever heard about it, at one of his first private meetings with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Trump tells him, hey, there's this really interesting idea that's come up, you know, from a friend of mine that we should purchase Greenland.

Then when John Bolton, his third national security advisor, comes in in March of 2018, so again, really a long time before we ever heard about it, at one of his first private meetings with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Trump tells him, hey, there's this really interesting idea that's come up, you know, from a friend of mine that we should purchase Greenland.

And, you know, you'll be hearing from him and you need to get on this. And sure enough, The phone rings and it's this cosmetics gazillionaire, Ron Lauder, who's been a friend of Trump's for decades. In fact, they went to the University of Pennsylvania together. I kid you not.

And, you know, you'll be hearing from him and you need to get on this. And sure enough, The phone rings and it's this cosmetics gazillionaire, Ron Lauder, who's been a friend of Trump's for decades. In fact, they went to the University of Pennsylvania together. I kid you not.

And, you know, you'll be hearing from him and you need to get on this. And sure enough, The phone rings and it's this cosmetics gazillionaire, Ron Lauder, who's been a friend of Trump's for decades. In fact, they went to the University of Pennsylvania together. I kid you not.

And he calls up the national security advisor and he says, yeah, I would like to volunteer myself as a secret private envoy. to Denmark and negotiate the purchase of Greenland. Well, Bolton demurs on having Ron Lauder as our secret envoy to Denmark, but he has to sort of placate Trump and he orders some of his national security aides to begin working up various options for Greenland.

And he calls up the national security advisor and he says, yeah, I would like to volunteer myself as a secret private envoy. to Denmark and negotiate the purchase of Greenland. Well, Bolton demurs on having Ron Lauder as our secret envoy to Denmark, but he has to sort of placate Trump and he orders some of his national security aides to begin working up various options for Greenland.

And he calls up the national security advisor and he says, yeah, I would like to volunteer myself as a secret private envoy. to Denmark and negotiate the purchase of Greenland. Well, Bolton demurs on having Ron Lauder as our secret envoy to Denmark, but he has to sort of placate Trump and he orders some of his national security aides to begin working up various options for Greenland.

And by the way, Bolton is one of a number of national security types who believes that Greenland is a very important strategic place. You know, not so much because of the minerals, which initially attracted Donald Trump, but because of its strategic location, the competition with Russia and China over the North and the like. And so he recognized that publicly talking about purchasing Greenland

And by the way, Bolton is one of a number of national security types who believes that Greenland is a very important strategic place. You know, not so much because of the minerals, which initially attracted Donald Trump, but because of its strategic location, the competition with Russia and China over the North and the like. And so he recognized that publicly talking about purchasing Greenland

And by the way, Bolton is one of a number of national security types who believes that Greenland is a very important strategic place. You know, not so much because of the minerals, which initially attracted Donald Trump, but because of its strategic location, the competition with Russia and China over the North and the like. And so he recognized that publicly talking about purchasing Greenland

would be very antithetical to the goal of achieving more cooperation with Greenland, because it would mean exactly what we've seen, which is that Denmark gets its back up, which is that everybody is polarized and divided by Donald Trump. At any rate, so that's the backstory. And so I wasn't surprised at all when

would be very antithetical to the goal of achieving more cooperation with Greenland, because it would mean exactly what we've seen, which is that Denmark gets its back up, which is that everybody is polarized and divided by Donald Trump. At any rate, so that's the backstory. And so I wasn't surprised at all when

would be very antithetical to the goal of achieving more cooperation with Greenland, because it would mean exactly what we've seen, which is that Denmark gets its back up, which is that everybody is polarized and divided by Donald Trump. At any rate, so that's the backstory. And so I wasn't surprised at all when

Greenland came right back up after Trump won reelection, even though I think for most people, they were like, what the hell is this all about? Great example. Like there's nothing new with Donald Trump. He thinks what he thinks.

Greenland came right back up after Trump won reelection, even though I think for most people, they were like, what the hell is this all about? Great example. Like there's nothing new with Donald Trump. He thinks what he thinks.