Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) hammered President-elect Trump on Wednesday for what he characterised as an “obsession” with the thought of the U.S. taking on Greenland, accusing Trump of fixating on a difficulty of no consequence for working-class Individuals.
Addressing reporters within the Capitol, Jeffries famous that Trump’s election victory in November was largely a referendum on the excessive value of sure shopper staples, not the annexation of Greenland or the Panama Canal, as Trump proposed earlier within the week.
“What concerning the November presidential election had something to do with invading Greenland or seizing it by drive? I am confused by the obsession round these feedback,” Jeffries stated.
“For far too long, the size of the middle class in this country has gone down, but the cost of living has gone up. That’s a problem,” he continued. “The issue will not be Greenland; the issue will not be the Gulf of Mexico and the necessity to rename it; and the issue will not be the Panama Canal. It is ensuring that the American dream is delivered to life for everybody on this nation.”
Trump has, for years, floated the concept Washington ought to commandeer Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory managed by Denmark, and he amplified that proposal on Tuesday throughout a press briefing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He didn’t rule out the usage of army drive.
“We want Greenland for nationwide safety functions. I have been informed that for a very long time, lengthy earlier than I even ran,” Trump stated. “You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security.”
The world’s largest island, Greenland is house to wealthy shops of mineral reserves, together with uncommon earth minerals used within the manufacturing of widespread shopper merchandise like smartphones, flat-screen televisions and rechargeable batteries. Greenland’s location has additionally made it strategically engaging as a army outpost for the world’s strongest nations, together with China and Russia.
“I am speaking about defending the free world,” Trump stated.
The concept appears to have some help amongst Republicans on Capitol Hill, the place leaders of the Home Overseas Affairs Committee promoted a graphic from the New York Submit advocating for Trump’s “America First vision” for the hemisphere. Greenland, within the Submit’s rendering, has been crossed out and changed with “OURLAND.”
The proposal was shortly dismissed by main officers of the Biden administration, together with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who stated Trump’s proposal is “obviously … not going to happen.”
John Bolton, who served as nationwide safety adviser below Trump’s first administration, additionally blasted the proposal, warning that it will solely assist America’s high adversaries in Moscow and Beijing.
“If you’re the prime minister of Denmark, your NATO ally is refusing to say they’re not going to attack your territory,” Bolton informed CNN on Wednesday.
Jeffries, for his half, declined to enterprise into the nationwide safety implications of Trump’s Greenland gambit. As a substitute, he questioned why Trump, after campaigning laborious on the promise to slash inflation and scale back shopper prices, is now centered on obscure overseas coverage proposals.
“What does it have to do with making sure that hardworking American taxpayers can live the American Dream?” Jeffries requested.
