Back in 2019, when President Trump said he wanted to buy Greenland, most people thought it was a joke. Denmark said no, Greenland said no, and the world moved on. Fast forward to 2025 — Trump is back in office, and the joke’s no longer funny. He’s once again talking about annexing the world’s largest island, and this time, it sounds serious.

Trump recently told NBC News, “We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent.” He framed it like a done deal — like buying a hotel, not talking about a real place with real people. It’s not just bizarre; it’s revealing. This moment shows how the U.S., under Trump, keeps confusing world leadership with business deals — treating entire nations like assets on a spreadsheet.

This Isn’t a Real Estate Deal

Trump’s language — and the way he talks about Greenland — makes it sound like he’s pitching a merger to investors. But Greenland isn’t a company. It’s a self-governing territory with Indigenous communities, a fragile ecosystem, and its own government. This isn’t some opportunity for expansion. It’s a country — not a product.

And let’s be real: this isn’t Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan. We’re not doing mergers and acquisitions on sovereign nations. Foreign policy isn’t private equity. You don’t just “get” a country like it’s up for grabs. But that’s how Trump frames it — a land grab wrapped in business talk, as if diplomacy is just a market to play in.

The whole thing feels absurd. It’s like trying to buy Patagonia from Chile, or pitching Iceland as your next “strategic asset.” But it reflects something deeper: a kind of mindset where power means ownership, and leadership looks like control.

Still Rooted in Colonial Thinking

Trying to take Greenland isn’t just weird — it’s outdated. The U.S. is leaning into old-school imperial thinking, dressed up with new language like “national interest” and “security strategy.” But it’s the same idea: powerful nations taking what they want, because they can.

The recent trip by Vice President JD Vance to Greenland made things worse. He showed up with a U.S. delegation — uninvited — just days after Greenland held elections. The timing wasn’t just bad; it felt disrespectful. Local leaders pushed back. Greenlanders protested. Even the dog sled race his wife was supposed to attend asked them not to come. It was awkward and kind of embarrassing.

This Isn’t About Strategy. It’s About Ego.

Greenland’s new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said it best: “We do not belong to anyone else.” And yet, Trump keeps pushing. Why?

Because it’s not really about Greenland. It’s about Trump’s need to put his name on something big. This whole thing feels less like diplomacy and more like ego — like a man marking territory. Trump has always wanted to own things: buildings, steaks, golf courses. Now it’s countries. This is colonialism rebranded with a personal logo.

It’s also a distraction. The U.S. under Trump often looks like a broken system trying to act tough — like a country falling apart behind the scenes but still trying to flex in public. A nation with bad trains, weak digital infrastructure, and political chaos — yet it still thinks buying Greenland makes it look powerful. It’s like trying to look rich by wearing designer clothes over a crumbling foundation.

Greenland Is a Country, Not a Deal

If the U.S. actually wants to be taken seriously in the Arctic, it needs to start acting like a partner — not a buyer. That means showing respect. It means listening. It means realizing that places like Greenland aren’t empty land for the taking. They’re communities with their own voice, their own future.

This whole saga reveals a bigger problem: the fantasy that countries can just be taken or acquired, like assets. That’s not how the world works anymore. Sovereignty isn’t something you can buy. And annexation isn’t a flex — it’s a failure to understand what leadership should actually look like.

Trump’s Greenland play shows the limits of treating the world like a business. Countries aren’t companies. People aren’t products. And power isn’t about ownership.