Two of Nebraska’s Delegates Hold Vastly Different Views on President Trump’s Bid for Greenland

By Gordon HopkinsThe divergent views of two of Nebraska’s federal delegates on President Donald Trump’s campaign to acquire Greenland were evident in recent press conferences held by U.S. Senator and former Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and U.S. Representative Don Bacon. On January 14, Ricketts said, “There is no doubt that Communist China and Russia have been increasing their activities in the Arctic, and we need to protect our northern flank. As Secretary (Marco) Rubio had stated earlier this week, United States is still interested in purchasing Greenland. In fact, there's high level talks today and then also lower staff level talks as well going on in Washington, DC. We need to be able to make sure that we can have certainty with regard to our military planning.”When asked about the possibility of President Trump’s use of military action to acquire Greenland, Ricketts did not say if he would support such actions. Instead, he suggested refusing to rule out military action was a part of the President’s negotiation strategy, “Obviously, we've got a treaty already with Greenland, but it does allow them to deny us, and so I think that's probably part of what is going on here, is trying to make sure we've got the certainty around our military bases of when we invest, and make sure that we've got the ability to keep our country safe from that northern flank. And as you know, President Trump often starts his negotiations far from where he hopes to end up. So, I look forward to hearing what the results of the conversations with the leaders from Greenland and Denmark and how that's going. And again, it is vitally important for the safety of the American people that we secure our northern border here against the Incursions in the Arctic from Russia and Communist China.” Bacon, however, made clear he was opposed to any military action. On January 9, “I served in NATO when I was a colonel. And Greenland is a member of NATO. Denmark provides protection over Greenland. Greenland is a self -governing country. But these folks are our allies. We used to have multiple bases on Greenland. We pulled out of all of them but one. We have one base there now. Greenland wants to have our presence. They want to be our friends. They would welcome economic investment for rare Earth minerals. So, a lot of the talk coming from the members of the administration about taking Greenland, whether it's economically or by military force, the quote from the White House says the military option is still on the table. It is just wrong. I criticize it. I totally disagree with it. We're dealing with allies here. And what's happening is it's being very self -defeating this kind of talk. It's undermining our alliances within NATO. And it's hurting our friendship with Denmark significantly. And I served with Danes. The Danes were in Afghanistan and Iraq. They lost more people per capita in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other country in the world other than United States.” After those press conferences, Trump did rule out the use of military force in his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, January 22.

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