Donald Trump’s left-field idea to buy Greenland has been mocked by everyone from cable pundits to Danish pols — but it’s also given an internal boost to a small network of advocates in and outside the administration who have struggled to get traction for their ideas for boosting America’s ties to the frozen island territory.

Yet just when they have the president’s ear, the odds of success for even their more limited agenda of closer partnership have suddenly plunged as Trump fulminates against the prime minister of Denmark and doubles down on a proposal that is as impractical as it is seductive to a media and political class stuck in the doldrums of August.

Advocates of bolstering U.S. ties to Greenland see it as a way of elbowing out geopolitical rivals, namely China and Russia, that have aggressively targeted the Arctic with military bases, scientific research stations and strategic investments.