What a difference 20 minutes makes.
When one of my confidential sources whispered in my ear that the Premier of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, had done a sudden volte-face on his rhetoric about the United States president's efforts in regard to acquiring his frozen wasteland, I thought - holy smokes. I've got to go find this.
She'd heard it while watching Harris Faulkner, but me, being the scrupulous collector of sources that I am, wanted it in print with a link.
What an eyeball-full of anti-Trump bravado and smacktalk from that Greenlander a Google search was.
WE WILL NOT YIELD...EVEN IF THE BAD ORANGE MAN ATTACKS
Dude - lighten UP.
The hysteria - wow. Churchill, he's not.
And then X went down, so I couldn't find any breaking news for the next 20 minutes or so. So frustrating.
Back to Google and...dang. What have we here, popping up at the top?
Greenland Leader Open to Permanent NATO Mission on Arctic Island
Is a change of heart being signaled?
Greenland’s prime minister says he’s willing to go further in increasing the defense of the Arctic island coveted by President Donald Trump, including agreeing on the establishment of a permanent NATO mission.
“We are ready to discuss more, we are also ready to do more and do it more permanently,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Thursday, speaking to international media in the territory’s capital, Nuuk.
What happens on the polar island is at the center of global speculation after Trump announced he’d agreed to a “framework” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, offering scant detail. According to a European official briefed on the talks, the pact entails the stationing of US missiles, mining rights aimed at keeping Chinese interests out and a bolstered NATO presence.
Nielsen said he wasn’t aware of the any details of a Trump-Rutte deal and stressed that Greenland would have to take part in any talks about its future. But he also said he was open to cooperate more on mineral resources.
He's all about an increased NATO presence, which everyone knows means the US, and only wants to be spoken to respectfully.
...The 34-year-old premier, who took power in the land of 57,000 people last year, said any talks with the US over increased military presence must come through diplomatic channels and in a “respectful manner.”
“We are ready to discuss a lot of things,” he said. “But sovereignty is a red line, our integrity and our borders and international law is definitely, definitely a red line that we don’t want anyone to cross.”
I am also getting the feeling that an invasion of US dollars is not a complete anathema now that he's had a chance to get over his self-induced fright about a military incursion. It must have been a nightmare dancing in his head, complete with a vision of Rubio in uniform leading the first charge of the tauntauns.
Marco Rubio finding out he has to lead an assault on Greenland pic.twitter.com/6W73Pw13bM
— Mark Brooks (@markbrooks) January 21, 2026
Frankly, what's not to love about what's so far been rumored to be in the framework proposal?
Behind the scenes: Two sources with knowledge of Rutte's proposal said it doesn't include the transfer of overall sovereignty over Greenland from Denmark to the United States.
- The plan includes updating the 1951 "Greenland Defense Agreement" between the U.S. and Denmark, which allowed the U.S. to build military bases in the island and establish "defense areas" if NATO believed it necessary.
- It also includes sections on increasing security in Greenland and NATO activity in the Arctic, as well as additional work on raw materials, the sources said.
- The proposal also includes language on positioning "Golden Dome" in Greenland and on countering "malign outside influence" by Russia and China.
What they're saying: "If this deal goes through, and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the U.S. will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at very little cost, forever."
- "President Trump is proving once again he's the Dealmaker in Chief. As details are finalized by all parties involved, they will be released accordingly," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.
'Raw materials' read 'rare earth' minerals. There's nothing in this that isn't a money maker for Greenland. Added protection, US dollars coming in, and many of those dollars staying there with the military personnel assigned there, and the associated civilian industrial contractors they bring with them.
This Byron York-Brett Baier exchange from yesterday is so true - the entire thing was classic Trump. All the hyperbole in the search screenshot above looks even more ludicrous as the heaved sighs of relief fade away in the light of day. But to those of us who have learned to hold the yips, kick back and watch the man work...hello.
It's the dismount, as Baier says, that one could easily predict it if one wasn't part of the heart-attack crowd.
🚨 Fox News’ @ByronYork on Trump’s ART OF THE DEAL over Greenland: “This was classic Trump! He wants something, then he asks for ten times that.”
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) January 22, 2026
“The other side flips out. They go back and forth, it becomes a huge news story. Finally, they make an offer, he agrees to it and… pic.twitter.com/VSYdhfj5Te
...“The other side flips out. They go back and forth, it becomes a huge news story. Finally, they make an offer, he agrees to it and it’s kinda what they could have got in the first place!”
@BretBaier: “He says they’re wonderful people, happy to work with them. And suddenly it’s this dismount that we could predict by how it was set up at the beginning.”
YORK: “Yes, and the other side is happy because they think they dodged the bullet. So it’s classic Trump!”
Premier Nielsen says sovereignty is still a red line, and treating each country with mutual respect is non-negotiable, but as for the rest?
Greenland's PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen says his people's right to self-determination must be respected, but they are open to diplomacy with the US pic.twitter.com/YYcFsd4NaH
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) January 22, 2026
He's a happy clam. And why not?
🚨PM OF GREENLAND: I don't know what's concrete in that deal either
— Kateryna Lisunova (@KaterynaLis) January 22, 2026
“First of all, nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to, uh, to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us. That's not gonna happen. In terms… pic.twitter.com/hjRJ07wTFa
BUT I KNOW THAT WE NOW HAVE A HIGH-LEVEL WORKING GROUP WORKING ON A SOLUTION FOR BOTH PARTIES
Greenlanders won't get their big individual payday, but the United States doesn't have a big payout now either, while still accomplishing pretty much everything on Trump's list. Not to mention setting up the possibility of a payoff in terms of the rare earth and other minerals being locked on.
Almost like it was gamed out this way.
You mean Trump took two extremely opposite positions only to coerce people into giving us a deal that made us better off in the end? No way. I’ve only watched him do this publicly for like 30 years.
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) January 21, 2026
Good thing we all hyperventilated though. I was SURE he was gonna bomb Greenland https://t.co/PNW0DBvGSH
Almost.
You'd think people would get tired of the crawldowns from the constant DefCons.
EU Plans to Unfreeze Trade Deal With US and Vote on Ratification
European Union lawmakers are expected to vote on ratifying the bloc’s trade deal with the US, restarting the process after President Donald Trump walked back his latest threat to impose tariffs on European allies that opposed his plans to annex Greenland.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told reporters in Brussels Thursday that Trump’s reversal was enough to justify voting on the measure, which could have a preliminary vote in the coming days. Parliament’s approval is the final EU step needed for the trade accord to enter into force.
Lawmakers on Wednesday decided to indefinitely suspend the ratification process, citing the “coercive” threats by Trump. Hours after that vote, Trump defused the situation, saying he wouldn’t impose the levies, which were set to go into effect on Feb. 1.
You'd think.
Almost.
Ed, David, John, and I work hard every day here at HotAir in our efforts to continue revealing Democrats' plans to lead America down a dangerous path.
But we can't do it without the help and support of our tremendous VIP community.
Please help us continue to expose Democrats, their unhinged, anti-American progressive allies, and the media's left-wing protection racket by reading news you can trust. Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code POTUS47 to get 74% off your membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member