Republican Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia has introduced legislation designed to amplify Donald Trump’s widely derided notion to buy Greenland and make it part of the United States.
Buddy’s bill would authorize the president to begin negotiations to acquire the sovereign territory and “rename Greenland as ‘Red, White, and Blueland.’”
“President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal,” Carter said in a statement.
Trump’s repeated assertions that Greenland would be a good strategic acquisition have been summarily rejected by the residents of that territory and by Denmark (Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark).
“Trump will not have Greenland,” Danish Foreign Minister Lar Lokke Rasmussen said in January. The sentiment has been echoed by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has the backing of other European nations.
Carter’s blustery bill, which is unlikely to secure passage in the House, comes as corporations have begun to bow to Trump’s pressure to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” For users within the United States, Google has changed the name of the region to please Trump despite objections from Mexico and other nations. Apple followed suit on Tuesday and rolled out the change for U.S. Apple Maps users.
The Greenland legislation echoes another unfortunate name change supported by Republicans in the past. In 2003 as the country was moving toward war with Iraq, Rep. Walter Jones sparked a movement to rename French fries as “freedom fries” in the Capitol cafeteria, protesting France’s opposition to war. Jones got his wish and the action triggered derision from Democrats, comedians, and people around the world.
Years later, as leaders acknowledged that weapons of mass destruction did not exist in Iraq and thousands of deaths piled up for both Iraqi civilians and U.S. servicemembers, Jones turned against the war. Before he passed away in 2019, Jones expressed regret over his once-fervent support for the invasion.
“I wish it had never happened,” he admitted.
While Carter and Trump inflame global tensions over their designs on Greenland, egg prices have continued to increase—a key domestic issue that Republicans vowed they would address after winning the 2024 election.
But it would appear that the tight budgets of middle-class families are not as pressing an issue as “Red, White, and Blueland.”
Campaign Action
