During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” this past Sunday, Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia expressed confidence that Congress would show “overwhelming bipartisan support” to prevent any military initiatives by President Donald Trump concerning Greenland.
Here is a portion of the transcript:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, he said publicly they should not be re-elected because they- they issued this, this call for congressional review. You brought up Greenland. This is the- the territory that Denmark has broad governance over, Denmark being a NATO ally. World leaders take President Trump’s remarks seriously. We take him seriously and literally. And to that point, Denmark’s Prime Minister publicly warned that it would mean the end of the NATO alliance if he carries out what he said. Which as recently as Friday, he said, I want to make a deal for Greenland the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we are going to do it the hard way. Is there anything to stop the president from doing it quote, unquote, “the hard way,” which sounds like military force?
KAINE: Margaret, I think Congress will stop them, both Democrats and Republicans. This would be disastrous. It wouldn’t just be “America First.” It wouldn’t just be the end of NATO, it would be America alone. If we take our best allies, and Denmark has been an ally for a very long time, and we decide that we have the military ability to seize territory for them, you will see the United States, instead of being the world’s chief diplomat and a leader in the world, you’ll see the United States isolated as a pariah. And I’ve talked to my Republican colleagues, they- they watch what the president has done is Venezue- in Venezuela. They hear the threats against other nations. I can tell you this, we will force a vote in the Senate about no U.S. military action in Greenland or Denmark. If we need to, we will get overwhelming bipartisan support that this president is foolish to even suggest this. We’re not going to do it the hard way, and we’re not going to do it the easy way, either we’re going to continue to work with Denmark as a sovereign nation that we’re allied with, and we’re not going to treat them as an adversary or as an enemy.
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