Breadcrumb Trail LinksNewsCanadaWorldThe rationale marked America’s belief in itself as exceptional — as a republic and not a monarchy — destined to expand
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Greenlandic and Danish, left, flags flutter in Ilulissat, western Greenland. June 2022. Photo by ODD ANDERSEN /AFP via Getty Images
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While president-elect Donald Trump hasn’t declared Manifest Destiny as his rationale for wishing to expand American territory beyond its present boundaries, he very well might.
Readers with even a basic understanding of U.S. history will know about Manifest Destiny — the doctrine that the democratic administration of President James Polk relied on to expand continental U.S. beyond the 26 states of the early 1800s. The rationale marked America’s belief in itself as exceptional — a republic, no longer colonies of a monarchy — destined to expand across the North American continent.
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The world’s largest island, Greenland borders the Atlantic and Arctic oceans on either side and is home to Pituffik Space Base, a large military operation run by the U.S. Space Force with a ballistic missile early warning system. But it’s owned by Denmark and the island is governed by its own parliament.
As a result, Trump’s recent comments on social media platform, Truth Social, regarding the purchase of Greenland as necessary for American security and freedom is falling on deaf ears.
Greenland’s youngest-ever prime minister, Múte Bourup Egede, is clear on the matter: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom.” In fact, his party is in favour of independence from Denmark. Though, Greenland’s 56,000 inhabitants, relies heavily on budget transfers from Copenhagen.
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