Book: Trump Gave Serious Thought to Greenland Purchase

Facts

Former Pres. Donald Trump's interest in acquiring Greenland wasn't just a passing fancy, but rather an issue seriously discussed with high-level officials, a new book to be published next Tues. claims.
"The Divider," written by The New York Times' Peter Baker and The New Yorker's Susan Glasser, says that National Security Council officials were assigned by then-National Security Advisor John Bolton and his aide Fiona Hill to analyze the idea at Trump's direct request.
According to the book, it was the heir to Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, Ronald Lauder, who came up with the idea and influenced Trump to make a bid to buy Greenland from Denmark.
Though this report asserts that Bolton believed this move would help counter China's influence in the Arctic, he was skeptical about its feasibility. After the Wall Street Journal made the plan public in Aug. 2019, Danish leaders ridiculed it.
Baker and Glasser drew on diaries, memos, contemporaneous notes, emails, text messages, and 300 new interviews, including two with Trump, to write this book.
Among other revelations, they asserted that Trump feared an Iranian retaliation after the killing of its top general, Qasem Soleimani, and that he offered the West Bank to Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Democratic narrative, as provided by Vanity Fair. It was bad enough to think that Trump's idea to buy Greenland was one of his impulsive actions, but the true story makes it even worse. In fact, he spent months stubbornly asking officials to advance this bid, even offering to trade Puerto Rico for it. And the saddest thing is that this isn't even surprising, considering his character.
Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Despite the mockery of the mainstream media, Trump deserves credit for coming up with this bid. While Denmark prevents Greenland from developing by promoting neocolonialist policies, the US — which has long been strategically involved in the Arctic's island — could lead this region to an economic boom by unlocking value from its lands, while simultaneously pushing back against China's growing influence.