Republican Sen. Thom Tillis just reached peak exasperation — and that’s saying something coming from someone who’s spent years quietly taking Trump’s punches and occasionally throwing a few half-hearted jabs back. On the Senate floor Wednesday, the North Carolina lawmaker unloaded on the head-scratching foreign policy chatter echoing out of the West Wing about Greenland, calling it “stupid”, “amateurish” and “absurd.”
Tillis’s tirade was triggered by comments from White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — yes, that Stephen Miller — who told CNN that “Greenland should be part of the United States” and insisted that “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
That suggestion — which reeks of Cold War fantasy land and territorial annexation porn — set Tillis off. On an unusually fiery day in the Senate, the retiring Republican didn’t mince words about how out of touch he thinks some of Trump’s top advisers have become. “I’m sick of stupid,” Tillis snapped, railing that the whole Greenland obsession “is a distraction from the good work he’s doing.”
He wasn’t just annoyed — he was furious that Miller’s remarks were being treated as though they reflected the U.S. government’s official stance. “This nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is … a distraction from the good work he’s doing, and the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs,” Tillis said, urging Trump to fire advisers pushing the idea.
Tillis also made a point of pushing back on the notion that the United States could just waltz into Greenland like it’s an optional Lego piece on a strategy map. He stressed that Miller doesn’t represent the U.S. government and that such grandiose territorial talk undermines a critical alliance with NATO — Denmark’s sovereignty included — and the broader strategic relationships the U.S. relies on.
That argument taps into deeper unease on Capitol Hill and among NATO partners. Denmark and European leaders have publicly rebuffed any suggestion that Greenland might become U.S. territory, asserting sovereignty and cautioning that threats to seize land from an ally would seriously damage transatlantic cooperation.
Miller’s original comment didn’t come out of nowhere. it followed renewed chatter in the White House about Greenland’s strategic value in the Arctic amid rising global competition. Some in the administration have hinted at various options — including diplomatic deals and U.S. military presence — to secure influence in the region.
But Tillis’s floor speech makes one thing clear: even among Republicans who’ve largely backed Trump’s foreign policy moves, there’s a limit to how far they’re willing to let fringe rhetoric go unchallenged — especially when it involves eyeballing territory that belongs to a NATO ally.
Watch the clip below:
"You know what makes me cranky? Stupid."
(R) Sen. Thom Tillis rips into White House advisor Stephen Miller's comments that Greenland should be part of the U.S.#ncpol pic.twitter.com/IV8VUaCxb6
— Reuben Jones (@ReubenJones1) January 7, 2026
