The Wall Street Journal — the flagship newspaper owned by right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch — has openly blasted Donald Trump’s Greenland obsession as a “nonsensical” and potentially disastrous gambit that could fracture NATO, alienate allies, and reward U.S. adversaries.
In an uncommonly blunt editorial, the Journal’s editorial board warned that Trump’s escalating campaign to press Denmark and Greenland toward a transfer of sovereignty plays right into the “fondest dream of Russian strategy”: driving a wedge between Western Europe and the United States after more than 75 years of alliance cooperation.
“That is now a possibility as President Trump presses his campaign to capture Greenland no matter what the locals or its Denmark owner thinks,” the paper wrote, criticizing Trump’s assertive posture.
The editorial lambasted Trump’s hard line — coming amid NATO allies’ symbolic troop deployments to Greenland — and highlighted the president’s retaliatory tariff threats: 10 % on European goods starting in February and rising to 25 % by June if Greenland isn’t handed over.
“This bullying plays poorly with the European public, making it harder for politicians to give Mr. Trump what he wants on Greenland… The message to these countries is that no deal with Mr. Trump can be trusted because he’ll blow it up if he feels it serves his larger political purposes.”
That’s a remarkably harsh indictment from a publication that historically occupies the conservative side of the American media spectrum.
This isn’t some abstract academic protest either. The Greenland controversy has real diplomatic ramifications — including European leaders jointly condemning U.S. pressure, and fears that Trump’s hardball tactics could undermine transatlantic cohesion and U.S. leadership in the Arctic.
Critics note that Trump’s relentless Greenland push — replete with tariff threats and references to Nobel Peace Prize grievances — may actually embolden U.S. rivals rather than deter them. Experts warn that coercive maneuvers against sovereign allies could strengthen Russia’s hand as NATO frays, exactly the outcome Vladimir Putin wants.
Even one of the nation’s most establishment conservative outlets is publicly questioning the strategic logic of Trump’s Arctic ambitions, framing it as a self-defeating and reckless foreign policy gambit that makes NATO enemies cheer.
