Lawmakers from both aisles slam Trump’s bizarre Greenland threats and immediately hop a flight to Denmark, but the chaos is just getting started

A major bipartisan drama is unfolding after President Trump’s recent push to acquire Greenland, a Danish territory, prompting a group of US lawmakers to immediately hop on a flight to Denmark to deal with the fallout, according to The Hill. This urgent trip signals just how seriously Congress is taking the president’s controversial interest in the massive island and the aggressive rhetoric coming out of Washington.

This delegation is crucial because several senators were completely unnerved by recent talk from administration officials who hinted that the US might try to take Greenland by force. Seriously, suggesting a forceful takeover is an awful diplomatic move, and it’s rattling officials not just in Washington, but also in Greenland, Denmark, and capitals across Europe.

The group traveling includes a solid mix of both Democrats and Republicans. You’ve got Senators Chris Coons, Dick Durbin, and Jeanne Shaheen on the Democratic side, traveling alongside Republicans like Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis. They’re joined by Representatives Gregory Meeks, Madeleine Dean, and Sara Jacobs.

This kind of bipartisan travel usually only happens when the stakes are incredibly high, and it seems repairing the diplomatic damage is their top priority

Why is President Trump so focused on Greenland right now? The issue came back into the spotlight following the American operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, but the president has frequently brought up acquiring the territory. He sees it as a strategic national security asset that would definitely boost American power, especially given its massive mineral resources.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that while there isn’t a hard timeline for the acquisition, this is absolutely a priority for the administration. Leavitt told reporters that the president is motivated by global competition. She said, “He said that he wants to see the United States acquire Greenland because he feels if we do not then it will eventually be acquired or even perhaps hostilely taken over by either China or Russia.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of this entire situation is the dramatic division within the president’s own party over how to handle the acquisition. Senator Tillis, one of the lawmakers currently heading to Denmark to smooth things over, didn’t hold back when senior White House adviser Stephen Miller commented on the US’s right to seize the territory. Tillis called those remarks “amateurish.” He even suggested that advisers inside the Trump administration who are pushing for a Greenland takeover should be immediately axed from their jobs.

However, not everyone in the GOP is against the idea. Representative Randy Fine is fully embracing the acquisition, even introducing a bill to make Greenland the 51st state in the U.S. His bill, called the “Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act,” clearly states its goals include enabling “the annexation and subsequent admission to statehood of Greenland.”

This trip is critical because they need to show European allies that Congress is committed to diplomacy, even if some in the White House are pushing aggressive, frankly outdated, ideas about territorial acquisition. You can bet that the world is watching closely to see what this bipartisan delegation accomplishes.