00:00 Chris Hayes Good evening from New York. 00:01 I'm Chris Hayes. 00:02 Donald Trump has led our country into another geopolitical crisis entirely of his own making. 00:09 Starting from nothing, for no reason. 00:11 His explicit threats of military action against Greenland entered a new phase today with the announcement that Denmark is now effectively war gaming against a U.S. invasion. 00:22 Today Denmark, which controls Greenland, did what was once unthinkable, protectively moving military assets onto the island. 00:29 In the event that Trump does to Greenland what Hitler did to Czechoslovakia and Austria when he invaded and annexed them in 1938. 00:35 That's the scenario that people around the world, governments around the world, particularly in Europe, are wargaming. 00:43 Will the U.S. do the kind of thing that Hitler did in 1938? 00:47 Just go into a territory, seize it, and say it's ours. 00:50 And so you have Germany and Sweden sending military forces. 00:53 France now plans to send troops as well. 00:56 The United Kingdom is considering contributing forces, while Norway says it stands in solidarity with Greenland. 01:02 This morning amid all the chaos, top diplomats from both Denmark and Greenland met with Vice President J.D. 01:08 Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House. 01:10 The response to the press did not inspire much confidence about the state of our diplomatic relations. 01:17 Soundbite Today we came here following a number of, how should I put it, remarkable public comments on Greenland and Arctic security. 01:29 The president has made his view clear and we have a different position. 01:35 For us, ideas that would not respect 01:39 TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF THE KINGDOM OF DENMARK AND THE RIOT OF SELF DETERMINATION OF THE GREEN LANDIC PEOPLE ARE OF COURSE TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. 01:50 Chris Hayes NOW THE TWO SIDES SAID THEY WOULD CREATE A WORKING GROUP MOVING FORWARD, BUT THUS FAR DONALD TRUMP'S PREFERRED COURSE OF ACTION SEEMS TO BE AN INVASION. 01:57 NOTABLY, THIS WAS NOT ONE OF THOSE OPEN PRESS OVAL OFFICE MEETINGS WHERE TRUMP THROWS A TEMPER TANTRUM AND J.D. 02:02 VANCE STERNLY LECTURES A SITTING WORLD LEADER AS A FOREIGN DIGNATARY SITS NEXT TO HIM AWKWARDLY. 02:07 But the president still made his presence felt with a social media post this morning where he claimed that anything short of U.S. control of Greenland is unacceptable. 02:17 Meanwhile, the White House posted this seemingly AI-generated meme captioned, which is, by the way, a not-so-subtle reference to a notorious white supremacist book called Which Way, Western Man, which, among other things, defends Hitler. 02:31 Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum posted a graphic depicting Greenland as part of the United States. 02:36 I think they think this is a joke or they don't. 02:38 I don't know. 02:39 But this is how the administration is talking about a key strategic ally and also 60,000 actual human beings living in the 21st century who have a right to self-determination as we all do. 02:51 And as a result, Greenland's prime minister was forced to make his allegiances explicit, telling reporters, quote, if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. 03:00 We choose NATO, the Kingdom of Denmark, and the EU. 03:03 In response, Trump offered more thuggish threats. 03:08 Soundbite On Greenland, sir, the premier of Greenland said today, we prefer to stay with Denmark. 03:14 Do you see that as the final word? 03:15 Who said that? 03:16 The premier of Greenland. 03:19 Donald Trump Well... 03:20 That's their problem. 03:22 That's their problem. 03:23 I disagree with them. 03:24 I don't know who he is. 03:25 Don't know anything about him. 03:27 But that's going to be a big problem for him. 03:31 Chris Hayes We're really struggling, all of us in the media right now, and I'll even confess myself, to accurately articulate and name 03:39 How insane, how ugly, how disgusting and deranged this whole thing is. 03:46 And to be clear, it is as unhinged as it seems. 03:48 First of all, we have no claim over Greenland. 03:51 None whatsoever. 03:53 We have as much claim to Greenland as Greenland does to Texas. 03:57 THE FACTUAL BASIS FOR THIS SABER RATTLING IS ALSO COMPLETELY NONSENSICAL, EVEN AT JUST A KIND OF PRACTICAL LEVEL. 04:04 THERE IS NO NATIONAL SECURITY NEED FOR US TO CONTROL A COUNTRY THAT IS ALREADY OUR ALLIES IN THE NATO ALLIES, PART OF US MISSILE DEFENSE FOR 70 YEARS. 04:12 IN FACT, WE ALREADY HAVE A MILITARY BASE IN GREENLAND. 04:17 AND I'LL CONFESS, I DIDN'T USE TO KNOW THAT, BUT YOU KNOW HOW I DO KNOW THAT? 04:22 I KNOW IT BECAUSE VICE PRESIDENT J.D. 04:23 VANCE WENT TO THAT BASE LAST YEAR, AND I PROMISE HE KNOWS IT EXISTS. 04:29 TRUMP WANTS IT, IT APPEARS BECAUSE, AND THIS IS THE WAY HE SAID IT, IT'S IMPORTANT TO HIM PSYCHOLOGICALLY BECAUSE IT'S BIG. 04:38 He basically admitted as much to the New York Times. 04:40 Ownership is very important, Trump said, as he discussed with a real estate mogul's eye, the landmass of Greenland. 04:46 When asked why he needed to possess the territory, he said, because that's what I feel is psychologically needed for success. 04:53 I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can't do whether you're talking about a lease or a treaty. 04:58 Ownership gives you things and elements that you can't just get from signing a document. 05:02 Now, the other part of this, and it's almost too stupid to spend time on, but we have to, he also likes how it looks on the map. 05:10 I mean, look how, man, look at that. 05:12 Look how big and strategically important it is. 05:14 And this is a person who's got weird issues about bigness. 05:17 But as you map nerds out there know, that is purely due to an optical illusion with the Mercator projection when it attempts to display a spherical planet on a flat map, as you can see in this GIF from geographer Yaakov Nawasad. 05:31 I mean, Greenland is pretty big, don't get me wrong. 05:35 It is not continent-sized. 05:37 And I honestly do think that's why Donald Trump wants it. 05:41 That's a theory we've been kicking around for a while on this show. 05:45 Soundbite It's so sad for me to hear you say I think it has something to do with the Mercator projection, like that's where our politics have come to, that we have to think about the kind of maps that we are showing our imbecile president of the United States. 06:01 Chris Hayes And so here we are. 06:01 I mean, it's surreal. 06:03 It's like a waking nightmare. 06:05 So much of this period is. 06:07 But we're near the precipice of what would be a totally unprecedented geopolitical crisis in the post-World War II era. 06:14 I mean, it would move us off a period in history that is outside of the World War period of history and back towards that kind of world. 06:28 Donald Trump could blow up NATO at any second, which, of course, would be a feature rather than a bug for this administration. 06:33 And if there's any hope to walk this back, it rests with the fact that this is just wildly unpopular. 06:39 I mean, we've got MSNOW reporters that have been on the ground in Greenland talking to residents. 06:44 And the folks there, again, who matter a lot, it's where they live, it's their country and their territory. 06:49 They could not be clearer about how they feel. 06:53 Soundbite I don't want to be American. 06:55 I like my home country. 06:57 It's Greenland. 06:58 This is where I'm born and there's where I want to live. 07:02 So I don't want to lose our culture because if we want and if we be a part of America, we will lose our culture, we will lose our language. 07:14 SO I DON'T WANT TO BE AMERICAN. 07:16 HE'S TRYING TO BUY PEOPLE. 07:17 WE DON'T GET BOUGHT UP HERE. 07:19 YOU CAN MAYBE BUY A PRESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES, BUT YOU CANNOT BUY THE PEOPLE OF GREENLAND. 07:23 THAT'S THE THING. 07:24 Chris Hayes WE CAN TAKE THE MONEY AND USE IT IN OUR OWN WAY, BUT WE WILL NOT CHANGE OUR MIND. 07:36 What about Americans? 07:37 A new Reuters poll shows that just 17%, 17%, 1,7% of Americans approve of Trump's efforts to acquire Greenland and only, get this, 4% support using military force. 07:52 IN A FOCUS GROUP WITH REPUBLICAN TRUMP VOTERS, WHICH THE NEW YORK TIMES PUBLISHED TODAY, ONE MAN NAMED BILL, A 62-YEAR-OLD FROM MINNESOTA, AGAIN, TRUMP SUPPORTER, REPUBLICAN DUDE, SUMMED IT UP LIKE THIS, QUOTE, GREENLAND HAS RESOURCES THAT TRUMP WANTS TO BE ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF, BUT WHAT GIVES HIM THE RIGHT TO GO IN MILITARILY AND TAKE IT? 08:09 YEAH, WHAT GIVES HIM THE RIGHT INDEED? 08:12 AND THAT, BILL, THANK YOU, IS THE VIEW SHARED BY BASICALLY EVERYONE IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.