Sen. Lindsey Graham dismissed worries about President Donald Trump’s quest for full “ownership” of Greenland, including threats to acquire it by force.
Graham’s blunt message came at POLITICO’s 2026 Munich Security Conference on Friday, Feb. 13, after journalist Jonathan Martin asked the South Carolina Republican, 70, if he has a message for Europeans in the audience “who are obviously nervous” about Trump’s controversial plans for the NATO territory.
Graham, a Trump ally, first joked about Martin’s question. “Well, if you’re nervous, have a beer,” he said. “Go see a doctor. Stop being nervous.”
Graham then downplayed the president’s bid to take over the territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — and which has stressed the United States’ relations with Denmark and other NATO allies.
Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and ranking member Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, conduct the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs hearing titled « The Abduction of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation, » in Dirksen building on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
Sharing his actual message to “my European friends,” Graham said, “Greenland is behind us, but the goal is to get outcomes.”
“Who gives a s— who owns Greenland? I don’t,” the senator continued. “So the point is Greenland is going to be more fortified because Donald Trump, once he feels like it’s his brand or his buy-in, is going to go big.”Danish Lawmaker Cut Off After Telling Donald Trump to ‘F— Off’ During Heated Greenland Speech
Anders Vistisen member of the European Parliament and member of the Danish political party Dansk Folkeparti gives a speech at the victory party meeting organized by the Patriots for Europe political group in the European Parliament in Mormant sur Vernisson France on June 9, 2025; Donald Trump during an executive orders signing event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 5, 2025
JD Vance Tells Greenland They’re Safer Under U.S., Claims Other Nations Want to Take Over: ‘This Island Is Not Safe’
When he was questioned about Denmark’s relationship with the U.S. amid Trump’s vocal plans to seize control of Greenland, Graham said, “I think we’re good.”
“I think everybody is hugging it out and, you know, we’ll live to fight another day,” he added.
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Trump previously linked his loss of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to his desire to seize control of Greenland in a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
In his January letter to Støre, Trump urged the politician to give the U.S. “Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” despite the fact that Støre was not responsible for Trump’s Nobel loss, nor does he control the fate of Greenland.
US President Donald Trump looks on during an announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on February 12, 2026.
Donald Trump.
« I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States, » Trump wrote in the letter.
He later doubled down on his Greenland plans in a Truth Social post the same day, writing, « NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that ‘you have to get the Russian threat away from Greenland.’ Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it. Now it is time, and it will be done!!! President Donald J. Trump. »
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In a January interview with The New York Times, Trump said his desire to have ownership of Greenland is « psychologically important” to him.
Still, reporters questioned why he wouldn’t just send more American troops to Greenland if his goal was, as he previously stated, to fend off foreign threats from China and Russia.
After Trump told the outlet that ownership of the NATO territory is “what I feel is psychologically needed for success,” the Times’ White House correspondent Katie Rogers — whom Trump recently called « ugly, both inside and out » for writing a story about his age — asked him to clarify, « Psychologically important to you or to the United States? »
“Psychologically important for me, » Trump replied to Rogers. « Now, maybe another president would feel differently, but so far I’ve been right about everything. »
