Greenland provides many benefits to the US

[Renew Deal]

It can stage missile sites and the navy.
It has vast natural resources and gives the US a stronger foothold in the arctic.
It’s vast territory can be used as a climate refuge for when warming makes the southern US uninhabitable.

The US bought “Louisiana” and Alaska. Purchasing land is within our tradition.

[Mister Ed]

1. Land can only be purchased when it's for sale.

I'm afraid seizing land is also well within our tradition.

[anciano]

5. Exactly....

the continental US is mostly all seized and stolen land. Just ask a few Native American Indians.

[multigraincracker]

2. Flew over a few times.

Nothing but ice down there.

[haele]

9. And lots of rock. Leif Erikson was the original Florida Real Estate scammer...

He found one of the few largest areas along the coast in Greenland that had soil, tufts of grass and a couple trees and claimed the rest of the island was like that to get people to take his boats over and settle.

Granted, it did make a good fishing waystation station and halfway/refurbishing point on the way to Vinland or the Outer Banks fishing areas.

Now Iceland is far greener than Greenland would ever be. And much more hospitable.

Haele

[VGNonly]

10. The Qinnagua Valley Greenland

an isolated valley about 9 miles long that has a narrow forest of birch and willow trees. They top out at about 25 'in height. It's likely there were more forests, but were timbered after Viking times.

[Skittles]

11. I read that the names Iceland and Greenland are reversed

Iceland is mostly green, while Greenland is mostly ice

[Journeyman]

3. As climate change claims more of the Arctic, new shipping lanes will open through it . . .

Whoever possesses Greenland will be well situated to control shipping across this newly-opened northern tier.

This same idea may be motivating Trump’s desire to make Canada a part of the US, as they will control many of the touchpoints for commerce through the newly opened channels of the Arctic.

For someone who denigrates the very idea of Climate Change, Trump certainly seems eager to position himself to profit from it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Not really; the coasts of Greenland don't lead anywhere interesting

https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Pole (look at the 2nd image, which is a map centred on the North Pole)

The real pinch point is the Bering Strait, which the USA already has half of. If the entire Arctic Ocean were to become ice-free, you could go from there to the North Sea going close to the east Greenland coast; but it's hardly any further to remain further off the Greenland coast, and closer to Svalbard. If your destination is the North American east coast, then you will go through the Davis Strait, but this is about 200 miles wide at its narrowest, so there's plenty of non-Greenland water to use. And if you're being belligerent, then the Bering Strait would be the place to launch attacks from.

This whole thing is probably a massive troll by now; it may have originally be born in the dim recesses of Trump's memories of US history and "purchases", with him dreaming of getting credit for another one, not understanding that geopolitics has changed in the last 150 years. There's modern war uses in terms of airbases, but any normal US president knows that if they shut up and treat Greenland and Denmark like friendly independent states, they'll keep the use of those.

[LeftInTX]

4. Trump probably watched too many episodes of Happy Days

[Hekate]

6. It's not for sale. The "owner" is a sovereign nation and an ally of ours. Mango Mussolini is insane.

[Irish_Dem]

7. France would provide many benefits to the US.

We could have Paris, all the tourist attractions.
The food, the romance, the museums.

I vote for France over Greenland.

[Solly Mack]

8. Maybe some country will buy the United States. Hopfully a good one.

A girl can dream.