One senator who’s been critical of Donald Trump’s pursuit of Greenland heard Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ playing on the radio in his Copenhagen hotel room – and he’s convinced it was no coincidence.
‘You know what they were playing? Green Day’s “American Idiot”—which incidentally is a really good song,’ North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis told Punchbowl News. ‘But I don’t think it was just because it was on the rotation.’
Tillis is part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that flew to Copenhagen on Thursday to meet with Danish and Greenlandic leaders following Trump’s aggressive pursuit of the Arctic island and threats of tariffs.
The president has insisted on seizing Greenland and has not ruled out using force—though Republicans view that scenario as unlikely. Yet two GOP senators, Tillis and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, moved to assure the key NATO ally that its territorial sovereignty would be respected.
The Danes are also skipping the World Economic Forum in Davos as their own show of resistance to Trump amid the Greenland dispute.
That came days after an anonymous European diplomat told Politico that Vice President JD Vance served as Trump’s attack dog during a White House meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, saying: ‘Vance hates us.’
The Danish Embassy in Washington announced Sunday that Denmark’s Foreign Minister joined Truth Social ‘to be able to communicate directly to and with the Americans.’
There, the Danes may find more allies than in the administration. A CNN poll shows 75 percent of Americans oppose the US attempting to take control of Greenland, while a CBS poll found 70 percent disapprove of using federal funds to buy it.
President Donald Trump, center, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, right, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, third right, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, fourth right, pictured on Thursday, October 30, 2025
US Republican Senator Thom Tillis (R) is seen after a meeting with members of the Danish Parliament, a Greenlandic committee, and US Congress members at the Danish Parliament in Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a visit on January 16, 2026
In the Senate, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Lisa Murkowski introduced the NATO Unity Protection Act, which would block congressional funds from being used to seize territory from a NATO member—including Greenland.
Murkowski told Punchbowl News that a potential war powers vote on Greenland could face obstacles, as Senate Republicans recently blocked a similar resolution on Venezuela by arguing there were no active hostilities—a tactic she says could be deployed on Greenland.
A companion bill was introduced in the House by a bipartisan group of 34 lawmakers led by Democratic Rep. Bill Keating. Republican Don Bacon is the only original GOP co-sponsor.
Bacon threatened last Thursday to support impeaching Trump if he took military action against Greenland.
(L-R) US Republican Senator Thom Tillis, US Democratic Gregory Meeks, unidentified, US Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, US Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, US Democratic Senator Chris Coons, US Representative Sara Jacobs, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, US Representative Sarah McBride, unidentified, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, US Democratic Senator Peter Welch and US Representative Democrat Madeleine Dean pose for a family picture at the Eigtved’s Warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a visit on January 16, 2026
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Research of Greenland Vivian Motzfeldt addresses the media at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen speaks to the media, in London, Britain, January 19, 2026
Danish Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen and Greenland’s US Representative Jacob Isbosethsen met with a dozen lawmakers from both parties in the first week of January.
After meeting with Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, Isbosethsen told reporters that ‘Greenland is not for sale.’
He added that ‘Greenland is a very proud people, it is a very, very proud country’ that is ‘very proud to contribute to the Western Alliance and to be a NATO ally and partner together with our friends from Denmark and the United States.’
Trump, however, insisted on seeing Greenland ‘in the hands of the United States,’ calling anything less ‘unacceptable’ in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning.
As talks took place in Washington on Wednesday, Denmark’s Defense Ministry announced it was boosting its military presence in Greenland alongside NATO allies.
France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden each sent small numbers of troops in a symbolic but pointed move signaling solidarity with Copenhagen. The UK said one British officer was part of a reconnaissance group for an Arctic endurance exercise.
