President Donald Trump threw decades of American foreign policy into turmoil this week when he made demands to European leaders to take over Greenland.
And while the Republican chief executive appears to have backtracked for now after a widely panned address in Switzerland, the prospect of the United States seizing the Danish territory sparked markedly different reactions from Missouri U.S. Sens. Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley.
Schmitt has defended Trump’s Greenland rhetoric saying both in interviews and on social media posts that having the island be part of the United States is important for America’s national security.
“You can't overstate the strategic importance for the United States of America and the NATO alliance, quite frankly, of the United States acquiring Greenland,” Schmitt said this week on FOX News. “Whether it's ballistic missile defense, whether it's what's happening in space, whether it's the Arctic Sea lanes that might open up – there's a lot of reasons that the United States has a very important interest in making sure that Greenland is protected.”
Schmitt also posted on Facebook that “the same people who are pearl clutching about ‘undermining the NATO Alliance’ are the same people who never demand European NATO countries step up in a more meaningful way for the defense of their own continent.”
Schmitt’s comments are in marked contrast to Hawley’s.
During an interview with Cape Girardeau-based KFVS on Jan. 14, Hawley was asked if the United States needed to control Greenland in order to enact Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense program. Hawley replied, “I don’t know that we do.”
“We do have a very significant military installation in Greenland,” Hawley said. “We do have long-standing agreements with Denmark and Greenland related to their security and also, most importantly, to ours. So I think that's a good foundation to build from. I'm not aware of other needs to acquire the entire space or to occupy it in any way. I would say we certainly want to maintain our military base there.”
“And if we need to upgrade our military base, or it needs to be more significant, we want to be able to deploy anti-ballistic missile shields over it, for example, that all makes total sense to me,” he added. “I'd hope we could do that within our existing treaty framework.”
Hawley’s comments are similar to some of Trump’s critics, who have pointed out that the United States could open more military bases on Greenland if it's concerned about the island’s security.
Senators’ approach draws notice
Hawley and Schmitt’s comments on Greenland are notable, since both Republican lawmakers have been linked to potential executive branch service.
Hawley is often listed as a potential presidential contender in 2028, with his separation from Trump on issues like AI regulation and extending Affordable Care Act tax credits.
Schmitt is close with Vice President JD Vance and could be tapped to serve in his administration if he's elected to succeed Trump in the 2028 election.
Washington University social sciences professor Steven Smith said Friday on the Politically Speaking Hour on St. Louis on the Air that Hawley and Schmitt have generally been aligned with Trump on foreign policy. Both opposed the United States providing Ukraine with weapons to repel Russia’s invasion of the country. And they’ve also contended that the United States should focus on combating China, both economically and militarily.
“They're both advocates of the America First stance that the president has taken,” said Smith, who is also a political science professor at Arizona State University. “But they have differed here recently on the saber-rattling that we're seeing from the Trump White House.”
One big point of difference between Schmitt and Hawley, at least initially, was on Venezuela. Hawley drew notice for initially backing a war powers resolution to curtail Trump from taking military action on the South American country, though he eventually withdrew support for it after saying he received assurances that no ground troops would be deployed in the country.
“There's clearly a big difference between Hawley and Schmitt,” Smith said. “Schmitt clearly is backing up the president on virtually everything here. Hawley’s willing to distance himself a bit.”
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Layla Halilbasic our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
