U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives a statement during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, at the USA House venue, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2026. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
President Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary just revealed the "insanity" behind Trump's ploy to control Greenland, according to one analyst.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined NBC News's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to discuss Trump's efforts to wrest control of Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark. Will Saletan, writer for The Bulwark, discussed Bessent's interview in a new video for "Bulwark Takes," which he said was one of the most "embarrassing" of the entire administration.
"He's twisting himself into a pretzel to justify Trump's totally crazy threats against Greenland," Saletan said.
Trump has said that acquiring the country is in America's national interests, although experts have questioned some of the motives the Trump administration has floated to justify the move. The president has repeatedly threatened to invade Greenland, which Danish officials have said would be an "end of NATO" moment, and he recently imposed a 10% tariff on all goods from certain EU countries, including Denmark.
Bessent justified Trump's actions by arguing that the U.S. doesn't want to get dragged into someone else's war to defend the territory, and said the Trump administration is working off of "asymmetric information" to make its decisions about Greenland.
"See, that is information nobody else has," Saletan said. "Not the Danish government, which actually has sovereignty over Greenland and has way better intelligence than we do, and not the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who would know if we really did have secret information about Russia and China operating in Greenland. No, Trump and Bessant have information that is so secret they haven't shared it with anybody else. Almost as though they're making it up."