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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Wednesday, January 21st, I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What A Day, the show celebrating Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for speaking up for the everyday retiree landlords who may be affected by the president’s new quote unquote, “affordability agenda.” 

[clip of Scott Bessent] We are going to give guidance at some point to see, what is a mom and pop? That someone, maybe your parents for their retirement have bought five, ten, twelve homes. So we don’t wanna push the mom and pops out. We just wanna push everyone else out. 

Jane Coaston: Yes, everyday moms and pops with their ten to twelve homes. You know, normal stuff. [music break] On today’s show, Congress released the text of a new funding package to keep the government open. Yay! But it gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement ten billion dollars. Boo! And Measles is back. Maybe. The contagious disease that was once considered eliminated in the US of A is having a record resurgence. But let’s start with Greenland. We’ve sure been talking a lot about the world’s largest island, haven’t we? That’s because, as we’ve mentioned on this show, President Donald Trump is absolutely obsessed with obtaining Greenland by any means necessary. He made his latest vague threat on Tuesday during a very weird press conference, even by Trump standards, because for one thing, he also praised the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. 

[clip of unknown reporter] How far are you willing to go to acquire Greenland? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] You’ll find out. 

Jane Coaston: But Trump’s obsession with Greenland isn’t new. Back in 2019, he made an offer to buy the island, but was told by Denmark and Greenland that it was not for sale. It still isn’t, as Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, and the good people of Greenland itself keep making incredibly clear. In fact, thousands of Greenlanders gathered in the capital city of Nuuk on Saturday to send exactly that message. Here are two protesters’ perspectives, courtesy of Forbes. 

[clip of Greenlander protestor number 1] So Donald, we don’t want to be Americans, we are Greenlanders and we want to be in a democratic world and we hope Americans, they will support us. 

[clip of Greenlander protestor number 2] I’ve never met an American who thinks anything other. Greenland should be free and Greenland should be for the Greenlanders, not for the Americans. 

Jane Coaston: Some protesters in Nuuk even wore red hats that read, make America go away, which is a great sign for American diplomacy. But all of this insanity isn’t just affecting Greenlanders, though seriously, they do not want this. Stocks are plummeting and Trump’s obsession with the semi-autonomous region is putting NATO at risk, scrambling decades old alliances, and even putting European right-wing parties on defense because it turns out that actually even right-wing anti-liberals don’t want America running Greenland. And have I mentioned that American voters oppose taking control of Greenland by like massive margins? So how did we get here? Well, as we’ve mentioned, Greenland is a part of Denmark and has been for a really, really long time. But this is not the first time the United States has expressed interest in the island. So to talk more about our long, weird relationship with an island I have learned more about in the last three weeks than in the 38 years I’ve been alive, I spoke to Ronald Doel. He’s a professor at Florida State University and a co-editor of Exploring Greenland, Cold War Science and Technology on Ice. Ronald, welcome to What a Day. 

Ronald Doel: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. 

Jane Coaston: You’ve visited Greenland. Everything I know about Greenland is very recent or it’s about the fact that Greenland isn’t very green. So what’s it like? 

Ronald Doel: It’s an extraordinary place to fly into. If one’s lucky, has a window seat, you look out over the immense ice cap and then start to see some rocks and local mountains coming up as the plane approaches the coast. And then it is a really rugged, almost in many places, treeless landscape. The old airport that used to be one of the US bases was relaxed enough that if you had time between flights, you could walk out of the airport, cross a small road and get pizza at a local shop across the way or walk into the small town nearby or see an immense fast flowing stream of glacier water heading towards the ocean. 

Jane Coaston: There are about, what, 57,000 people in Greenland? How do Greenlanders feel about their relationship with Denmark now? Have they pushed for complete independence? Has there been an independence movement previous to all of this? 

Ronald Doel: The people in Greenland, like so many people who were in colonial type relations, chafed under some of the limitations, restrictions. At the same time, Denmark has continued to support the residents in Greenlands with social services, with health service, with general levels of support parallel to what citizens in Denmark would receive. So it’s a complicated rich relationship. If the Greenlandic folk could become fully independent in an ideal world, that might be a high desire. But all that is mitigated by the limited resources available, the economic situation, and just in general in that broadest sense welfare support that is coming from Denmark. All those are positives that mitigate somewhat the sting of still having something of a colonial relationship. And of course, Greenland’s been moving towards gaining ever greater autonomy over its affairs, certainly domestic affairs. And Greenlanders very recently when asked to choose that the choice is between staying with Denmark or the United States made clear they really preferred Denmark. 

Jane Coaston: The U.S. first started talking about acquiring the Arctic Island more than 100 years ago. Why have we historically been so interested in Greenland? 

Ronald Doel: It’s a really good question. Think back to 1867. It’s just after the end of the US Civil War, Secretary of State Seward has negotiated to purchase Alaska. 

Jane Coaston: Yes, Seward’s Folly. 

Ronald Doel: Right, he’s looking at the map and he’s seeing, my gosh, there’s yet another possible territory in the north that could be valuable, for instance, for fishing. So interest goes way back and there were other attempts beginning of the 20th century, a kind of complicated land swap possibility with Denmark that didn’t go through. Greenland became really central to how the U.S. Military was operating in the North during the key years of World War II, and that relationship solidified into the early Cold War. The Arctic, particularly at the very start of the Cold War, was seen as a potential theater of military operations. It was the closest distance one could travel to get from North America over to the Eurasian continent. And military experts, Pentagon planners, were really concerned. War could break out, and if it did, it would be at least largely centered up in the Arctic. And having a facility in that region became really important. One description of Greenland that was given at the very early part of the Cold War. The world’s largest stationary aircraft carrier. Harry Truman was well aware of the value of Greenland, and made at offer. Would Denmark relinquish Greenland for a payment of a hundred million dollars? Greenland very firmly then said no. 

Jane Coaston: So at what point do other countries start getting interested in Greenland themselves? And have there been other attempts to just seize it? 

Ronald Doel: Not like what we are seeing in the past few years since the Trump administration back in 2019 first started expressing interest in acquiring Greenland in some way. There are mineral deposits in Greenland that are potentially quite valuable for a number of industries and those have been coveted by major industrial centers. China had wanted to gain a bit more access more than a decade ago, but uranium is no longer being mined and there really hasn’t been that much activity from other foreign actors in Greenland now for quite some years. 

Jane Coaston: You mentioned that this latest push by Trump differs from past attempts to acquire Greenland. So what’s different this time? 

Ronald Doel: A sense that maintaining the larger Western alliance, recognizing Denmark as one of the founding members of NATO and wanting to keep good relations with Western Europe, all that was paramount. And the U.S. and Danish authorities, they differed in what they sought to do for policy and activities in Greenland, but they figured out ways to work it out. In the last, really just the last few months, that level of trust has really been hammered. 

Jane Coaston: I’ll just ask, is this the biggest threat Greenland has faced? 

Ronald Doel: That’s what a number of commentators have recently said, and certain politicians, the ones who just went on the mission to Copenhagen to talk directly with Danish officials, some of whom have access to briefings to know the larger state of play, said in the moment, the threat to Greenland is not coming from Russia, not coming from China. But coming from the U.S. 

Jane Coaston: So it’s pretty clear that President Trump isn’t backing down on this. Like we keep hearing the like, no, no, no this is a negotiation tactic, but like, there’s no negotiation happening. Greenland, Denmark, none of their allies are backing down either. As a historian, where do you think we go from here? 

Ronald Doel: One thing that keeps historians from becoming futurologists is how hard it is to try to predict what could happen. Clear these scenarios in view. If the NATO alliance is limited or shattered, it’s nearly eight decades worth of ways of operating that would be overturned really quickly and and just what would emerge out of that is uncertain what kinds of conflicts that have long affected Europe might be further inflamed if there weren’t those kinds of of controls and and reassurances that come with the NATO alliance. 

Jane Coaston: Ronald, thank you so much for taking the time to join me. 

Ronald Doel: It’s my pleasure. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Ronald Doel, professor at Florida State University and co-editor of Exploring Greenland, Cold War Science and Technology on Ice. Love What a Day? Great. Show your support by hitting that subscribe button and giving us five stars wherever you listen. And check out our YouTube. More to come after some ads. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] We have a book that I’m not going to read to you, but these are the accomplishments of what we’ve produced, all page after page after page, individual things. I could stand here and read it for a week and we wouldn’t be finished. 

Jane Coaston: President Trump joined the White House press briefing on Tuesday to mark the first full year of his second term. Lucky us. The president’s anniversary speech was long, arduous, low-energy, and full of weird tangents. First, Trump held up photographs of alleged criminals in Minnesota under the caption “Worst of Worst.” Then he rattled off the administration’s wins from a prepared packet. Spoiler alert, he’s still standing behind those goddamn tariffs. Anyway, we listened to the presser so you don’t have to. Here’s a little recap of Trump’s best moments. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I love Hispanic, they are unbelievable, entrepreneurial, they have everything. I did great, I did the highest, nobody ever got numbers like I got from the standpoint of being a Republican. 

Jane Coaston: What? But don’t worry, there’s more. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] And by the way, I did more for NATO than any other person, alive or dead. Nobody’s done for NATO, and I think for the most part they’ll tell you that. 

Jane Coaston: They would not. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Trump speech if he didn’t mention former President Joe Biden 500 million times. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] That’s like I said to Dana White the other night. I said, you know, Dana, it’s like you have a fighter, two fighters, one guy is winning by a lot. And they say, oh, let’s take this guy out. Let’s put a new fighter in the ring with him. That’s what happened to me. I was doing great with Biden. The whole campaign was against Biden. All the money was spent against Biden, and all of a sudden I got Kamala everyone said, who the hell is she? 

Jane Coaston: It’s time to let it go. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I think God is very proud of the job I’ve done. And that includes for religion. You know, we’re protecting a lot of people. 

Jane Coaston: Let’s end on that display of narcissism. I think that’s enough. 

[clip of Gregory Bovino] Leaders like Tim Walz or Mayor Frey have relied on heated rhetoric and accusations that distract from the facts.

Jane Coaston: Aspiring SS officer Gregory Bovino held a press conference Tuesday defending federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and casting blame for the chaos there on state and local officials. The Border Patrol chief’s comments came as federal prosecutors served grand jury subpoenas to a slew of those officials. According to a person who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, subpoena’s were sent to the offices of Minnesota Democrats Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The source said it’s part of an investigation into whether the officials obstructed or impeded federal law enforcement during the sweeping immigration operation in the Twin Cities. A.G. Allison noted the subpoena his office received was for records and documents. He wrote in a statement on Twitter, quote, “Everything about this is highly irregular, especially the fact that this comes shortly after my office sued the Trump administration to challenge their illegal actions within Minnesota.” Hmm. You don’t say. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also took to Twitter, writing in part, quote, “When the federal government weaponizes its power to try to intimidate local leaders for doing their jobs, every American should be concerned.” Congress released the text of a 1,000-plus-page, $1.2 trillion funding bill on Tuesday, ahead of the January 30th deadline to avoid another government shutdown. Please God, not another shutdown. The bipartisan package would fund a majority of the federal government, including the departments of labor, health and human services, and education. Arguably, the most controversial portion of the bill is the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It keeps Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s annual budget at about $10 billion through the end of September. But it does reduce the money set for enforcement and removal operations. It also attempts to add some guardrails, like allocating $20 million to buy and operate body cameras for immigration enforcement agents. Democrats in the House and Senate have said they want broader reforms to restrain officers, following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renée Good in Minneapolis. But other Dems argue the bill is better than a shutdown. Washington Senator, Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement, quote, “The suggestion that a shutdown in this moment might curb the lawlessness of this administration is not rooted in reality. Under ACR and in a shutdown, this administration can do everything they are already doing, but without any of the critical guardrails and constraints imposed by a full year funding bill. One question, do they seem constrained now? The House is expected to vote on the package later this week. With a separate vote just on the DHS portion. South Carolina health officials announced an additional 88 cases of the measles on Tuesday, marking a total of 646 cases reported there since October. Yes, those measles, the highly infectious disease that can kill you and is easily preventable with a highly effective and safe vaccine that came out over 60 years ago. The U.S. was considered to have eliminated measles in 2000 and has remained measles free for the last quarter century. But in recent years, as childhood vaccination rates have dropped, the virus has made a mysterious and inexplicable comeback. Or, you know, the opposite of mysterious and inexplicable. Actually, very explicable! Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed more than 2,000 measles cases across 44 states, the most since 1991, and nearly 50 separate outbreaks. International health authorities say they will meet in April to determine if the U.S. Has lost its measles-free designation. It’s based on whether a single measles chain has spread uninterrupted within the country for at least 12 months. Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the West Texas outbreak, which included almost 800 cases and killed two children. And that’s the news. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, check out the latest list of Trump pardons, which is full of fraudsters, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how it’s very clear that despite his rhetoric on Somalis and welfare fraud, Trump is pretty into fraud as long as he likes the fraudsters—like me—What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston. And one of Trump’s pardons marks round two for one fraudster, because he pardoned Adriana Camberos the first time during his first term, then she did more fraud, was convicted, and as of last week pardoned by Trump again. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Fohr and Chris Allport. Our producer is Caitlin Plummer. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Ethan Oberman, Greg Walters and Matt Berg. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Kyle Murdock and Jordan Cantor. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]