America’s 21st Century Louisiana Purchase
From a cursory look at history, it appears the USA has produced at least three strong, bellicose presidents over the past 250 years.
One of them served in the early part of the 19th century. The second, in the early days of the 20th. The third has been president in two non-consecutive terms in the early 21st century. Maybe we needed strong leaders to “do great things” during the beginning of each of those tumultuous centuries.
One strategic acquisition was finalized this week.
Let’s call it America’s 21st Century Louisiana Purchase
America’s 21st Century Louisiana Purchase
You’re probably already guessed the three strongman presidents to whom I refer:
Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Donald Trump.
All three were bigger than life, tough as nails, and a bit unorthodox in manners and speech. But they also shared one other important trait probably due to their pugnacious personas.
They got things done.
Big achievements from big personalities.
Andrew Jackson was known as “Old Hickory” because his fellow soldiers in the War of 1812 viewed him as tough, resilient, and unbending like a durable hickory tree. He served as the seventh U.S. president from 1829 to 1837, expanding executive power, championing the power of the people, and paying off the national debt. On the negative side, his policies toward Native America tribes led to the “Trail of Tears.”
Teddy Roosevelt (he preferred to be called Theodore) was a larger-than-life, hyper-kinetic leader who combined intellectual prowess with an insatiable appetite for action (the “Strenuous Life”). His greatest accomplishments as 26th President of the U.S. from 1901–1909 included pioneering massive environmental conservation, breaking up harmful business monopolies, and leading the construction of the Panama Canal.
You know the third guy–Donald Trump. He’s amazingly similar to the other two presidents in personality, relentless action, and big vision.
And he landed a YUGE one this week with the United States taking control of security and development of the world’s largest island.
GREENLAND.
I’ll let former speaker of the House New Gingrich make the case that the “acquisition” of Greenland is just as big as the Louisiana Purchase.
President Trump, President Jefferson and America’s Future
The scale of this achievement can best be understood by comparing the size of President Trump’s acquisition and President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase.
September 22, 2026
When President Trump announced that the United States had reached an agreement with Denmark that would allow the United States to both protect the World’s largest island and control the development of its resources he made history in a big way. In effect Greenland would now be an American protectorate and managed from Washington.
The scale of this achievement can best be understood by comparing the size of President Trump’s acquisition and President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase which virtually doubled the size of the United States (United States before purchase: roughly ~890,000 sq. mi.; Louisiana Purchase: ~828,000 sq. mi.; United States afterward: roughly ~1.7 million sq. mi.).
Greenland is 836,000 square miles so it is slightly larger than Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase. Thus President Trump can now legitimately claim he is the president who added the most territory to American jurisdiction if not ownership.
As the largest island in the world (New Guinea, the second largest island is only 303,000 square miles) the sheer size of Greenland is massive. In fact if it were an independent country Greenland would be the 12th largest in the world and would be larger than Saudi Arabia or Mexico.
Of course much of Greenland is covered by Ice, some of it more than two miles thick. There are about 180,000 square miles along the coast which are ice free although snow covered at times in the winter.
The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland has identified 1460 mineral resources and the work has only begun. The potential for development along the coast could alter a lot of the current calculations about who can control which important elements. President Trump’s step in getting an agreement to allow the United States to control mineral development will give the United States an enormous advantage in dealing with Communist China and other nations who had hoped to dominate the world mineral trade.
The acquisition of control over Greenland has another huge importance given the Russian and Chinese efforts to develop military capabilities in the Arctic. The Russians have made a major effort to be able to work in arctic conditions. If you look at a map of their 15,000 miles of arctic coastline you can see why it makes sense for them to have the only nuclear powered ice breakers (eight of them).
The United States has one heavy ice breaker but it is shared between an arctic assignment and an Antarctic assignment. The Chinese have a few smaller ice breakers but it is the Russians who dominate the ice breaker business today. The United States Coast Guard estimates it will ultimately need 4 to 5 heavy ice breakers and another 4 smaller ice breakers.
The acquisition of the authority to take all steps necessary to defend Greenland gives the United States both the legal ability and the geographic ability to project American power much more deeply into the Arctic.
Through his rough and tumble, inelegant confrontational style President Trump has set the stage for a significant American improvement in both economic and national security terms.
There may have been more traditionally diplomatic and less pugnacious ways to dream with our NATO ally Denmark but the last serious effort to acquire Greenland, by President Harry S Truman in 1946-47, was simply turned down by Denmark without any negative consequence.
The importance of Greenland to defending America from the Russians coming over the North Pole had been recognized the the Joint Chiefs in 1946. In fact they listed it as their number one priority.
Now, 80 years later, President Trump has completed the project President Truman started.
In the case of dealing with Denmark (from whom we had purchased the Danish West Indies in 1917 on our third try) President Trump was simply taking up a process of acquiring territory to expand the American defense zone.
You can disagree with some of President Trump’s tactics, with his confrontational style, with his threat to seize something if you won’t agree to a deal.
His style on Greenland undoubtedly both enraged and frightened the Europeans far beyond Copenhagen.
On the other hand you can’t deny that in the end, without firing a shot President Trump just became the most successful American President in expanding the country’s area of control. Even Thomas Jefferson would have been proud of him.
* * *
We should have learned long ago from Trump’s best-selling book The Art of the Deal that in negotiations one must aim extremely high (even bellicose high), keep your opponent off balance, and then bring them to your actual desire in a win-win situation.
President Trump was never going to “invade” or “take over” Greenland. That was hyperbole that led to reaction and then action to help Denmark release its financial burden, help Greenlanders have a more hopeful future, and protect the Western Hemisphere from arctic invaders.
Oh–and some of the greatest rare earth minerals are under the ice. In a few years, China will no longer control this vital area of global need. (China currently refines 85% of these technology-needed metals, but that is changing.)
In these two ways (security and rare earths), the acquisition of Greenland is checkmate to Russia and China.
It’s a great achievement of this administration that will make our world safer.
Call it the Louisiana Purchase II–and you saw it take place in your lifetime.
