Jon Wolfsthal says Trump "could have just asked and gotten this result with less alliance damage"
Jon B. WolfsthalFellow for U.S. Nuclear Policy at PAX sapiens and former National Security Council senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, posting on his own Bluesky account
Jon Wolfsthal, a nuclear policy fellow and former National Security Council official, quoted a New York Times breaking-news post reporting that President Trump said the U.S. had reached a security deal with Greenland, and added: "He could have just asked and gotten this result with less alliance damage." The Times post also said Denmark had said an agreement would be signed soon.
“He could have just asked and gotten this result with less alliance damage.”
Original post
Original post
Where this statement fits
Trump’s “permanent control” description of the announced U.S.-Denmark-Greenland security agreement
On September 18, 2026, President Donald Trump announced an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that he said gives the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland.” Danish and Greenlandic officials initially described an expected agreement and emphasized sovereignty and self-determination. On September 22, the White House published an agreement text dated that day. It reaffirms Denmark’s sovereignty and Greenland’s right to self-determination; provides for U.S. defense areas and access under stated procedures; bars non-NATO states from establishing military installations unless the parties agree otherwise; and has no end date. The text says it enters into force only after diplomatic notice of necessary parliamentary procedures. The dispute remains over how Trump’s “permanent control” description compares with the document’s terms.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
The speaker's own words in the Bluesky post, matching an archived copy dated 2026-09-18 23:53:13 UTC. The post embeds a New York Times Bluesky post, whose words are the Times's, not Wolfsthal's; ‘He’ is read as Trump because the quoted post reports Trump's announcement. The post has no other text.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Original post
About this source
The post Wolfsthal quoted, as embedded in his post. Its link card points to nyti.ms/4ArK4fA, which resolves to nytimes.com/2026/09/18/us/politics/trump-greenland.html. Used only to show what Wolfsthal was responding to.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The New York Times posted breaking news at 7:00 PM EDT on 2026-09-18 that President Trump said the U.S. had reached a security deal with Greenland and that Denmark said an agreement would be signed soon. Earlier that evening Trump's Truth Social post had described the agreement as giving the United States "permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland."
After the quotation
Wolfsthal's post quote-posts the Times's breaking-news post about the announcement.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Wolfsthal's own words say Trump "could have just asked" to get "this result", which treats the announced outcome as easily obtained and so downplays its significance, and add that the approach cost the alliance more than necessary; he does not say what the agreement contains or dispute Trump's description of it. The closest competing label is condemns, because "alliance damage" is critical. That loses because the criticism is aimed at the route Trump took to the result, not at the agreement or at Trump's description of it.
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More from this case
Read the full caseTrump says the United States has Greenland now on an unlimited basis
“And when you add the United States and Venezuela together, and then you add Greenland, if you'd like, because we also have Greenland now. We worked out a great deal. We want to thank Denmark and Europe for making that possible. ... We got Greenland on an unlimited basis.”Read statement
Rubio says Trump is fully apprised of the Greenland deal when asked whether he misunderstood it
“Yeah, I'm not sure what comments you're referring to, and I certainly haven't followed how it's been covered in Denmark. Suffice it to say we have a very good deal, one the President is fully apprised of, he understands, and is very supportive of. ... we now have an agreement in place that will exist in perpetuity that ensures not just the equities of North America, meaning the United States and Canada, but all of our partners in NATO as well.”Read statement
Scott Horton says Trump announces at rallies an intention to violate the Greenland agreement
“Trump talks about how he "got Greenland" at every rally now, and people in Greenland, Denmark and around the world take note of how he signed agreements and then announced in campaign rallies his intention to violate them. This is not a joke.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Jon Wolfsthal says Trump "could have just asked and gotten this result with less alliance damage"". First published: 2026-09-19. Last updated: 2026-09-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/1204-jon-wolfsthal-a-nuclear-policy-fellow-and-former