Afternoon all. Sending along a timely conversation I just had with Senator Chris Coons who is leading a high level bipartisan, bicameral Congressional delegation to Denmark that is literally leaving this afternoon. A recording of our discussion is above and a full transcript is below.
Senator Coons is an old friend, and it’s just great news that he’s been able to put together such an important delegation to head to Europe at this critical time (for more on the delegation and mission see the Coons press release, below). We often talk here about how the free countries of the world need to see pro-democracy leaders here in the US visibly fighting alongside them for freedom and democracy. This trip and the statements you will read below are a great example of the kind of pro-democracy global diplomacy we must see far more of in the months ahead. I am grateful to my old friend for dropping by and talking to us about the vital trip and the broader fight against Trump’s reckless foreign policy - particularly given all that is going on right now.
At the beginning of our conversation I asked the Senator why he put the trip together. Here is what he said:
A year ago… 10 months ago, at the Munich Security Conference, I sat down with the foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and a senior Greenlandic representative, and I asked them three questions. Are there any current significant security threats from Iran, from China, from Russia, to Greenland security? No. If the United States respectfully came to you and said, we’d like to partner in sustainably developing the critical minerals and rare earth resources of Greenland, what would your response be? Open arms…. If we came to you respectfully and said, we’d like to exercise our rights under the treaty from 1951, and add American military assets on the east side of Greenland or the south of Greenland to monitor the movement of Chinese and Russian naval and air assets, what would your response be? Open arms….
So it’s been clear, for at least the year that I’ve been thinking about this, that it is simply a made up conflict for President Trump to keep pushing for Greenland to become American territory. I have two Republicans coming and two other Democrats coming from the Senate… senior members of Foreign Relations, Appropriations… and we’re going to have senior meetings with both Danish and Greenlandic representatives. This will be hugely reassuring, I hope, to the Danes and to the residents of Greenland, to have a bipartisan group from the House and the Senate come to them and do interviews in the Danish press, meet with their business, civil society and elected and military leaders and say, we want no part of a military effort to seize control of Greenland.
I could go on all day but rather than hearing from me I encourage you to watch the interview or read the transcript so you can hear directly from Senator Coons. Please consider sharing this encouraging news and in depth discussion with your networks. If you live in a state or district with a member of the delegation from either party, please consider calling their offices to thank them for showing up on the global stage for America at this critical - and dangerous - time for America and the people of the world.
Keep working hard everyone, and enjoy this uplifting conversation with one our more important foreign policy leaders, Senator Chris Coons of Delaware - Simon
Related Readings/Video from Hopium
Coons Press Release - Senator Coons to lead bipartisan, bicameral congressional delegation to Copenhagen
Group will also travel to World Economic Forum
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) will lead a bipartisan, bicameral congressional delegation to Copenhagen, Denmark this week to highlight more than 200 years of friendship between the United States and the Kingdom of Denmark, including enduring national security ties and decades of economic cooperation. The delegation will be in Copenhagen Friday, January 16, and Saturday, January 17. Some members of the delegation will continue on to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In Copenhagen, the delegation is expected to meet with Danish and Greenlandic government and business leaders. The trip will highlight bipartisan support for our allies in the Kingdom of Denmark and discuss how to deepen this partnership in line with our shared principles of sovereignty and self-determination, and in the face of growing challenges around the world, especially bolstering Arctic security and promoting stronger trade relations between the two countries.
Senator Coons will be joined on the trip by U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and U.S. Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Madeleine Dean (D-Penn.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), and Sarah McBride (D-Del.). Additional members are expected to join the delegation as well [Senator Murkowski has announced she will be joining the trip too}
“I’m proud to lead this congressional delegation to Copenhagen to demonstrate strong bipartisan and bicameral support in Congress for our Danish NATO ally,” said Senator Coons. “Denmark has always been a strong diplomatic, economic, and security partner who sacrificed more lives than any other country relative to its population when the United States invoked Article 5 following the September 11 attacks. At a time of increasing international instability, we need to draw closer to our allies, not drive them away, and this delegation will send a clear message that Congress is committed to NATO and our network of alliances.”
“Denmark is a trusted NATO ally and an essential partner to the United States on security, trade, and shared democratic values,” said Senator Tillis. “As co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, I believe it is critical that Congress stands united in supporting our allies and respecting the sovereignty of Denmark and Greenland, especially given Denmark’s early and steadfast support for the U.S. after the attacks of September 11, 2001. This delegation reflects a bipartisan commitment to strengthening security, expanding economic cooperation, and reaffirming the enduring alliance between the United States and Denmark.”
“Now more than ever, the U.S.-Denmark partnership and the NATO alliance more broadly are foundational to America’s national security amid rising threats to the transatlantic alliance,” said Senator Shaheen. “I’m proud to join this delegation to reiterate our nation’s commitment to Denmark, Greenland and NATO. Amid emerging threats in both the Arctic and Indo-Pacific, it is essential that the United States continues to confront the challenges of the 21st century in strong partnership with Denmark and our NATO allies.”
“President Trump’s continued threats toward Greenland are unnecessary and would only weaken our NATO alliance,” said Senator Durbin. “Denmark is a strong partner of the United States and this bipartisan CODEL reiterates that the United States Congress stands firm in our partnership, despite the president’s advances.”
“This bipartisan delegation will reinforce the Kingdom of Denmark’s importance as an ally who has stood by us during our hours of greatest need, as well as the commitment of the United States Congress to the NATO alliance as a whole,” said Representative Meeks. “Denmark and Greenland have been clear: Greenland and its people are not for sale. Our collective security must be achieved through diplomacy and cooperation, not by threats and coercion. I look forward to meeting with officials in Copenhagen to strengthen our partnership and make clear that Congress’ commitment to Denmark and NATO is ironclad.”
“NATO isn’t obsolete or a waste of money; it’s a vital investment in keeping the American people safe,” said Representative Jacobs. “With partner nations like Denmark, we help keep each other safe by pooling information and capabilities – magnifying our power and making us stronger together than on our own. That’s why I’m proud to join this bipartisan and bicameral delegation to send a clear message that Congress is unwavering in its commitment to our NATO partners and allies and we oppose President Trump’s aggressive efforts to acquire Greenland, whether by force or not.”
“I’m grateful to Senator Coons for his leadership in bringing together a bipartisan, bicameral delegation to reaffirm our support in Congress for our NATO ally, Denmark,” said Representative McBride. “Delaware understands that our security and prosperity depend on strong partnerships rooted in mutual respect, sovereignty, and self-determination. At a time of growing global instability, this trip could not be more poignant.”
Transcript - Simon Rosenberg and Senator Chris Coons (January 15, 2026)
Simon Rosenberg:
Welcome, everyone. Simon Rosenberg, Hopium Chronicles. Have a really special event today. Joining me is Senator Chris Coons. Welcome, Senator.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons:
Thanks, Simon. Great to see you again. Simon, we've been friends for decades, and I’ve always found your thoughtfulness, your research, your evaluation, and your positivity to be encouraging. Thanks for a chance to be on.
Simon Rosenberg:
Well, listen, I'm really excited you're here because in just a few hours, you're leading a bicameral, bipartisan delegation to Denmark at a critical time in our transatlantic relationship. Talk to us about this trip, how you put it together and what you hope to achieve when you're there.
Senator Coons:
Well, Simon, what I hear from Delawareans every day is that they're concerned about costs, the costs of housing and health care, groceries and daily living. And they'd rather not be dealing with the distraction of a crisis in NATO. Greenland has been a part of the Danish kingdom for centuries. And Donald Trump, with no foundation and reason that anyone can figure out, is demanding that it become American territory, as he's put it, “the easy way or the hard way.”
A year ago… 10 months ago, at the Munich Security Conference, I sat down with the foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, and a senior Greenlandic representative, and I asked them three questions. Are there any current significant security threats from Iran, from China, from Russia, to Greenland security? No. If the United States respectfully came to you and said, we'd like to partner in sustainably developing the critical minerals and rare earth resources of Greenland, what would your response be? Open arms…. If we came to you respectfully and said, we'd like to exercise our rights under the treaty from 1951, and add American military assets on the east side of Greenland or the south of Greenland to monitor the movement of Chinese and Russian naval and air assets, what would your response be? Open arms….
So it's been clear, for at least the year that I've been thinking about this, that it is simply a made up conflict for President Trump to keep pushing for Greenland to become American territory. I have two Republicans coming and two other Democrats coming from the Senate… senior members of Foreign Relations, Appropriations… and we're going to have senior meetings with both Danish and Greenlandic representatives. This will be hugely reassuring, I hope, to the Danes and to the residents of Greenland, to have a bipartisan group from the House and the Senate come to them and do interviews in the Danish press, meet with their business, civil society and elected and military leaders and say, we want no part of a military effort to seize control of Greenland.
Simon Rosenberg:
Well, I know that you get phone calls from foreign leaders, given your position. How are you talking about what's happening here? When you go over there, and you're going to raise the flag of America and democracy, you know, in the threat that we're facing here in the United States. How do you explain what's happening here in plain simple English?
Senator Coons:
It's really hard to explain because, frankly, in his first couple of months, in his second term, President Trump sort of randomly threatened Canada, Panama, Greenland, and then really nothing happened for months. And so many world leaders, many foreign policy observers assumed that he was just trolling. He was just trying to spin up responses. And he's moved on to other things. But in the last few months, particularly after the military action in Venezuela, folks are beginning to take him much more seriously. That he might randomly start bombing or attacking or invading other countries. Last year, President Trump ordered attacks on seven countries. That is a remarkable number. And in recent days, he has been threatening military action against Iran, Cuba, Colombia, and Denmark. And so it's moved from… people think he's just trolling to people are genuinely concerned… and several of our most valuable trusted core allies around the world in NATO and in the Indo-Pacific have sent representatives to meet with me in the last week to say this would blow up our alliances. This would prove that we are not trustworthy and that we cannot be counted on for mutual defense.
Simon Rosenberg:
Can you talk a little bit about what this means for Russia and Ukraine? The line I've been using is that in the last few weeks, Trump has declared himself to be the emperor of the Americas and the high lord of the Western hemisphere. And that international law doesn't apply to him any longer, as he said in the New York Times. The only break on his power is his own mind. Right, it was one of the most extraordinary things ever said in our history. He’s created this argument domestically that he's just trying to grab Greenland for our national security and for whatever other reason. But it's also putting Europe and NATO under unbelievable pressure while they're involved in this conflict in Ukraine. And so can you talk about the geopolitics of that a little bit?
Senator Coons:
Sure. Look, one of the things that played out relatively well last year compared to expectations was the NATO summit. President Trump, President Biden, President Obama have said for years to our NATO allies they should be investing more in their defense. And Europe came together last year and agreed to buy American weapons and give them. To shoulder much of the financial burden for the defense of Ukraine. as long as the United States will continue the things that only we can do - intelligence support, some of our exquisite military hardware that only we make, like Patriot interceptors. The Europeans have volunteered to significantly increase their investment, both in our mutual defense, to go from three to five percent of GDP, and in the support of Ukraine.
For a number of months there, President Trump was talking about putting pressure on Putin, standing by Zelensky. In recent weeks, Trump's gone back to blaming the Ukrainians, blaming Zelensky, saying without any foundation that Putin is ready to do a great deal. And this has put huge pressure on Zelensky and on Europe because if the United States is not predictable, then the security guarantees that Trump's representatives have been negotiating with Zelensky in order to say, you know, let's achieve a just and lasting peace where there is a deterrent against a renewed invasion or an expanded occupation by Russia, that guarantee really rests on European troops and an American backstop. And if that's not reliable, then the ability to prevent Putin from simply starting up again isn't reliable.
Look, it has occurred to me that what Trump is doing here by threatening to take Greenland by force is fulfilling Putin's greatest wish… which is to divide NATO internally and bring this alliance to an end. It is strategic… a moment of potential catastrophe. So I am hoping and praying and working to urge Americans broadly to speak up about this and my Republican colleagues to take responsibility for averting a disaster in our relations with NATO and in particular Denmark.
Simon Rosenberg:
It really does seem, Senator, and I'll speak to you as an old friend, that it is a moment where we need to not just be warriors for the middle class, but great American patriots defending freedom and democracy here and all around the world. I mean, we have what's happening Minnesota now, which you're going to have to try to explain to your colleagues when you're over there, which will be very difficult to explain. But it seems… trying as you're doing to forge a bipartisan coalition in the Senate to build on that great vote we had to roll back the tariffs that Senator Kaine led a few months ago. We almost got the vote on Venezuela and the War Powers Act. It was 50-50… it seems like forging this bipartisan coalition to defend American democracy, and to be on the side of democracy here and everywhere, will be an enormous responsibility for us in the coming months, given that Trump is increasingly threatening the democratic order globally and here at home.
So this is a really important trip in that step in that evolution of us finding our inner patriotism and love of country and being the great American patriots we need to be in a time of challenge.
Senator Coons:
That's right, Simon. Helping restore the values that underlay our security, our prosperity, our mutual regard here at home and abroad is a hard and central part of the work that I'm doing here in the Senate and that many others are as well. Trump has moved us into a period of lawless conduct at home and abroad by our government. And a lot of Americans are scared, are anxious, are losing confidence in our system and in our government. And I think they need to see and hear and feel that there are senators of both parties fighting against this and that there are members of Congress who are determined not to let our democracy slip away.
It is so painfully ironic that this is the 250th anniversary of our democracy, which in many ways really was given birth in Philadelphia, just up the road from my home in Delaware. We're going to be reenacting this summer the midnight ride of Caesar Rodney, who even while he was dying of cancer, rode all night from Dover, Delaware up to Philadelphia to cast the deciding vote for the Delaware delegation, which made us the first state to sign. And there are so many important aspects of that revolutionary undertaking that Ken Burns has so beautifully and challengingly documented in his new series on PBS about the the Revolutionary War. For us in this year of anniversary, to have a president who is leading military action and explaining it publicly as we wanted to get back the oil… when cautioned by Rubio and others, well, you might want to talk about democracy a little bit. Nah, that's really not the issue here. A group of us are about to meet with Machado, the Nobel Prize winner, the leader of the opposition from Venezuela, to talk about the prospect for elections, the prospect for a restoration of democracy in Venezuela.
Simon Rosenberg:
Great.
Senator Coons:
For the United States to use military force just in the service of naked economic self-interest, or frankly, the interest of Trump's donors, rather than advancing any values that underlie our role in the world… is a similarly alarming moment as [are] his threats against Greenland.
Simon Rosenberg:
Well, I'll leave you with this, Senator, because I know you've got important meetings you've got to get to. I wrote a piece the other day that I've sent to your team about [how]… right now the way it feels is that where we're headed is consolidation of oligarchy and autocracy around the world. But I think we have to… as leaders, as proud American patriots, to start imagining a different future in this unsettled time where we have a new birth of global freedom… that we actually win and prevail over these dark forces and that there is victory on the other side and not defeat. And I think that's been hard for us to do in the shock and awe period over the last year. But as you pointed out, there is opportunity now in Iran and Venezuela. We saw it in Syria. Russia is actually very much struggling in Ukraine. You know, ten years from now, we could be in a place where we look back at this moment as this hinge point that actually tilted towards freedom and democracy and not towards oligarchy and autocracy. And I think that you're going to be at the center of that fight, and we're glad to be on your team, Senator, and good luck in your trip to Denmark…
Senator Coons:
Thank you, Simon. I hope we get a chance to talk when I'm back, and I really appreciate your friendship and advice over so many years.
Simon Rosenberg:
Okay, take care. Good luck sir. Thanks, everybody.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons for Delaware Official Bio
A U.S. Senator for more than a decade, Chris Coons has worked hard to find bipartisan solutions to the issues facing Delaware, the country, and the world.
As the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Department of Defense, and Co-Chair and Co-Founder of the Senate Human Rights Caucus, Senator Coons is committed to promoting and protecting fundamental American values around the globe. As a member of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Senator Coons is focused on fostering American innovation and encouraging investment in research and development. He is also Vice Chairman of the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
Senator Coons earned his law degree from Yale Law School and has a master’s degree in Ethics from Yale Divinity School. Prior to entering public service, Senator Coons worked as in-house counsel for Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates, a global materials science company. Senator Coons served as president of the New Castle County Council from 2001 to 2005 and as New Castle County Executive from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, he won a special election to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.
Senator Coons lives in Wilmington with his wife, Annie. They have three children.
