Donald Trump May Want to Open ‘Casino’ in Greenland, John Bolton Claims

Posted on: January 5, 2025, 09:32h. 

Last updated on: January 5, 2025, 09:32h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More

Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Veteran foreign policy official John Bolton speculated in a recent interview that President-Elect Donald Trump may want to open a casino on Greenland if the U.S. were to acquire the massive northern Atlantic island.

Bolton, who briefly served as Trump’s national security advisor during his first administration, made the comment in a recent interview with The Free Press.

“He wants to put a Trump casino in Nuuk,” Bolton said about the island’s capital city.

Trump Nuuk, how is that for posterity,” Bolton responded to a reporter in what could have been Bolton thinking out loud. “Trump Nuuk. A Trump Tower, too.”

“I think he did a tweet on Greenland’s real estate,” Bolton added. “I’m serious, I think he did.”

Since 2019, Trump repeatedly floated the idea that the U.S. should acquire Greenland from Denmark. Since getting reelected in November, Trump once again raised the possibility.

Important for U.S. Security

For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” Trump said in a recent tweet.

In the Free Press interview, Bolton pointed out that “Greenland is intimately connected with our security for a lot of reasons and has been visibly since World War II, after the Danish government fell, to protect the North Atlantic convoys and our own interests against the Nazi threat.”

Following World War II, the U.S. built an Air Force base on Greenland in Thule — now called the Pituffik Space Base.

Given Greenland’s geographic proximity to the United States, and everything else I’ve stated, it’s obviously a strategic interest,” Bolton said. Greenland is part of “the North American landmass, and that makes it a vital security interest for the United States.”

While he was Trump’s national security advisor, Bolton looked at some initial options for the U.S. to take over Greenland, but “they never got anywhere, because Trump talked about everything publicly, and the whole thing blew up,” Bolton recalled.

In the future, Bolton recommended that Trump “close his mouth” and “try a little private negotiation” if he’s interested in the U.S. acquiring Greenland.

If he calls the Danish prime minister “nasty” again, that probably won’t have a good effect,” Bolton added.

“The Danish prime minister said it was absurd, which may have been produced by Trump saying something public,” Bolton said.

The earlier proposals led to many jokes on U.S. television shows, with TV host Conan O’Brien actually doing a series of shows from Greenland where he spoke to people about the idea.

Trump’s name currently is used in several resorts or hotels which are owned and operated by the Trump Organization. It includes the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, where an explosion took place on New Year’s Day.

Is Trump Serious?

Recently, Trump also suggested the U.S. reacquire the Panama Canal and even make Canada part of the United States. The U.S. formerly controlled the Panama Canal. In addition, during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln, Secretary of State William Seward proposed the U.S. acquiring all or part of Canada.

When asked about the Trump proposals on Panama and Canada, Bolton, who also formerly served as U.N. ambassador, responded to the Free Press, “Well, who knows with Trump what’s serious and what’s not?”