Stephen Miller has spent the bulk of his White House career furthering hard-right domestic policies that have resulted in mass deportations, family separations and the testing of the constitutional tenets that grant American citizenship.
Now, Mr. Miller, President Trump’s 40-year-old deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, is casting his hard-right gaze further abroad: toward Venezuela and the Danish territory of Greenland, specifically.
Mr. Miller is doing so, the president’s advisers say, in service of advancing Mr. Trump’s foreign policy ambitions, which so far resemble imperialistic designs to exploit less powerful, resource-rich countries and territories the world over and use those resources for America’s gain. According to Mr. Miller, using brute force is not only on the table but also the Trump administration’s preferred way to conduct itself on the world stage.
“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” Mr. Miller told Jake Tapper of CNN on Monday, during a combative appearance in which he was pressed on Mr. Trump’s long-held desire to control Greenland.
“These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time,” he said.
This aggressive posture toward Greenland — and in turn, the rest of the world — is a perfect encapsulation of the raw power that Mr. Trump wants to project, even against Denmark, the NATO ally that controls Greenland. The moment also illustrates how people like Mr. Miller have ascended to the inner circle of a leader who has no interest in having his impulses checked, and how they exert their influence once they arrive there.
Starmer and Macron in extraordinary face-off with Trump over Greenland: Euro leaders issue statement saying they will 'not stop defending' Nato borders as President threatens to seize mineral-rich island by FORCE https://t.co/3w7Qy3pAzo
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) January 7, 2026
Europe’s leaders boldly confronted Donald Trump on Tuesday night after his administration threatened to use the US military to seize Greenland.
A joint statement from leaders including Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy vowed to defend Greenland’s ‘territorial integrity’ – following days of escalating tensions between the US and NATO ally Denmark.
It comes as Trump and his top advisers explore plans including purchasing the Danish territory or taking charge of its defense, according to a senior administration official.
The White House said that ‘utilising the US military is always an option’ and warned the issue is ‘not going away’ despite the protests of NATO leaders.
The statement has dismayed America’s NATO allies, who have rallied around Denmark in recent days as Trump renews his threats to invade Greenland after the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
In a public statement, seven leaders – from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark – declared they will ‘not stop defending’ Greenland despite the threats.
They called America an ‘essential partner’ and reiterated that the US and Denmark signed a defense agreement in 1951.
‘Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,’ they said.