Trump’s Greenland and Gaza moves: Wise strategy or pure madness?

“Amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics.” But winning wars requires both to support a larger, coherent strategy. President Trump’s push to extend U.S. control to Greenland and Gaza follows a calculated method, not madness.

To win a war, the first step is understanding the enemy and his strategic objectives. The post-World War II order and the Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union no longer pose the primary threat to U.S. interests. Today, China wages covert information and economic warfare while openly preparing for military action to seize Taiwan and dominate key shipping lanes in the South Pacific.

With Greenland, we gain strategic positioning and critical resources. With Gaza, we gain security leverage and economic opportunity.

Russia and Iran support China’s ambitions but play a secondary role. Tactics include sabotage, terrorism, Houthi-led attacks on shipping, and grinding attrition in Ukraine. Meanwhile, far-left movements work to undermine the U.S. from within, often using federal funding to do so. Decades of massive deficit spending have further weakened the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.

That is the threat. How can the U.S. effectively respond after years of economic decline, military stagnation, and the erosion of its workforce’s education?

Trump’s DOGE initiative and other efforts aim to rebuild America’s military and workforce by cutting wasteful spending and reforming domestic programs. But those steps alone do not address shifting global power dynamics or the role of rapidly advancing technology in shaping future conflicts.

That’s where Greenland and Gaza come in.

Urgent, evolving threats

For decades, most NATO countries have ignored their commitments to shared defense. Instead, they built welfare states while cozying up to Russia and China, sidelining Israel, and attempting to control U.S. and global policies through institutions like the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the European Union.

These nations felt secure in their defiance because the U.S. deep state, well entrenched within the bureaucracy, believed it could manipulate global geopolitics through unaccountable dark money. Often, this shadowy influence conflicted with the policies of elected leaders.

Those days are over — just in time.

A new and more urgent threat has emerged: China’s dominance in emerging technology and its implications for national security and defense. For decades, China has fast-tracked its most promising students into advanced science and technology programs. This strategy has fueled major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and quantum computing, each posing serious risks to U.S. military capabilities, infrastructure, and cybersecurity.

China’s AI capabilities, applied to vast amounts of American personal and government data that it has stolen, provide key insights into U.S. vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, quantum computing threatens to break the encryption methods that currently protect critical systems and sensitive information.

The US must secure new strategic territory and key material sources while rapidly advancing technological capabilities at home.

Beyond technological advancements, China has also engaged in large-scale intellectual property theft, targeting key military and national security designs. This theft, enabled by America’s well-intentioned but often naïve embrace of Chinese students and researchers in universities and corporations, has accelerated China’s ability to project power across the globe.

Now add in policies in which we allowed China to dominate mining and sale of rare-earth minerals necessary for advanced semiconductor and sensor equipment in the name of environmental green virtue here at home and, for many, in the name of globalism. China can and will cut off our access to those minerals completely, thereby crippling short-term attempts to rebuild and rehome semiconductor and related industries in the United States.

Also factor in advances such as new low-horizon missiles for which existing detection systems are weak.

Territorial opportunities

These threats are real, and the war for dominance is already under way. How do we counter them?

First, the U.S. must secure new strategic territory and key material sources while rapidly advancing technological capabilities at home.

Greenland presents a major opportunity for two reasons. Controlling Greenland would allow the U.S. to deploy advanced missile detection and counter-missile systems, strengthening defense against Chinese and Russian movements in the northern seas. Additionally, Greenland holds valuable raw materials essential for developing advanced technology.

It is no coincidence that many top tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists now support Trump. They understand the growing tech threat firsthand and recognize that only his proposed policies can effectively address both economic and national security concerns.

How do we know their support is genuine? Consider this: Google recently reversed a long-standing policy that explicitly barred the use of its technology for military or defense purposes.

That shift marks a seismic change in Silicon Valley, triggering outrage and panic among progressives — a good sign.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is advancing its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, increasingly relying on SpaceX’s Starlink constellation for critical communications across U.S. military ships and installations.

Why Gaza?

Under President Trump’s direction, the Missile Defense Agency has also solicited proposals for an advanced Iron Dome-style defense system to protect U.S. territory from missile attacks.

Israel currently uses the Iron Dome to defend against rockets and missiles, which brings the conversation to Gaza.

Conservatives and liberals reacted strongly to Trump’s shocking announcement earlier this month, standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the United States would acquire Gaza, clear it of terrorism, and transform it into a prosperous resort destination.

It’s a bold strategy aimed at ending the decades-long cycle of Palestinian terrorism against Israel. But can it work — and what’s in it for the United States?

For this plan to succeed, neighboring countries would need to accept the permanent relocation of Palestinians — something they have long resisted. Many Arab nations use the Palestinian issue to pressure Israel, while others simply do not want Iranian proxies or an influx of an uneducated, indoctrinated population within their borders.

Beyond political resistance, rebuilding Gaza would be a long and complex process. Clearing debris, systematically removing mines and explosives, and assessing the damage caused by Hamas’ extensive tunnel network could take years. In many areas, underground tunnels may have compromised the structural integrity of the land, further complicating new construction.

Not so crazy?

But there’s a strategic reason why this plan might be worth pursuing. Consider the Abraham Accords, which the Biden administration actively sought to undermine.

During Trump’s first term, his first foreign visit was to Saudi Arabia, where he was welcomed with honor by the Saudi king — the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Most Arab nations recognize that Iran is their greatest threat, and they understand the urgent need to diversify their economies beyond oil production. The Abraham Accords laid the groundwork for economic partnerships between Israel and these nations, offering technological collaboration in exchange for recognition of Israel’s legitimacy.

Meanwhile, Iran — funded by the Obama-Biden administration — has sought to derail these efforts by fueling terrorism in Israel and threatening maritime security through the Houthis. If the U.S. takes control of Gaza, it would directly disrupt Iran’s destabilization strategy.

Though Trump has stated the plan does not include U.S. troops or ships in the region, he has left the door open for military intervention if provoked. The message to Tehran, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Syria is clear: America is watching.

Beyond geopolitics, Israel is a global hub for tech innovation. Partnering more closely with Israel would allow the U.S. to accelerate technological advancements while countering Iran’s sabotage efforts.

With Greenland, we gain strategic positioning and critical resources. With Gaza, we gain security leverage and economic opportunity.

Maybe Trump’s plan isn’t so crazy after all.