At the risk of confusing a situation that is already deeply confused (and being facetious to boot) perhaps this is a moment for Ireland to claim sovereignty over Greenland.
This claim would be based on the belief, a wide enough one, that Saint Brendan the Navigator landed on the landmass of Greenland at some point in the sixth century.
Brendan is one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland so he stands tall in a religious and monastic tradition that brought the light of faith and learning to Europe in a dark time.
We could be on the cusp of another dark time for Europe if President Trump persists in his ambition to take over Greenland, as he has put it, the easy way or the hard way.
Either way, the president will not have to risk life or limb on the Atlantic swells in a leather boat as Brendan did according to his own testimony in the "Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbati" or Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot.
That Brendan reached Greenland, and possibly the coast of present day Labrador in Canada, is an idea, a theory, a belief.
His crossing of the Atlantic has been proven to be possible.
That epic journey is described in the 1978 film "The Brendan Voyage," which records the transatlantic journey of explorer Tim Severin in a cowhide boat constructed to sixth century specifications.
Even fifteen hundred years ago Greenland was not all that far from Europe, and certainly no great distance at all when we remember that Iceland is part of Europe.
The shortest distance across the Denmark Strait between Iceland and Greenland is about 180 miles.
So it is more than understandable that Greenlanders are sensitive to the idea that they might be forced into becoming North Americans.
President Trump has a point when he argues that Greenland is important, even vital, when it comes to future U.S. national security.
In his mind's eye the president sees Greenland surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.
This isn't the case right now but, with global warming and the melting of the ice in the sea channels around Greenland, it is a vision that could come to pass.
Presumably President Trump has his own ideas as to why the ice is melting given that he has proclaimed Global Warming to be a hoax.
But irony doesn't apply here.
We are well beyond it.
What applies are the dangers posed by a rapacious administration drinking from the cup of long discredited imperialism.
With regard to national security, Greenland is anything but a lost cause.
There is already a U.S. base there and the Greenlanders are open to the expansion of the U.S. military presence.
They are also open to the idea of U.S. access to the island's abundant natural resources. These people are friends and allies of the United States, as are the Danes who speak for the semi-autonomous Greenlanders when it comes to foreign policy and defense.
President Trump cites national security. But what of national security if obtaining Greenland leads to the disintegration of NATO?
This all brings to mind the immortal line from the film "A Man for All Seasons."
The line is spoken by the soon to be martyred Sir Thomas More to Richard Rich: "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . but for Wales?"
Ah yes, but for Greenland?
Greenland has much to offer the United States.
And without Europe the United States as we know it would not exist.
It is time for President Trump, and all who would support the forceful annexation of a friendly place, to see the one and remember the other.
If they don't, we will all be in for a dark time with no Irish saints around to provide the needed light and enlightenment.
