Seth Meyers made shockingly claim about why President Donald Trump won’t stop pushing his ambition to take over Greenland, suggesting the timing is too convenient to be a coincidence.
On his NBC program called “A Closer Look,” the host suggested that the POTUS pivoted to something so absurd to divert the public’s attention from major scandals that threaten to dominate news cycles. “We were perfectly happy hearing about Greenland once every couple of years on Nat Geo and nowhere else,” Seth stated with the kind of dry wit that has become his trademark.
“According to a new report, the deal that President Trump negotiated yesterday with NATO involves Denmark giving the U.S. sovereignty over small pockets of Greenland to build military bases. So, basically, the deal we already had. I’m so glad this guy isn’t my real estate broker: ‘Hey, so I think I can get you the house for the asking price,’” the host added.
“So I think I know what happened here — Trump thought people wanted to know more about Epstein Island, so he tried to distract them with a bigger island. ‘[imitating Trump] You were thinking too small. Go for the big ones, America. Take your pick. You could have Greenland, Fiji, Madagascar. A lot of bad stuff happening on Madagascar,” Meyers went on.
In recent months, the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files has dominated headlines, with people asking for accountability and full transparency. The said files have revealed names of public figures and linked influential figures to the late convicted pedophile, including Donald Trump.
However, the president’s continued focus on acquiring Greenland has diverted public attention from the main issues. His statements about wanting to take it from Denmark have successfully dominated news coverage and social media feeds, leaving the Jeffrey Epstein files scandal in oblivion.
While Seth Meyers’ monologue did not accuse Donald Trump directly of the timing, he presented it as an observation about pattern and behavior. The host claimed the husband of Melania Trump has perfected the strategy of proposing something eye-catching to the media when faced with unwanted scrutiny, and the public attention would snap toward it like a magnet.
Be it about insulting the most powerful people in the world, making outlandish statements, or acquiring a territory, the previous controversy always gets buried.
Donald Trump’s statement about potentially acquiring Greenland is not new. As a matter of fact, the POTUS has mentioned it multiple times already over the past year, but the recent intensity signals something different.
As he brings it up repeatedly in public appearances, administration officials have been deployed to discuss it seriously. For someone who typically forgets topics quickly when it doesn’t give him the answer he wants, the persistence is notable.
Trump 🇺🇸 doubles down on ‘owning’ Greenland 🇬🇱:
‘Whether they like it or not’
‘We can do it the easy way. But if not we ll do it the hard way’
‘If we [🇺🇸] own it [🇬🇱] we defend it’
International law is over
Land theft & state gangsterism is normalised. pic.twitter.com/gBPcth3LQw
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) January 10, 2026
Seth Meyers is not alone in thinking that Donald Trump is using greenling as a distraction tool. Several others have long argued that chaos and spectacle are central to the president’s political strategy. By talking about buying an island, you stop talking about documents that may implicate you in other matters.
The Epstein files release has been significant. Thousands of pages became public, and the implications stretched across multiple industries and social circles. For many observers, those documents represented an opportunity for reckoning. But as media coverage has shifted toward Trump’s Greenland campaign, the Epstein story has faded from prominent headlines, replaced by the absurdity of whether the U.S. government might actually pursue a real estate deal with Denmark.
Meyers didn’t pretend his theory was definitive. He presented it as the most logical explanation for why a sitting president would spend so much political capital and media attention on acquiring a territory that is not for sale, whose government has made clear it will never be sold, and whose residents have no interest in becoming American citizens.
Whether intentional or not, the effect has been real. Greenland is now a major news story. The Epstein files, meanwhile, have receded into the background. For Donald Trump, that outcome might be exactly what he needed.
