Trump became fixated on buying Greenland after a billionaire cosmetics heir friend suggested the idea, book says

• Wealthy cosmetics heir Ron Lauder pitched Trump on buying Greenland, per a new book.
• Trump became obsessed with the idea of purchasing Greenland from Denmark in 2019.

Wealthy cosmetics heir Ron Lauder pitched former President Donald Trump on a plan to buy Greenland, according to a new book.

The New York Times' Peter Baker and The New Yorker's Susan Glasser reveal in their forthcoming book "The Divider" reveal more details about Trump's desire to purchase Greenland. Insider obtained a copy of the book ahead of its publication on September 20.

Lauder, a longtime friend of Trump's and an heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune, pitched the plan to Trump and offered himself up as a conduit to negotiate a possible purchase of the semiautonomous territory from Denmark.

"A friend of mine, a really, really experienced businessman, thinks we can get Greenland," Trump asked National Security Adviser John Bolton, according to the book. "What do you think?"

Trump, a real estate developer, quickly became obsessed with the idea and thought of it as a monumental real estate deal that could secure a unique place for him in US history. National security council officials, including top Russia expert Fiona Hill, were assigned by Bolton to study and research the idea, according to the book.

"I said, 'Why don't we have that?'" Trump told the authors in an interview for the book. "You take a look at a map. I'm a real estate developer. I look at a corner, I say, 'I've got to get that store for the building that I'm building,' etc. It's not that different."

"I love maps," Trump added. "And I always said: 'Look at the size of this. It's massive. That should be part of the United States.'"

Bolton, a lifelong defense hawk, thought the United States acquiring Greenland, home to valuable minerals, could bolster the US' strategic positioning in the Arctic and ward off increasing influence in the region from China. But he thought the idea of purchasing Greenland was highly impractical, according to the book.

And not everyone else in Trump's cabinet and administration liked the idea.

"You'd just sit there and be like, 'Well, this isn't real,' " one cabinet secretary told the authors. "But then you're like, 'Oh, well, maybe this is real in his mind."

Trump also floated the implausible ideas of diverting federal money meant for the US territory of Puerto Rico to purchase Greenland, or outright trading Puerto Rico to Denmark in exchange for Greenland, the authors write.

Other officials tried desperately keep the news from getting out to avoid a diplomatic dustup, the authors write, with Bolton warning Trump that the Danish "go apoplectic when you so much as say the word 'Greenland."

But those efforts too were in vain. The Wall Street Journal learned of the plan and broke the story of its existence in August 2019, and Trump subsequently scrapped a planned trip to Denmark after Danish leaders publicly mocked the plan.