During Thursday’s Situation Room, CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance tried and failed to portray a recent military exercise conducted by NATO allies in Greenland as a hands-off message to President Trump. While Danish military leaders ignored their repeated misguided insinuations, CNN still published Chance’s frivolous beliefs as facts.

The exercise, known as Arctic Light 2025, was a joint effort between Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and Norway. U.S. military leadership, including Secretary Pete Hegseth, were invited to observe while U.S. military units were noticeably absent.

Danish Joint Arctic Commander Soren Andersen summed up the purpose of the exercise to Chance, noting that it was meant to send a message to Russia which was threatening NATO (Click “expand”):

ANDERSEN: We are here to protect Greenland. And in order to protect Greenland, we have to train. And — because if you're not up here and conduct training, you're not able to defend Greenland. So, that's what we're doing.

CHANCE: What are the security threats to Greenland? Who are you protecting it from?

ANDERSEN: Yeah, against Russia. That is the main threat for Greenland. There's not a threat now, but there's a future threat. So, we are looking into a threat when the war in Ukraine is over.

Seems reasonable enough. But it wasn’t enough to satiate Chance, who found it suspicious that Denmark would increase military spending with a war on the continent. “But such a remote danger begs the question why Denmark is ramping up military spending right now to the tune of billions of dollars and pouring its limited resources into the Arctic,” he wondered.

Setting aside the obvious vantage point Greenland had in relation to the U.S., Western Europe and Russia, it is also particularly rich in highly sought-after minerals and natural resources, which any nation would salivate over. If Russia ended up successful in its invasion of Ukraine, Greenland would be a long-term target.

While CNN wanted its shrinking audience to believe this exercise was a middle finger to Trump, it could actually be interpreted as an appeasement. Trump’s calls for NATO allies to pay their fair share resulted in a commitment by most member states to raise their defense spending to five percent of annual GDP. If Denmark was really trying to stick it to Trump as Chance thinks they were, they wouldn’t have bothered to look out for their self-interest in the first place.

Chance’s TDS continued to protrude, “Now, the purpose of this exercise is to deter countries like Russia and China, we're told by Danish military officials, which are increasingly active in the Arctic region. But the real message, the real target audience for all of this is in Washington and President Trump.”

To try to prove his point, Chance asked Danish Chief of Defense Michael Hyldgaard about the supposed secret message. But the Chief refused to give into the partisan games (Click “expand”):

CHANCE: Is the real reason for these maneuvers the remarks by President Trump about the sovereignty of Greenland? Is it intended to send a message to Washington?

HYLDGAARD: This is a military exercise. It is to demonstrate our ability to protect Greenland, and that's the military side of it.

CHANCE: It's not meant as a message to Washington, that Greenland can protect this — that Denmark can protect Greenland?

HYLDGAARD: I'm not a politician. So, I have a military task.

One would think CNN would applaud a military official for remaining apolitical. Chance should have stuck to reporting the relatively simple facts of the event instead of insisting upon Trump having something to do with it all.

But the CNN correspondent tripled-down on his downright dumb take: “But as we flew out of Greenland, it was clear that military task carries a key Danish political goal, not just to deter Moscow and Beijing from ever invading this vast Arctic expanse, but also to convince Washington there's no need to take Greenland as its own.”

As Chance would not have it, the Arctic Light 2025 operation being conducted without direct U.S. participation demonstrates a want and ability for self-sufficiency, which was good for NATO and the United States. Even lefty Reuters included that perspective.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

CNN’s The Situation Room

October 2, 2025

10:55:21 p.m. EST

(…)

MATTHEW CHANCE: It's a vast landscape, remote and virtually untamed. But Greenland has emerged as a key Arctic battleground as Russia and China vie with NATO allies for Arctic influence.

CNN was invited here by the Danish military to observe their biggest ever combat exercise dubbed “Arctic Light.”

Much of Greenland, ruled by Denmark for three centuries, is a moonscape of jagged ice. A frozen desert, rich in resources the size of Alaska and California combined. Danish military officials say this unforgiving terrain is virtually unconquerable. But they're training hard to repulse any would-be attackers.

SOREN ANDERSEN: We are here to protect Greenland. And in order to protect Greenland, we have to train. And — because if you're not up here and conduct training, you're not able to defend Greenland. So, that's what we're doing.

CHANCE: What are the security threats to Greenland? Who are you protecting it from?

ANDERSEN: Yeah, against Russia. That is the main threat for Greenland. There's not a threat now, but there's a future threat. So, we are looking into a threat when the war in Ukraine is over.

CHANCE: But such a remote danger begs the question why Denmark is ramping up military spending right now to the tune of billions of dollars and pouring its limited resources into the Arctic.

CHANCE: Well, Greenland has become a highly contested territory, seen as strategically important. And Denmark has deployed its Air Force, its Navy and its land assets here to show that it is in charge very much and is increasing its presence.

Now, the purpose of this exercise is to deter countries like Russia and China, we're told by Danish military officials, which are increasingly active in the Arctic region. But the real message, the real target audience for all of this is in Washington and President Trump.

PRES. DONALD TRUMP [on 05/04/25]: We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we're working with everybody involved to try and get it.

CHANCE: That ambition appears to have dropped off the White House agenda, at least for now.

TRUMP [on 05/04/25]: One way or the other, we're going to get it.

CHANCE: But in the icy fjords of Greenland, with naval exercises underway too, it's still seen as the most pressing diplomatic challenge. Although Denmark's top general, who CNN met on board a Danish frigate, was careful not to admit it in public.

CHANCE: Is the real reason for these maneuvers the remarks by President Trump about the sovereignty of Greenland? Is it intended to send a message to Washington?

MICHAEL HYLDGAARD: This is a military exercise. It is to demonstrate our ability to protect Greenland, and that's the military side of it.

CHANCE: It's not meant as a message to Washington, that Greenland can protect this — that Denmark can protect Greenland?

HYLDGAARD: I'm not a politician. So, I have a military task.

CHANCE: But as we flew out of Greenland, it was clear that military task carries a key Danish political goal, not just to deter Moscow and Beijing from ever invading this vast Arctic expanse, but also to convince Washington there's no need to take Greenland as its own.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in Greenland.