GOP Senator Savagely Rips 'Stupid' Stephen Miller Over Greenland In Blistering Floor Speech

North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis harshly criticized White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's "absurd" desire for the U.S. to take control of Greenland in a Senate floor speech on Wednesday.

Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and is, alongside the Faroe Islands, the only other autonomous territory within the Kingdom. Citizens of both Greenland and the Faroe Islands are full citizens of Denmark. As one of the Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union, Greenland’s citizens are also recognized as EU citizens.

Earlier this week, the White House said it was not ruling out military action to acquire Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, NATO’s collective defense clause, an attack on one member state is treated as an attack on the entire alliance.

The news came as Miller told CNN's Jake Tapper that “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland," adding:

“We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power."

Tillis, the co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, said Miller exhibited “amateurish behavior with respect to the treatment of our NATO allies," adding:

"Mr. Miller said the U.S. government... 'obviously Greenland should be part of the U.S.' That is absurd."

"I've got a couple of buddies who call me cranky. You know what makes me cranky? Stupid. What makes me cranky is when people don’t do their homework."

"What makes me cranky is when we tarnish the extraordinary execution of a mission I fully support in Venezuela by turning around and saying it is our right to have territory owned by the Kingdom of Denmark."

"Folks, amateur hour is over. You don't speak on behalf of this U.S. senator or the Congress. You can say it may be the position of the president of the United States that Greenland should be a part of the United States, but it’s not the position of this government because we are a co-equal branch."

"If that would come to pass, there would be a vote on the floor to make it real, not the surreal sort of environment that some deputy chief of staff thought was a cute thing to say on TV. You want to get me back to thanking the president for the good things he's doing? Then give him good advice."

You can hear what he said in the video below.

Others have also expressed their frustrations.

In a statement alongside New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Tillis said that "when Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark."

The two politicians said “any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend.”

However, President Donald Trump told reporters that "we need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to do it." He has since said he was not convinced the NATO alliance would come to Washington’s aid in a crisis.

Other Republicans have backed Miller and Trump. Texas Senator Ted Cruz said this week that the U.S. should obtain Greenland, arguing that "to become an American is in many ways the greatest gift we can give anyone on planet Earth."