Apparently Trump is concerned that Canada will not be able to defend itself from invasion by China or Russia, and wants to protect it from these misfortunes by invading it himself, much as Caesar invaded Gaul to protect the Gauls from invasion by the Helvetii.
With Greenland, American language is more straightforwardly 'we want it'; as the Athenians tell the Melians:
'For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious pretences... in return we hope that you..., will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must'
(Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 5.89)
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