Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out the current administrations imperialist ambitions.White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was on Jake Tappers CNN show on Monday, where he discussed how the U.S. is now in charge of Venezuela and may use military force against NATO to take Greenland. Related Pete Buttigieg sums up why Trump invaded Venezuela in just one word We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, Miller said. But 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.These are the iron laws of the world that existed since the beginning of time. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today This flies in the face of the whole point of what we have learned as a country and as a species, especially in the 20th century, Buttigieg responded. One of Americas greatest accomplishments was leading humanity out of that, into a world where values and rules matter, at least as much as brute force.Dragging us into the past with that kind of ideological bulls**t will make Americans less safe. It doesnt have to be this way."Iron laws of the world"? Some of America's most important national accomplishments are about leading humanity away from this kind of bullshit. If we let ideologues like Stephen Miller drag us back into a world where brute force is all that matters, all of us will be less safe. Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T21:17:16.659Z Later in the CNN interview, Miller appeared to say that the U.S. is ready to use military force to take Greenland and that the administration is not expecting European powers to follow through on their threats to use military force to defend the territory.Tapper asked Miller if military force was off the table when it came to the administrations desire to annex Greenland. Miller tried to dodge the question, but Tapper pressed him. Greenland has a population of 30,000 people, Jake, Miller said, getting the population wrong by half. The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?The United States is the power of NATO, he continued. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.Tapper again repeated his question, asking whether the U.S. would use military force to take Greenland, and Miller tried to laugh it off. No ones going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland, he said. European leaders have said that they will defend Greenland from a potential U.S. military operation.The United States this is sort of foundational the United States is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere. Were a superpower, Miller said in the same interview, discussing why the administration does not support allowing Venezuela to have an election to decide its own future. We are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.