America’s independence day on July 4th also became Nathan Sheridan’s personal independence day.
Effective from that day last year, he resigned from his job at the U.S. State Department’s Arctic office, where he was an advisor to the U.S.’s top representative in the Arctic Council.
It was a huge decision for the then 32-year-old civil servant, but he had had enough. He could no longer work to promote a foreign policy that he believes betrays the U.S.’s most fundamental interests.
Especially towards Denmark and Greenland.
Now he steps forward to tell how he experienced the situation from his position in the U.S. State Department under Trump. A decision he has had to build up to, as he has never spoken to the press before.
He describes what he calls »psychological terror« against the civil service.
And with his deep insight into Arctic affairs, he warns Denmark and Greenland against trusting the Trump administration during the ongoing negotiations about Greenland. He believes that Trump has »mythologized« the Arctic and Greenland and urges people not to believe the Trump administration’s narrative that the U.S. needs Greenland to access the rare earth metals in Greenland’s underground and to secure the U.S. and Greenland militarily.
According to Nathan Sheridan, for Trump, it’s only about one thing: acquiring new land and becoming a president who will be remembered for expanding the U.S. territory.
He supports experts who believe that the threat from China and Russia against Greenland is exaggerated.
»The only immediate security threat to Greenland right now is the United States«, he says.
Nathan Sheridan emphasizes to Politiken that he does not want to break his confidentiality as a security-cleared civil servant and only speaks on his own behalf. But he hopes that his insight after five years in the State Department can help Danes understand what they are up against.
»The foreign policy that this administration’s pursuing is actively harming the U.S. and its national interests. As a patriotic American, first and foremost, but also someone with deep ties to both the United States and Denmark, I don’t wanna be a part of that. The constant threats to the Kingdom of Denmark were such a betrayal of everything that I believed in as a proud American, but also as someone who has an affinity for the Kingdom of Denmark«, he explains.
A sucker punch in Støvring
The 33-year-old Nathan Sheridan describes himself as an ‘old-school transatlanticist’.
He grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with stories about his grandfather, who, as part of the 83rd Infantry Division, helped liberate the Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp in Germany during World War II.
As a young man, he studied international studies at Aarhus University, interned at the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, and worked in transatlantic think tanks in Washington D.C. before being hired by the U.S. State Department in 2020. The strongest transatlantic bond was established when he met the Danish woman who is now his wife.
He spent Christmas 2024 with his in-laws in Støvring in Himmerland.
Donald Trump had been re-elected as U.S. president. Nathan Sheridan and his colleagues in the Arctic office had discussed what the change in power would mean for their work. They expected Greenland to return to the agenda. But no one had foreseen the brutality with which it would be presented.
When Trump made it clear in a post on Truth Social on December 22nd that »ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity«, Nathan Sheridan knew his work life would be fundamentally changed.
»My stomach just dropped seeing that«, husker han.
On January 7th, 2025, Donald Trump Jr. landed in Nuuk, where the president’s son handed out red MAGA hats to selected Trump supporters. The next day, Nathan Sheridan saw the pictures of Trump Jr.’s face on the front pages of Danish newspapers as he walked through Copenhagen Airport with his suitcase on his way back to Washington, D.C.
»It was a surreal experience that made me feel a fundamental shift was underway«.
He was, to put it mildly, right.
Elon Musk’s tech-bros
When Trump was officially inaugurated as president later that month, it immediately turned the U.S. State Department upside down.
»It was chaos from day one of Trump taking office«, says Nathan Sheridan.
Trump had appointed billionaire Elon Musk to head a new body, Doge, which launched an aggressive purge of the civil service. At a conference for the conservative right in February 2025, Musk appeared wearing black sunglasses and a cap with a shiny red chainsaw, symbolizing the significant cuts that were on the way.
»This is the chainsaw for democracy«, lød det fra Musk.
Thousands of civil servants across the country’s ministries and agencies were either fired, strongly encouraged to resign, or left on their own.
»They said explicitly, they want to traumatize public employees and civil servants. The American civil servant became public enemy number one«, explains Nathan Sheridan.
He remembers how very young, confident ‘tech bros’ from Doge suddenly roamed the halls looking for savings – or »redundant waste«, as it was phrased.
He and his colleagues received emails on weekends and late evenings from anonymous addresses from the White House budget office, urging them to resign. He experienced it as »psychological terror« to sit with his baby in the evening and receive intimidating emails from his employer. The traumatization plan worked, he says.
He saw several of his skilled colleagues disappear around him. Either because they were forced out or couldn’t withstand what was happening. Asked if he or his colleagues spoke out against the methods, he says:
»A lot of good people left. That’s a form of speaking out«.
Nathan Sheridan himself survived the rounds of layoffs but saw how everyday life was transformed.
»I remember going to the office every day, and you would see people’s offices packed up in boxes«.
So he also took his own precautions.
»I took all my personal items home quite early in the administration and just kept my office quite bare bones«.
The situation shook him.
»You join government because you had internalized American values. You believed in the mission and you wanted to do good work on behalf of the United States. At least it was the case for me. And to be suddenly turned around and told that you’re not only irrelevant, but you are actively harmful to the United States. It was incredibly traumatizing and damaging«, says Nathan Sheridan.
The red lines
He and his colleagues privately discussed where their personal boundaries were. Where was their red line? What could they be asked to do or defend that they would refuse?
For Nathan Sheridan, it wasn’t one specific thing.
»When you are being asked to do borderline unethical, weird, or unpatriotic things every day, it’s easy to justify to yourself, well, at least it’s not crossing my red line. It’s also very hard to give up a job, when you’re taking care of kids and it’s your career. I wanted to leave on my own terms in good conscience, knowing that I never got close to that red line«, he says.
After six months under the new administration, he submitted his resignation.
Sitting in Politiken’s newsroom, he looks like the civil servant he was. He’s wearing a blue shirt, wool blazer, and navy blue knit tie.
Nathan Sheridan has never spoken to a journalist before. It’s clear he’s aware that he’s on uncharted territory. He’s also criticizing a government that has shown itself very willing to use the state apparatus to pursue people who cross the president. He chooses his words carefully and precisely.
On his left hand is a large turquoise ring that he inherited from his father, who died of a stroke when Nathan Sheridan was young.
»I wear it when I feel like I need to be close to him«, he says .
It was never his plan to speak to the media, he says. He actually wanted to remain an unnamed civil servant who was never mentioned in either history books or newspaper articles. But he believes the situation has become too serious to blend into the system and remain anonymous:
»I think it’s really important that Americans speak out against Trump and his actions against Denmark and Greenland. But I also felt that I had a unique perspective and obligation given my prior professional life working on Arctic issues«.
Arctic mythology
When Donald Trump moved into the White House in January 2025, a »mythologization« of the Arctic and Greenland moved in with him, argues Nathan Sheridan.
He sees this mythologization as the foundation of Trump’s aggressions that have shaken Danes and Greenlanders over the past year.
It begins, according to Sheridan, with the idea that the Arctic, due to climate change and Russian and Chinese militarization, has become »a huge geopolitical front line where great powers fight for influence and territories and future shipping routes and resources«.
One specific myth he identifies is the Trump administration’s claim that the rare earth metals in Greenland’s underground are becoming easier and easier to extract because the inland ice is melting and opening new shipping routes. If Denmark wasn’t in the way, it would be easy to get started, Trump’s people have said.
But the reality is more nuanced, he says.
Of course, climate change is drastically changing the Arctic, but in the State Department, they acknowledged that it doesn’t only make things easier, Nathan Sheridan says.
It will also cause coastal erosion, while permafrost thawing will cause infrastructure to collapse, and increasing storms will make it harder for ships to navigate the Arctic, he says. Mining will also become more unpredictable:
»It still is cheaper for operators to mine and explore material elsewhere. There’s a reason that the Arctic isn’t already an economic boom region. It’s too expensive«, he says.
Who threatens?
Another American »mythologization« according to Nathan Sheridan is about the threat from Russia and China.
Trump claims that the sea around Greenland is teeming with Russian and Chinese ships, including warships. Sheridan praises the Danish government and other experts who have made it clear that this is not the case.
China and Russia have undoubtedly increased cooperation in the Arctic, but the threat from them is often exaggerated, Nathan Sheridan believes. Sweden’s and Finland’s membership in NATO also helps isolate Russia, he argues.
»All the Arctic states but Russia are now members of the same security alliance. That could have worked quite effectively as a counterweight to any increased Russian or Chinese cooperation in the region«, he says.
Nathan Sheridan emphasizes that he does not in any way dismiss Russian activity and Chinese influence, but he points out: »I haven’t seen Russia demand a part of Canada or Sweden or Iceland. There’s only one Arctic state openly destabilizing the region, and that’s the U.S.«.
He also dismisses Trump’s latest argument that the construction of a missile shield called Golden Dome requires ownership of Greenland – or at least areas in Greenland.
»My experience working with Denmark on Arctic issues is, you are very accommodating and happy to work with us on anything that we needed. I imagine, should we have asked or needed something with the Golden Dome project, we could have gotten to a very amicable solution«, he says.
According to the former civil servant, it all shows that Trump’s demands to own Greenland are not based in reality.
»I think that there’s been so much mythologizing about the Arctic that many have taken the administration’s claims about the Arctic’s security and its resources for granted and at face value. When one looks at the reality of the Arctic, the only conclusion that one can make is that this is a personal project of President Trump’s, not very different from one of his real estate deals«, says Nathan Sheridan.
He calls Donald Trump a »narcissist« whose foreign policy is driven by his self-interests.
»He sees it as a legacy target that can help cement him as a US president to have significantly expanded US territory«, says Nathan Sheridan.
Has Denmark also adopted the American mythologization?
»It’s a good question because I don’t know how much the Danish government actually believes in what it’s saying. Saying things like we share Trump’s security concerns in the Arctic«, says Nathan Sheridan.
He states that there may be diplomatic reasons not to discredit your opponent in negotiations, »but I would warn against continuing to speak into a false narrative about the Arctic«, he says.
Mail from the White Hous
Politiken has presented his criticism to the White House.
In an email to Politiken, the White House spokesperson Anna Kelly writes that she has information on Nathan Sheridan being a »former registered Democrat«, who has voted at multiple Democratic primaries. To that, Nathan Sheridan responds that the White House forgets to mention that he also voted in the Republican primary in 2024 and that he, as an American citizen and also as a state employee, has the right to vote as he pleases.
»I loyally served governments led by both parties«, says Nathan Sheridan.
Politiken has also asked the White House if Denmark and Greenland can trust that the U.S. will not use force, even if the country does not gain ownership of Greenland.
Spokesperson Anna Kelly does not respond to that.
In her email, she calls Donald Trump »a visionary leader who is always generating creative ideas to bolster US national security«.
»Many of this President’s predecessors recognized the strategic logic of acquiring Greenland, but only President Trump has had the courage to pursue this seriously«, she writes.
Nathan Sheridan calls this a confirmation that Donald Trump is still fixated on »acquiring« Greenland.
What would you say to a MAGA person who reads this interview and thinks: At least we got rid of a civil servant from ‘the deep state’ who doesn’t want to do what the president says?
»To be clear, I never did anything to undermine the president of the United States. I worked under the first Trump administration, the Biden administration, and then under the second Trump administration. I always did my job and I always did what I was asked to do«.
What do you say to the claim of a ‘deep state’ of civil servants?
»I think it’s absurd and I think it’s offensive. The government is full of good people who only want to do good work for the United States. But that’s for the United States, not just for any particular president. Everything you do is for the American people«, says Nathan Sheridan.
Stand firm!
In a speech in Davos, Switzerland earlier this month, Donald Trump backed down on his threats to use military force in Greenland.
Since then, a diplomatic working group consisting of top officials from the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland has held its first meeting. Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, has said that the negotiations are »back on track«.
Nathan Sheridan warns Denmark and Greenland.
»If Danish and European diplomats think that Trump’s threats to take over Greenland is merely bluster to achieve a favorable security or minerals deal, I really fear that they’re sorely misguided«, he says.
»In my view, any deals short of the U.S. acquiring Greenland are unlikely to satisfy Trump. So, it makes it a very difficult thing to negotiate, right?«.
Nathan Sheridan believes that Donald Trump only said he wouldn’t use force against Greenland because Europeans stood together against him and because Trump had to acknowledge that there is strong opposition to it in the U.S. Congress.
»It’s not good enough to say we won’t use military force. The threat of acquiring Greenland is still omnipresent, even if that’s done through other meansr«, he says.
Speak out!
Since Trump’s return as president, Europe has debated whether to respond to his insults, threats, and punitive tariffs or make concessions and praise him. European leaders have often chosen the latter.
Nathan Sheridan describes Donald Trump as a »bully« who strikes when he senses weakness. He urges Danes, Greenlanders, and Europeans to stand together and stand firm. He warns against being intimidated into compromising European values in the hope of ending the conflict with Trump.
»I would be extremely cautious of accepting any assurances or promises from the American government on this issue, because it doesn’t have much weight anymore. That was what made it so challenging for someone working in diplomacy: so much depended on American credibility - the expectation that when we said something, we would be relied upon to follow through. I think the damage to that image is almost, if not completely, irreparable«, he says.
Europe has lost its American friend and should not act as if it’s coming back, he urges.
»I think this should absolutely be a strategic wake-up call for Denmark and Europe. There is of course always the possibility that the Republicans lose in the midterms and Trump loses a lot of his power, or the next president comes in, and he or she is Biden-esque in their transatlantic inclinations. But Denmark and Europe cannot be beholden to the United States and their elections every four years. That’s strategic malpractice. Hope and optimism aren’t strategies«, he says, using one of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s and her department head’s favorite expressions.
»I don’t see how Europe or Denmark could ever fully trust the United States again, and I don’t think they should. That’s not to say that we can’t work closely together«, he adds.
»I believe that still more unites the majority of Americans and Europeans than divides us«.
Cycling to daycare
The decision to leave the Trump administration has not only changed Nathan Sheridan’s professional life. His everyday life also looks significantly different today.
He and his wife decided to move to Denmark after the break with the State Department.
The small family now lives in a small apartment in Roskilde, where he often takes his son to daycare by bike. In the U.S., the daycare would quickly be sued by parents for being unsafe for children, he notes jokingly with a crooked smile. It would also be much more expensive. He’s looking for a job and has had to get used to attaching a photo to applications.
»It goes against my kind of American meritocratic instincts«, he says.
And then there’s the Danish culture. »Closed«, he notes like so many other newcomers.
»Even as someone who feels like he has an end to society, you can still feel like you’re on the outside looking in. I think that’s probably been my biggest challenge, but I am deeply grateful to be here«, he adds emphatically.
The former American civil servant wants to demonstrate to his new fellow citizens that the transatlantic relationship should be kept alive by ordinary people in the future:
»Part of my talking right now is wanting to demonstrate that even though this American government have turned its back on the world, many Americans haven’t. It’s gonna be a very different relationship, but there will be some sort of relationship«.
