And finally, the main event…

President Trump was supposed to focus on his half-hearted affordability agenda this morning while addressing the international elites at Davos. But he devoted the preponderance of his speech to his latest obsession, acquiring Greenland. “I’m seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland,” Trump said, the first sign of deescalation after his previous refusal to rule out military action. “I don’t want to use force,” he later added, apparently softening his stance. “I won’t use force.” That evening, he released a statement saying that the U.S. had “formed the framework for a future deal” on Greenland—meaningless, perhaps, but a plausible off-ramp.

Perhaps the Davos concession was meant for congressional Republicans as much as it was for the mostly European audience. After all, Trump’s threat of military force against a NATO ally was always a bridge too far for most Republicans in Washington. Many have concerns that Trump’s imperialist ambitions could derail their odds of holding the House in the midterms. Some, I’m told, have privately discussed the possibility that if he makes a move against Greenland, it could lead to his impeachment.

The conversations themselves represent a stark break for a party that has rarely drawn redlines for Trump in his second term. Several Republicans told me that they have privately brought their concerns about Greenland to the administration, and didn’t deny that the use of military force would be a Rubicon for them. One Republican member told me plainly that invading Greenland would be “mind-blowing” and would “blow up NATO”—something most Republicans would like to avoid. “There’s some kind of gamesmanship that’s going on with the president, and we are not going to let it have a long-term corrosive effect on our relationship with NATO,” Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, told me.

Publicly, Republicans have largely waved off Trump’s saber-rattling as geopolitical bluster, a negotiating tactic that shouldn’t be taken at face value. “President Trump tried having that polite conversation in his first term, and no one really paid attention to him. Now everyone’s paying attention,” said Rep. Warren Davidson, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Brian Mast, the chair of that committee, told me that he wants NATO to stay intact, and that this is all part of Trump’s strategy. “You have to play it all out,” he said. “Every down and every sack and every interception and every punt and everything that you get.”

But other party members have lost patience with this White House. Retiring Rep. Don Bacon has already floated the possibility that an invasion of Greenland would trigger impeachment proceedings. “Invading an ally who we have a treaty with is a high crime or misdemeanor,” Bacon told me, adding that some of his Republican colleagues have told him privately that they agree. Another Republican member told me that only Congress could authorize military force in Greenland—not all that reassuring when Congress has proven itself more or less completely unwilling to tie the hands of this president. A Republican strategist who works closely with lawmakers confirmed the pushback on the Hill. “Trump will ultimately run into the brick wall of political consequences and geopolitical reality—which is, you can’t obtain territory from a NATO ally that isn’t willing to give it to you,” the strategist said. “And he has a razor-thin margin in Congress.”