Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat slammed Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday over two words he appeared to flippantly use while discussing Donald Trump’s long-running criticism of NATO and talk of the U.S. seizing control of Greenland.

Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) asked Rubio as he testified in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee: “And I assume that you are aware that Greenland is indeed part of Denmark?”

“For now,” Rubio replied, accompanied by what appeared to be a slight smirk.

Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor and author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” fired back on X: “Lawless plunderers are in control of the U.S. government.”

“I warned about Trump’s desire to ‘get’ Greenland in my book #Strongmen. Rubio is just the latest enabler,” she added.

Lawless plunderers are in control of the US government. I warned about Trump's desire to "get" Greenland in my book #Strongmen. Rubio is the just the latest enabler. https://t.co/UAdLNHZLUM

Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of the United States taking control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, and has refused to rule out using economic or military pressure to achieve it.

The president has also hyped up turning Canada and Venezuela into U.S. states.

During the hearing, Rubio stressed the Trump administration was in talks with Denmark and Greenland “on the use of Greenland for collective defense for all of us,” and that those talks were “in a good place.”

Watch the full exchange here:

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