It was just two weeks ago when Donald Trump, while seated alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, predicted that he will ultimately succeed in his quest to take control of Greenland. “I think it’ll happen,” the president said when he asked what his vision is for the potential annexation of the island.
As part of the same set of comments, the American president also suggested that he might deploy additional U.S. troops to Greenland.
It was against this backdrop that the administration announced earlier this week that White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and second lady Usha Vance were all going to Greenland this week. (According to the president, the second lady “loves the concept of Greenland.” I have no idea what that meant.)
Soon after, the delegation expanded to include the vice president. “You know, there was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” JD Vance wrote online.
The Ohio Republican didn’t elaborate as to the nature of the “excitement,” but if the Vances and the White House delegation is expecting locals to roll out a red carpet for them, they’ll probably be disappointed with the reception. The Wall Street Journal reported that the visit is “stirring anger and anxiety” in Greenland. The report added that both Danish and Greenlandic officials have said they see “the uninvited trip as a provocation.”
The New York Times ran a related report on the degree to which the White House’s plan is backfiring.
His [Trump’s] decision, announced this weekend, to send a high-powered U.S. delegation to the island, apparently uninvited, is already backfiring. The administration tried to present it as a friendly trip. … But instead of winning the hearts and minds of Greenland’s 56,000 people, the move, coupled with Mr. Trump’s recent statement that “one way or the other, we’re going to get it,” is pushing Greenland further away.
In case this isn’t obvious, the White House has spent the last several weeks suggesting that Greenland loves the president’s plan to take control of the island. In January, for example, Trump declared, “The people of Greenland would love to become a state of the United States of America” — despite a poll that showed 85% of Greenlanders said they want the opposite.
Earlier this week, Trump repeatedly said that people in Greenland have initiated White House outreach and welcomed American officials to visit the island. Soon after, Greenland’s government flatly denied the president’s bizarre assertions.
In fact, Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Egede specifically called the delegation’s visit “highly aggressive.”
“What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us,” Egede told the Greenland newspaper Sermitsiaq earlier this week. In the same set of comments, Egede added: “Until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working closely. But that time is over.”
The American public doesn’t appear to be on board with the White House’s territorial ambitions, either: The latest Fox News poll asked respondents about various parts of Trump’s agenda, and the least popular idea was taking over Greenland, with 70% of Americans opposed to the president’s plan.
When revising the list of the White House’s frayed alliances and avoidable international incidents, be sure to keep this one near the top.
