Greenlanders Were Flipping Off Don Jr., Local Politician Says
A Greenlandic lawmaker has alleged that Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to the country was “staged,” noting that some of the Danish territory’s citizens were flipping off the president-elect’s son.
“No journalists were allowed to interview him,” Pipaluk Lynge, an MP for Greenland’s largest party, told Politico. “It was all staged to make it seem like we—the Greenlandic people—were MAGA and love to be a part of the USA.”
Lynge added that although Greenlanders paid attention to the visit, their interest wasn’t overwhelmingly positive. “People were curious, but some took pictures giving him [the] finger at the airport… Some wrote on Facebook: yankee go home,” she said.
A representative for Trump told Politico that the visit wasn’t staged and called the criticism “ridiculous.”
Trump Jr., accompanied by MAGA pundit Charlie Kirk, played ambassador earlier this week. The two posed for photos with Greenlanders who were wearing red MAGA caps—which local media reported were distributed beforehand by his handlers.
The elder Donald Trump on Monday shared his intention to purchase the resource-rich autonomous territory and “MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!” At a press conference Tuesday, he wasn’t willing to rule out using military force in the process of seizing control.
Kirk, for his part, claimed on Wednesday that he and Trump Jr. “were met by hundreds of people. People in MAGA hats in the streets of [capital city] Nuuk. People that love America. That want to be part of America.”
While President-elect Trump has likewise suggested that Greenlanders would be eager to sign away their independence, Lynge expressed a different view.
“We know how they treat the Inuit in Alaska,” she told Politico. “Make that great before trying to invade us.”
Alaskan Natives face a number of social disparities—in terms of their economic success, educational prospects, and health. As a group, they experience among the highest rates of alcoholism and diabetes.
Greenland isn’t the only country the president-elect is after. Taking an especially imperial turn in the past week, Trump has also expressed his desire to make Canada the “51st state” and seize back the Panama Canal.
