Donald Trump Jr.’s visit was ‘staged,’ says Greenland lawmaker

 

Donald Trump Jr.’s visit was ‘staged,’ says Greenland lawmaker

 

“We know how they treat the Inuit in Alaska. Make that great before trying to invade us,” Pipaluk Lynge tells POLITICO.

 

January 9, 2025 5:56 pm CET

By Seb Starcevic, Eric Bazail-Eimil and Jack Detsch

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-junior-visit-was-staged-says-greenland-lawmaker/

 

A senior Greenlandic politician slammed Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to the island as “staged,” and warned the United States not to “invade us” given its historical treatment of Alaska’s indigenous people.

 

Pipaluk Lynge, an MP from Greenland’s largest party and chair of the parliamentary foreign and security policy committee, told POLITICO that Greenland wants “our own independence and democracy,” not to be beholden to the U.S.

 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s eldest son landed on the self-ruling Danish territory Tuesday and spent the day meeting with local residents, who he claimed were supportive of a U.S. takeover. But Lynge said it was a stunt.

 

“No journalists were allowed to interview him. 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 said.

 

Local media said that the Trump Jr. camp passed out MAGA hats to residents on the day of the visit, while video footage from the trip showed the president-elect talking to cap-wearing Greenlanders on speakerphone during a lunch event.

 

His welcome was not entirely warm, Lynge added. “People were curious, but some took pictures giving him [the] finger at the airport … Some wrote on Facebook: yankee go home,” she said.

 

A spokesperson for Trump Jr. denied that the visit was staged and called the criticism "ridiculous."

 

Trump declared Tuesday he would not exclude using economic or military force to gain control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, in a dramatic threat that would reshape the global security architecture.

 

“We know how they treat the Inuit in Alaska,” Lynge hit back. “Make that great before trying to invade us.”

 

Alaska Natives — part of the indigenous peoples who inhabit North America’s Arctic regions, like the Greenlandic Inuit — face a wide range of economic, education and health disparities, including some of the highest rates of alcoholism and suicide, and the lowest life expectancy in the U.S.

 

In the 1970s, U.S. Congress passed a law that directly gave Alaska Natives financial compensation and land rights, and their political influence has seen a boost in recent years. But they were also historically subjected to segregation, including boarding schools that sought to forcibly assimilate indigenous children, and Jim Crow laws.

 

As global powers seek to expand their reach and footprint in the Arctic, mineral-rich Greenland — which hosts a U.S. military base — is coveted for its strategic security and trade value.

 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who rebuffed Trump’s first proposal to purchase Greenland in 2019, calling it “absurd,” reiterated Tuesday that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”

 

“There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either,” she added.

 

As tensions mount, Frederiksen called a meeting of Danish party leaders Thursday to discuss Trump’s threats, according to AFP.

 

Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede said Tuesday the island’s focus was on independence.

 

“While others, including Danes and Americans, are entitled to their opinions, we should not be caught up in the hysteria and external pressures distract us from our path,” he said.