The president-elect’s son is not in Greenland on official business, but that has not stopped some online from crowning him as the acting secretary of state.
Donald Trump revealed Monday night that Don Jr. was headed to the autonomous Danish territory to “visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights.” Photos posted by Trump on Tuesday showed that the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk had also tagged along.
This was not just any other leisure trip, however. Trump has made clear he hopes to annex the frigid island because of its strategic location as a massive land mass between North America and Europe in the north Atlantic Ocean.
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Trump has since proclaimed that Greenland is “MAGA” and that its people—unlike its prime minister—want to join the United States. He has also pitched himself as a savior for the island and its populace of just 56,000.
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation,” he wrote Monday. “We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
It appears Don Jr.’s trip to the island’s capital of Nuuk—where the high temperature on Tuesday was a chilly 22 degrees, nearly 40 degrees cooler than the high at his home in Jupiter, Florida—was a productive one, despite a source telling Fox News that his trip would not include meetings with government or political officials.
The elder Trump wrote that “the reception has been great” from Greenlanders. He suggested the trip made him believe further that “this is a deal that must happen.”
At least one man in Greenland agrees. He threw on Trump’s signature red cap for a video in which he proclaimed his love for America and asked Trump to buy his island.
Denmark’s constitution protects Greenland’s autonomy, and officials there have not been so open to Trump’s advances. Prime Minister Múte Egede released a statement on Christmas Eve to assert, “Greenland is ours.”
