'Read a book man': Trump’s Greenland envoy schooled on American history

President Donald Trump's special envoy to Greenland got a history lesson from viewers who watched him be interviewed by CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Host Joe Kernen asked if "President Trump [is] ready to actually seize Greenland, and would that be OK?"

Jeff Landry, the envoy, said he wants to discuss Louisiana with people in Greenland. Landry is the governor of the state, but was nominated to represent the United States in negotiations with Greenland. He said that Trump has decided to support the Monroe Doctrine, which opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere.

"Solidifying the Western Hemisphere is good for the United States and good for the states that are in the United States, like Louisiana. And Greenland is in the Western Hemisphere," said Landry.

Kernen said he understands the argument but isn't certain it complies with international law.

"Denmark is a NATO country. This is a territory of Denmark, at least on paper, at this point. So it would seem to be something where you'd actually have to look at how the courts would view it. How international law would view it. International perception. This has Europe — a lot of people in Europe talking about it, almost being like, Vladimir Putin and Ukraine," Kernan said.

"I disagree," said Landry. "When has the United States engaged in imperialism? Never. Europe has engaged in imperialism. The reason the Danish have Greenland is because of imperialism.'

The internet ran to fact-check and mock the governor.

"I mean... Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Puerto Ricans, Guamanians, Panamanians for quite a while, Marshallese," rattled off Broadway lawyer Michael Salerno. "They might all have a different opinion that Jeff Landry on whether the U.S. has ever engaged in imperialism."

"Jesus f—— Christ man. Read a book. Learn something, anything, about US history. The US has never engaged in imperialism[?]" said neuroscientist Kevin Wright.

"Apparently Jeff Landry skipped the day in history class when we covered the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa," said communications and campaign advisor Joel Mendelson.

"Jeff Landry isn't a very good advertisement for the history curriculum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette," said producer Tamara Keel.

"Part of the problem with our representation in Congress is that these fools don’t understand American history,” said Rosalind Garcia.