American mystery man paying Greenlanders big money to join US

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts, as he attends a ceremony held to dedicate a 4-mile stretch of road from West Palm Beach Airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate. (REUTERS)

President Donald Trump raised a lot of eyebrows by suggesting that Greenland should join the United States — by force if necessary. But while that story has faded from the headlines, reports of a mysterious, 86-year-old American man traveling around the island offering residents huge sums of money in exchange for their allegiance to the U.S. have prompted an investigation by local police.

The experience of one Greenlander taxi driver highlights the mystery.

According to the New York Times, “When Danny Brandt picked up an older man in his cab on Wednesday outside a hotel in downtown Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, he thought the passenger was just another visitor. Dressed in casual clothes and carrying a stack of papers, the man seemed friendly enough and identified himself in an American accent as Cliff from Las Vegas. Then he made an intriguing proposal. ‘Do you want to earn $200,000?’ he asked, according to Mr. Brandt. All he, or any Greenlander, had to do was sign a petition he held in his hand to join the United States.”

Brandt declined his offer, then called the police.

While police have shared little about their investigation, they did acknowledge that one was underway, and that it could be linked to the “current political situation.”

“The same man approached other people with a similar offer,” reports the Times. “Pictures of him circulating on social media show him wearing a dark suit and talking to several Greenlanders with a clipboard in his hands. Another picture shows him speaking to two police officers.”

Then on Friday, a Greenlandic newspaper posted an interview with the mystery man, who identified himself as 86-year-old Clifford Stanley, saying that he was on an independent mission to “investigate support for the United States’ taking over Greenland.”

“I’m trying to give the Greenlandic people an opportunity,” he said. “It’s up to the people themselves. It’s not my choice.” He also noted that he was not in Greenland at the behest of the Trump administration.

While Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — technically does have a legal mechanism that would allow for its independence then theoretical joining of another nation, “the process would involve the Greenlandic government, the Danish parliament and ultimately a referendum by the Greenlandic people. It’s not clear how Mr. Stanley’s petition drive fits into any of those requirements. It’s also not clear how Mr. Stanley came up with that $200,000 figure. He told the Greenlandic newspaper that it wouldn’t be his money, but it would come from the United States, possibly even with the help of Middle Eastern allies.”

The Trump administration has previously suggested that it could make six-figure payments to Greenland residents in exchange for their loyalty, an offer the Greenlandic government rejected as “offensive.”

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