CNN host Erin Burnett and European Parliament member Anders Vistisen of Denmark on CNN on January 5, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
After announcing a military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump pivoted to his past threats to occupy Greenland — which formally belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark. One Danish lawmaker responded to Trump's threats by issuing a direct challenge to his administration.
During a Monday interview on CNN, European Parliament member Anders Vistisen (who is aligned with Denmark's conservative Danish People's Party) cautioned that Greenland was a very different country than Venezuela in numerous ways. He told CNN host Erin Burnett that Denmark is a NATO ally that has historically been "very close" to the U.S. for more than seven decades.
"So of course it is appalling and it is very frankly stupid to continue to talk about capturing [a] NATO country," Vistisen said. "But we don't see it as very realistic that we have U.S. troops entering into the capital of Nuuk anytime soon."
Burnett then played a clip of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who argued during a Monday appearance on CNN that there was no "basis" for Greenland to continue being a colony of Denmark. He further asserted that "nobody is going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland." But Vistisen countered that, according to Miller's logic, "the United States of America should go back to being a colony of of the United Kingdom," and reminded viewers that the U.S. and Denmark have existing treaties concerning island territories.
"When Denmark sold what is today the U.S. Virgin Islands, the United States signed a treaty with Denmark 100 years ago that we had that they — the United States of America — accepted Danish full control over the territory of Greenland," he said. "So, if the United States administration is in doubt who gave us that territory? They can just go back and look into their own records."
The CNN host then asked Vistisen for his thoughts on the Trump administration belittling Denmark's security, playing video of Trump quipping on Air Force One that the Danish government bought "one more dog sled" to protect Greenland. She also showed Vistisen a tweet from Miller's wife, Katie, which showed an outline of Greenland covered in the American flag with the text "soon." At that point, Vistisen issued a direct challenge to the Trump administration to try to commit U.S. troops to occupying the territory over a long-term period given the island's "very harsh environment."
"We already decided to ramp up military spending in the arctic region significantly. Many, many billions of Danish crowns," Vistisen said of Trump's insult. "But let's be frank, what have Americans done? They have closed over 30 bases in Greenland because they didn't find a military significance to be there, to the point where there is only one American base left."
"So if Trump thinks that Danish security in Greenland is ridiculous, it just goes to point that America doesn't care about the Arctic region because they decided unilaterally to draw back from Greenland to the point where their presence in Greenland is almost nonexistent," he added. "So to taunt the Danish special forces, who protects Greenland, is very easy, but I would like to see how many American soldiers who can cope with these Arctic temperatures and its very harsh environment. I don't think it's something that you get many, many soldiers to do from the American continent."
Watch the video of Vistisen's interview below:
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