It became known as “the Greenland crisis,” and in retrospect, it was the beginning of a new American rampage across world affairs. But in the moment, the whole thing was just dangerously absurd.
This winter, President Donald Trump spent much of his time menacing the planet’s largest island as his offers to buy Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark escalated to veiled threats of force. He delivered speeches and social media posts in his trademark tone: sinister but pleading, intimidating but slightly desperate. “All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland,” he said at Davos in January, offering different reasons by the day—and sometimes the hour—for why he needed his own personal Louisiana Purchase.
The manufactured fiasco was ultimately pointless, though still incredibly destructive to the United States’ reputation in the world and deeply scarring for the very real people who live in Greenland. It was also pretty funny. The global news media (and plenty of content creators) descended on the frozen island for the duration of the disaster, and they looked upon the icy sidewalks with terror as they scurried around chasing the story—only to find themselves watching the spectacle play out almost entirely on television.
Joshua Hunt was on the ground in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk to document Trump’s month of Arctic menace in real time, and he’s filed his report for Vanity Fair’s Summer Issue. With everything that’s come since, it’s a vital time to look back on this tragicomedy on an island at the top of the world.
