KAKISTOCRACY

Chris Collins, First U.S. Lawmaker To Endorse Trump, Gets 26-Month Prison Sentence

A kakistocracy [kækɪ'stɑkrəsi] is a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens.

Paul Blumenthal, HuffPost•January 17, 2020


A judge on Friday sentenced former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), an early and staunch ally of President Donald Trump, to 26 months in prison after he pleaded guilty last September to conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, used his position as the largest shareholder in the Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics to illegally give other stockholders an inside tip that a test of the company’s main product had failed.

“You were a member of the [company’s] board ― that has legal significance. You owed a duty to Innate and you betrayed that duty,” U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick said during the sentencing, according to Matthew Russell Lee of InnerCityPress.com.

“It makes people believe the market is rigged,” Broderick added.

Federal prosecutors earlier this week urged a sentence of close to five years.

Collins cried as he spoke to the court shortly before his sentencing.

“I have no excuse. I tarnished my reputation,” he told the judge, as reported by The Washington Post.

“It’s hard to look at my wife ― she had her credit card canceled. My daughter had her brokerage account canceled. I apologize to the FBI for lying to them. I’ll be paying the consequence for that here momentarily,” Collins said.

Before the criminal investigation, Collins had used his Trump endorsement to raise his profile in Washington. He bragged about the clout he gained from his early backing of Trump, claiming it made him “significantly more visible.” And he was an early adopter of Trump’s bullying and blustering style, a copycat routine that has become popular throughout the GOP.

Collins, who represented a district that covers much of western New York, committed the crime that sent him to prison while he was visiting the White House for a June 22, 2017, congressional picnic. He received an email from the CEO of Innate Immuno announcing that the company’s main drug on which the company’s future hinged had failed a key test. Collins then called his son, another shareholder, from the South Lawn of the White House to tell him about the news and to plan for them to dump the stock.

The next morning Collins, his son and the father of his son’s fiancée sold their stock in the company before the drug test failure was announced and while a freeze on trading was in place for the company’s shares in Australian stock markets. They each saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by selling early. The company stock plunged 92% after Innate Immuno publicly announced the drug’s failed test.

Well before Collins broke the law, his odd position as the largest shareholder of Innate Immuno attracted attention. The Wall Street Journal and The Buffalo News both reported in January 2017 on suspicious trades Collins and other House Republican lawmakers made as Congress passed a bill that included provisions beneficial to Innate Immuno and other biotechnology firms. He also reportedly bragged to colleagues about how many “millionaires I’ve made in Buffalo.”

After seeing his political profile soar as an early backer of President Donald Trump, former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) is headed to prison. (Photo: John Normile via Getty Images)

An investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics in 2017 found that Collins violated House ethics rules by providing nonpublic information to investors and visiting the National Institutes of Health in his official capacity to discuss Innate Immuno drug trials.

Collins, 69, was indicted and arrested for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to the FBI on Aug. 8, 2018. After his arrest, Collins initially said he would not run for reelection in 2018. But he reversed course, ran for his seat and won by less than one percentage point. He had won reelection in 2016 with 67% of the vote. His resignation from office became official last Oct. 1.

Collins was first elected to his House seat in 2012. A former mechanical engineer and business owner, he served as Erie County executive from 2007 to 2011.

Throughout the investigation into his illegal conduct, Collins struck a Trumpian pose as an innocent targeted as part of a “partisan witch hunt.”

He attacked The Buffalo News for “making up fake news on folks [the paper] can’t beat at the ballot box.” He called his then-colleague Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Buffalo-area Democrat who has since died, a “despicable human being” for filing an ethics complaint against him. And he attacked investigations into his activities as a “partisan witch hunt.”

In the wake of Collins’ guilty plea, his lawyers argued in court for a lenient sentence, saying that his actions were impulsive and that he has suffered enough by losing his political career.

Collins’ son and the father of his son’s fiancée also pleaded guilty in the case and await sentencing

Quickly joining Collins in early 2016 as Trump’s second official backer on Capitol Hill was then-Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) ― who also now faces prison time. Hunter pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in December, gave up his House seat earlier this week and awaits sentencing. Like Collins, Hunter initially characterized the charges facing him as a “witch hunt.”

Reporter Carla Herreria contributed to this story.

Donald Trump's 'kakistocracy' is not the first, but it's revived an ...

https://www.theguardian.com › commentisfree › apr › donald-trump-kakisto...

Apr 18, 2018 - The first recorded use of kakistocracy was in a sermon, delivered in 1644 by Paul Gosnold. His audience was the “King's parliament” ...

PAKISTAN

Dial K for ‘Khakistocracy’

The fourth estate has a sacred responsibility to the people. It should not continue to be selective in its outrage when it comes to matters of principle.

Zain Siddiqui 

DAWN

Published March 17, 2023 

An age-old children’s tale has recently started seeming like the perfect metaphor for our latest experiment with democracy.

The story goes like this: A king was once presented with robes so fantastic that only the wisest people in his land could see them. The king eagerly clothed himself in these wondrous threads before presenting himself to his subjects to see whether they too were smart enough to admire them. As he paraded through their ranks, all he could hear was the people murmuring their praises. It took a small child to finally blurt out what the gathered crowd dared not say: “The emperor had no clothes!”

A year ago, the two main components of our political system undertook a similar change of clothes. While the army swapped khaki for a more ‘neutral’ shade, parties from across the political spectrum fashioned themselves as the Pakistan ‘Democratic’ Movement. Together, they would go on to overthrow the ‘puppet prime minister’ of the ‘hybrid regime’.

The return of ‘true democracy’ heralded the restoration of the primacy of the Constitution and the supremacy of our Parliament. We were told that the political system would heal as it slowly returned to its ‘Purana Pakistan’ normalcy.

Few among those in this country who consider themselves wise questioned the legitimacy of the incoming regime. The assurance that the PTI government was being ousted through a vote of confidence — in other words, parliamentary procedure — was enough. Short shrift was given to how the votes required for the VOC were actually rounded up.
In with the old

And so the country was returned to the wise old hands of Pakistan’s democratic elite. These were people whose sacrifices for our right to self-rule had no parallel — those who introduced ‘Democracy is the best revenge’ and ‘Vote ko izzat dau’ to our political parlance. We had been delivered, or so we were told. Turns out, we were once again having the wool pulled over our eyes.

There is an excellent Twitter account, titled ‘The Cultural Tutor’, which shares fascinating curations from the history of western civilisations. It recently shared a list of political systems to ask followers which one they lived in.




The list began with democracy — rule by the people — and had some rather interesting inclusions, such as isocracy, algocracy and ochlocracy. It ended with kakistocracy — rule by the worst, the least qualified and most unscrupulous citizens.

It was difficult, as a born and raised underseas Pakistani, to make an honest choice. After all, our political system isn’t exactly on the continuum of the various paradigms that evolved from the Greek tradition.

For example, no matter how loudly we may insist otherwise, our democracy’s most recent iteration does not even represent the aspirations of the majority. In fact, it does not seem to want those aspirations to be expressed at all.

The country cannot also be described as a plutocracy, and it seems unfair to dismiss it as a kakistocracy, no matter how strong the temptation to do so. More importantly, nothing in that list captured the role of our military ‘establishment’ in political affairs, which has either overtly or covertly ruled the country for much of its history and seemingly continues to do so despite all pretensions to the contrary.
The powers that be

Sharing that last thought with a dear friend proved greatly upsetting for their continence. They protested that our new government’s reversion to the pseudo-fascistic tendencies of the old regime ought not to be pinned on the boys.

I begged to disagree. No civilian government in its right mind dares defy straightforward, self-evident constitutional edicts with impunity, not least one that has squandered most of its political capital. No organ of the state risks inviting contempt charges by refusing their constitutional duty. You do not just bin both court and Constitution unless a greater force has provided guarantees to protect you from the consequences of doing so.

The institutions of our state are known for perpetual sloth, not the energy and enthusiasm with which they have recently sought to serve and execute warrants of arrest for cases predestined for the ash heaps of history. Such alacrity has usually been seen only in times when someone needs to be taught a lesson for defying the true powers that be.
Democracy with no clothes

The wise among us may continue not acknowledging the obvious, but it is high time someone pointed out that our democracy has no clothes. We are, in fact, being ruled by yet another khakistocracy, and one that would be little different from a full-blown kakistocracy but for that strategically placed ‘h’.

One wonders why this clever portmanteau hasn’t been used more often in the Pakistani context. Hybrid regime stopped being an insult the moment our civilian leaders started boasting about sharing same pages with their uniformed overlords. The sting got taken out from ‘puppet prime minister’ when it became evident that all our leaders are eager to give an arm and a limb to be marionettes as long as they can pretend to be kings while at it.

The normalised hypocrisy of our political class, when in power and when without, has eroded any sense of democratic propriety in our people. The decay is now getting worse. As many have persistently pointed out, you cannot save democracy by suspending or subverting it. Here, it is the means that must justify the ends, not the other way around.

There is little point lamenting the proto-fascism taking root in this nation’s youthful populace if our intelligentsia will continue to fail them in providing a working moral compass with which they can navigate their increasingly hostile world. The fourth estate has a sacred responsibility to the people. It should not continue to be selective in its outrage when it comes to matters of principle.

The author is a member of staff.

Trump commutes ex-Illinois governor's sentence

President Trump said he has commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of political corruption. 

Appeared on 'Celebrity Apprentice' »

 

KKKakistocracy: The Texas Education System Has Daddy Issues

by E.R. Bills / February 14th, 2024

An undated photo of members of the Childress County Daughters of the Confederacy. Courtesy of the Childress County Heritage Museum in partnership with The Portal to Texas History, a digital repository hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries.

In 2022, a 15-year-old Virginia Beach girl named Simone Nied began a modest campaign to get the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) removed from the list of nonprofit organizations afforded exemption from real estate, deed recordation, and personal property taxes in the state of Virginia. The “White House” of the Confederacy is located in Richmond, Virginia, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived there during the Civil War. Nied’s efforts seemed Sisyphean.

But early this month a bill stripping the tax breaks of the UDC was passed in the Virginia House of Delegates and, on Feb. 6—with two Republicans joining all twenty-one Democrats—the Virginia Senate agreed. Now the bill goes to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk for approval.

Will he sign it or veto it?

I await his decision with bated breath.

In the meantime, I also marvel at the preposterousness of the affair. How did the United Daughters of the Confederacy get tax breaks in the first place, and why have they been extended into the 21st century?

Is insurrection a religion? Didn’t the Confederacy’s insurrection comprise the exact opposite of a nonprofit campaign? Wasn’t the entire war waged to ensure the profits the Southern white aristocracy reaped from slave labor?

Does Texas have a chapter of the UDC?

I’m glad you asked.

I checked immediately and we do. And it’s also taxed just like a church. Here’s the first blurb on their site:

The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a non-profit organization formed by the joining of many local groups whose purpose was to care for Confederate Veterans and their families, in life and death, and to keep alive the memory of our Southern heritage.

The Texas Division UDC was officially organized in 1896.  Today, the Texas Division continues the work of our predecessors. We are dedicated to the purpose of honoring the memory of our Confederate ancestors; protecting, preserving and marking the places made historic by Confederate valor; collecting and preserving the material for a truthful history of the War Between the States; recording the participation of Southern women in their patient endurance of hardship and patriotic devotion during and after the War Between the States; fulfilling the sacred duty of benevolence toward the survivors and those dependent upon them; assisting descendants of worthy Confederates in securing a proper education; and honoring the service of veterans from all wars as well as active duty military personnel.

“… collecting and preserving the material for a truthful history of the War Between the States”?

“… assisting descendants of worthy Confederates in securing a proper education”?!

Talk about a prophetic “nonprofit”. Sounds like the perfect recipe for the current Texas state legislature.

But it begs a legitimate question. Do any brave teenagers reside in the Lone Star State?

And before any of you Bonnie (or Donnie) Rebs get your hackles up, take a wee gander of what the original incarnation of the UDC trotted out as a position statement on education in Texas in 1915:

Strict censorship is the thing that will bring the honest truth. That is what we are working for and that is what we are going to have. — Mrs. M.M. Birge, Chairwoman of the Textbook Committee, Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Convention of the Texas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy

An answer before a question.

A dictate to ensure denial.

A mandate for seditious ignorance.

The current Red state agenda around these parts was baked into the proverbial cake, and now it’s too late. A legislature full of conservative feebs is pushing for more voucher programs for institutes of Anglo-centric propaganda, and the Texas Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy is getting a tax break for the Lost Cause indoctrination that they engineered.

The latent term is kakistocracy.

Thanks to the UDC, the conservative playbook has been the script for Texas education for over a century. Because Texas conservatives want to preserve “the honest truth.” Because Texas conservatives don’t believe “the honest truth” should include the monstrous atrocities they committed or the regime of inhumanity they perpetuated.

The UDC has serious “Daddy” issues, and our tax dollars have been helping them sweep the truth under the rug for decades.

E.R. Bills of Fort Worth is the author of The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas and Letters from Texas, 2021-2023. Read other articles by E.R..

OPINION

How Huntington and Fukuyama got the 21st century wrong

A decided turn towards authoritarianism, to offset popular dissent, is arguably becoming a defining feature of politics in Asia, the Middle East, and South America, and indeed in the democratic West, as well.


Howard Brasted
Professor of History and Islamic studies at the University of New England

Shafi Mostofa
Assistant Professor at the University of Dhaka.

19 Dec 2020

ARYAN BRETHERN

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugs US President Donald Trump as they give joint statements in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, US, June 26, 2017. [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]


What is going on in the 21st-century world of international politics? With very few exceptions, national elections are revealing degrees of partisanship and ideological polarisation among voters never seen before. It seems not to be a rare occurrence these days that the losers are either claiming that they are actually the winners or that the results have been rigged by their opponents and can therefore be disregarded.

This is the farcical game outgoing President Donald Trump is currently playing in the United States, despite there being little or no evidence that President-elect Joe Biden and the Democratic party committed the widespread electoral fraud he wildly accuses them of. As Republican Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland has openly lamented, today the US risks being seen as a “banana republic” rather than as the leader of the democratic world.

Despite this, hordes of Republican supporters continue to rally behind the anti-democratic narrative that President Trump continually tweets. As one newspaper article pointed out, the “United” States has become the “Divided” States of America.

If the recent examples of Belarus and Myanmar are anything to go by as well, it would seem that opposition parties have little faith in the mechanism of democratic elections reconciling alienating differences or bringing citizens closer together. Creating divisiveness seems to be the order of the day, even in established democratic countries.

In India, the largest democracy in the world, for example, Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a second term for his BJP government in 2019 with a campaign that demonised the Muslim minority as enemies. “Divider-in-Chief” was how Time magazine labelled him on one of its front covers.

Everywhere, the volatility of public opinion has confounded the pollsters and seen political scientists searching for explanations.

None of these developments was foreseen by two of the most prominent political scientists – Francis Fukuyama or Samuel P Huntington – in their respective grand theories of how the 21st century would unfold.

Following the ending of the Cold War, Fukuyama confidently predicted in an article titled, The End of History – and later in a book that liberal democracy would sweep through the world as the ultimate form of human government. In his view, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that communism had failed as the obvious alternative, and political Islam as a political system was never likely to draw more than minority support.

Accordingly, the 21st century would experience, under America’s custodial guidance, the installation of a new world order based on a single global system of democracy, individualism, and free markets.

Although he drew on the same turn of events, the post-cold war world that Huntington conjured up in 1993 was very different. In his Foreign Affairs article titled, The Clash of Civilizations, he argued that international relations would be characterised not by consensus about liberal democracy, but by conflict between entire civilisations, particularly between Islam and the West. Huntington contended that substantial differences in culture and religion would propel the 21st century in the direction of inter-civilisational war. The fault lines between civilisations would specifically become the “battle lines of the future”.

As 2020 draws to an end, however, neither of these grand theories seems to be playing out the way their authors anticipated.

As early as 2006, when American forces were beginning to get bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, Fukuyama conceded that “liberal democracy” could not be imposed on people without their consent. By 2020, he was not even sure that “liberal democracy” existed in the US any more. For under Trump, he maintained, the US had become the epitome of “kakistocracy”, a government of the “worst”, not the best kind.

At a first glance, Huntington’s “clash of civilisations” theory may have been looked more successful. The 9/11 tragedy, the recurrent deadly lone-wolf attacks on non-Muslim targets, the ISIL’s (ISIS’s) proclamation of a new caliphate, and the “fault-line” tensions about the hijab and status of Muslim women in Western countries may lead some to think that there is indeed a major clash between the Islamic world and the West. In fact, even though Huntington died in 2008, his thesis has remained the standard reference point for thinking about the future direction of international relations and in just the past two years, it was cited more than 35,000 times on Google Scholar.

But a growing number of scholars (more accurate to say ‘the vast majority of scholars’. When thesis first came out it was roundly derided. It still is though less vehemently.) are simply not convinced that these happenings presage the kind of culturally-based religious conflict that Huntington foresaw breaking out on a cataclysmic. What collectively they take issue with is the reductionist basis of Huntington’s whole thesis. They part company with him over his key assumptions that Islam and the West constitute monolithic civilizations, that differences of religious culture will put them on a direct war footing, and that all Muslims will come to embrace the world order advanced by fundamentalist Islam. Niall Ferguson appears to be the only one prepared to countenance that Huntington’s prophecy could become “a real winner”.

Intra-civilisational fissures have undermined not only Fukuyama’s world system of liberal democracy, but also the cohesiveness of Huntington’s civilisational blocs. The erosion of the very hallmarks of American world order, such as open debate, the rule of law, and accountable government, have gradually devalued the currency of Western democracy, while bitter sectarian conflicts have set back any immediate prospect of a Muslim anti-West coalition forming.

What has arguably overtaken the envisaged ascendancy of “liberal democracy” and the placing of entire civilisations on a war footing has been the globalisation of neoliberal ideology and its concomitant by-product of populist reaction.

Neoliberalism, which nearly all capitalist societies have embraced since the 1980s, has verifiably resulted in the inequitable distribution of national wealth to the few who effectively exercise power and benefit most from the policies they promote. That the large majority of people acquiesces to a situation that ostensibly disadvantages them is due to the pervasiveness of neoliberal ideology and the difficulty of effectively questioning the global system it sustains.

Enter populism, a phenomenon that is changing political landscapes throughout the world, though in different ways. In the West, populism manifests itself as a groundswell of right-wing disaffection with liberal democratic governments and corrupt ruling establishments. Populism of this kind is driven by narratives that identify metropolitan elites and multinational outsiders as virtual enemies of the state.

In South Asia, populism has fed into top-down discourses that identify religious minorities as anti-national impediments to unity and development. In both Modi’s India and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka, Muslims have been instrumentally targeted to garner populist support for policies that blunt opposition to their regimes and weaken constitutional checks on their use of power.

In Muslim Pakistan and Bangladesh, the omnipresence of India in their neighbourhood has always fed into populist narratives about the Hindu other and the role their respective armies play as the symbolic bulwarks of Islam.

While Huntington has been credited with incorporating a populist dimension into his “clash of civilization” thesis, he did not foresee that the trajectory populism might take would just as likely foment intra-state tensions as heighten inter-civilisational antagonisms.

A decided turn towards authoritarianism, to offset popular dissent, is arguably becoming a defining feature of politics in Asia, the Middle East, and South America, and indeed in the democratic West, as well. A political scientist looking into the crystal ball today might well project the remainder of the 21st century not in terms of looming civilizational war, but of increasing civil unrest.

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Howard Brasted
Professor of History and Islamic studies at the University of New England
Dr Howard Brasted is the Professor of History and Islamic studies at the University of New England, Australia.

Shafi Mostofa
Assistant Professor at the University of Dhaka.
Dr Shafi Md Mostofa is an Assistant Professor of World Religions and Culture at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of New England, Australia.

KAKISTOCRACY

Judge rules Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully appointed to head U.S. immigration agency

Deputy Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli makes remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, February 28, 2020, in National Harbor, Maryland. Thousands of conservative activists, elected officials and pundits gathered to hear speakers on the theme "America vs. Socialism". Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo

March 1 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Sunday ruled that Ken Cuccinelli was unlawfully appointed to his position atop the agency responsible for processing U.S. immigration requests and invalidated a pair of his directives.

Advocacy groups last year filed a lawsuit challenging Cuccinelli's role as acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and asking that asylum policy he instituted after taking office be reversed.

The suit stated that Cuccinelli didn't satisfy legal requirements to serve in the role under the Federal Vacances Reform Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss ruled that Cuccinelli was not lawfully appointed as acting director of the USCIS in 2019 because the position of principal deputy he assumed before taking the role was not a "first assistant" job as outlined in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.

"Under that commonsense understanding of the meaning of the default provision, Cuccinelli does not qualify as a 'first assistant' because he was assigned the role of principal on day-one and by design, he never has served and never will serve 'in a subordinate capacity' to any other official at USCIS," Moss wrote.

He added that the acting secretary created a position that is "second in command in name only."

"Cuccinelli may have the title of principal deputy director and the Department of Homeland Security's order of succession may designate the office of the Principal Deputy Director as the 'first assistant' to the director, but labels -- without any substance -- cannot satisfy the FVRA's default rule under any plausible reading of the statute," he wrote.

Cuccinelli currently serves as acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees UCIS.

Moss also ruled that due to Cuccilenni's unlawful appointment he lacked authorities to issue directives reducing the time asylum-seekers in "credible fear" proceedings have to receive counsel from lawyers and barring asylum officers from granting extensions allowing migrants to prepare for interviews.

#KAKISTOCRACY

Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro and Brian Kilmeade received priority treatment for PPE requests from Kushner's coronavirus team, according to a new report

Jake Lahut BUSINESS INSIDER 5/5/2020

Jeanine Pirro and Brian Kilmeade claim they did not know their queries were being prioritized. AP Photo
Jared Kushner's volunteer group charged with securing personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospitals nationwide reportedly prioritized inquiries from Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro and Brian Kilmeade, according to the Washington Post.

Volunteers were told to fast-track any PPE queries from "VIPs" and conservative media personalities sympathetic to President Trump, according to a complaint filed by one of the volunteers.

Kilmeade passed on a lead to the administration on getting PPE "in an effort to be helpful," while Pirro kept vying for a specific New York hospital to get a "large quantity of masks," according to two sources familiar with the outreach who spoke to The Post.

The complaint was filed last month to the House Oversight Committee.

A Fox News spokeswoman told The Post Pirro and Kilmeade were unaware their tips were being prioritized.

Fox News hosts saw their PPE queries fast tracked by Jared Kushner's team of volunteers tasked with securing the equipment for hospitals nationwide, according to a Washington Post report on a complaint filed by one of the volunteers.

President Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law reportedly oversaw the team filled by consultants with no experience in health care or supply-chain procurement, according to The Post.

In a complaint filed by one of the volunteers to the House Oversight Committee, "VIPs" and Trump-friendly TV hosts are alleged to have gotten their tips on PPE fast tracked.

Fox News' Jeanine Pirro and Brian Kilmeade were named by two sources familiar with their outreach to the Kushner team.

Pirro "repeatedly lobbied the administration for a specific New York hospital to receive a large quantity of masks," while Kilmeade got in touch with the administration about where to get PPE, according to The Post.

A Fox News spokeswoman told The Post that neither host was aware their queries were being prioritized.

The report is another blow to Kushner in his outsize role dealing with the pandemic.

Kushner's loyalists have been mocked as the "Slim Suit Crowd" and a "frat party" by FEMA veterans.

U.S. officials went door-to-door in Greenland to find anyone who wanted to be visited by the Vances. They found no one

Graig Graziosi
Fri, March 28, 2025 

The Independent

No one wants to talk to Usha Vance—at least no one in Greenland.

US officials have reportedly been traveling around the Danish-controlled territory looking for locals who wanted to receive a visit from the Second Lady, according to a report from Danish TV 2.

Greenlanders' response? No thanks.

Residents aren't the only ones snubbing the Second Lady ahead of her high-profile visit to the island; Tupilak Travel, which is based in Greenland's capital city, Nuuk, initially said it would host Usha Vance, but pulled out on Thursday.

In a post on Facebook, the company said that the US Consulate called and asked if it wanted the visit, and the company initially said yes, but then backed out.

“After closer consideration, however, we have now informed the consulate that we do not want her visit, as we cannot accept the underlying agenda and will not be part of the press show that, quite, of course, comes with it. No thanks to nice visit… Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders," the company said.

The cancellation comes on the same day that Vice President JD Vance announced that he would join his wife's upcoming trip to Greenland.

“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday, that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said in a video posted to X.

Vance, the Second Lady, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Energy Secretary Christ Wright are scheduled to depart for Greenland on Friday, though those plans could change by the time the delegation departs.

The U.S. delegation was also scheduled to attend the Avannaata Qimusserua, one of the world's largest dog-sledding events, but that visit has been cancelled as well, according to USA Today.

As it currently stands, the American visitors will only be visiting the U.S. Space Force Base at Pituffik.

Greenlanders and Danish authorities aren't pleased about the trip. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen accused the US of exerting "unacceptable pressure" on Greenland through its planned visit.

“I have to say that it is unacceptable pressure being placed on Greenland and Denmark in this situation. And it is pressure that we will resist,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcasters DR and TV2 on Tuesday. “You cannot make a private visit with official representatives from another country, when the acting Greenlandic government has made it very clear that they do not want a visit at this time,”

Frederiksen went on to say the US delegation's arrival is "clearly not a visit that is about what Greenland needs or wants."

“President Trump is serious. He wants Greenland. Therefore, [this visit] cannot be seen independently of anything else,” Frederiksen said.

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to buy Greenland or obtain it through other means, including potential military action.

Thanks to climate change driven by human burning of fossil fuels, new shipping corridors are opening up in the Arctic Circle as sea ice melts. Trade routes between Asia and Europe or Asia and the U.S. are approximately 40 percent shorter through the Arctic than by way of the Suez or Panama Canals, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

Currently, only five countries have territory in the Arctic Circle: Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark, by way of the semiautonomous Greenland, and the U.S. via Alaska. If the U.S. controls Greenland, it would be a major expansion of the nation's control over Arctic shipping routes.

Trump has gone so far as to say that the island is "very, very important" for U.S. “military security."

In addition to its potential military and economic strategic benefits, the Arctic may also have as of yet untapped fuel resources. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic holds 13 percent of undiscovered oil resources and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas, primarily all offshore.

Greenland itself is rich with rare earth minerals, which are essential components in the production of cellphones, batteries, and other consumer technologies.

'Charm offensive failed': Not one Greenlander was willing to publicly welcome Usha Vance

Travis Gettys
March 28, 2025 

RAW STORY

U.S. Vice President JD Vance talks with Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin as he and second lady Usha Vance welcome Martin and his wife Mary O'Shea (not pictured) for breakfast, ahead of St. Patrick's Day, at the vice president's residence in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 12, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

An advance team knocked on doors in Greenland’s capital Nuuk seeking someone who would welcome a visit from second lady Usha Vance, but every single person said no, according to a Danish TV report.

Vice president J.D. Vance joined his wife on the trip after she got a cold shoulder from prospective hosts, according to a report by Denmark's TV 2 that was flagged by The Hill, and the couple's plans shifted from a dogsled race in Sisimiut and meetings with Nuuk locals to a visit to a remote Space Force base.

“The Americans’ charm offensive has failed,” reported TV 2 correspondent Jesper Steinmetz. “They have finally understood what the Greenlanders here in town have been trying to tell them for a little over a week: We don’t want visitors right now.”


ALSO READ: 'Came as a surprise to me': Senators 'troubled' by one aspect of government funding bill

A senior White House official denied the report, saying the couple was happy to visit the ice-bound military base, where temperatures for March typically stay well below zero.

“This is categorically false," that official said. "The Second Lady is proud to visit the Pituffik Space Base with her husband to learn more about arctic security and the great work of the Space Base."


The vice president is expected to attack Denmark, a U.S. ally, during the visit, which comes as president Donald Trump has inflamed international tension over his threats to annex the country's autonomous territory.

Until recently, we could safely rely on the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we liked to work closely,” said Greenland prime minister Múte Bourup Egede earlier this week.

“But that time is over, we have to admit that, because the new American leadership is completely and utterly indifferent to what we have stood together on so far, because now it is only a matter of them taking over our country over our heads,” Egede added.


'P.R. disaster': J.D. Vance expected to attack Denmark on scaled-back visit to Greenland

Travis Gettys
March 28, 2025 

RAW STORY

Vice president J.D. Vance is expected to launch an attack on a U.S. ally during an unsolicited visit to Greenland with his wife.

Second lady Usha Vance had been scheduled to visit the autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark with one of the couple's young sons, but her husband decided to join her on a drastically scaled-back trip after watching outrage over her trip grow amid Donald Trump's threats to take control of the world's largest island, reported CNN.

“It was a combination of a little bit of commotion from Danish leaders combined with Vance wanting to go for a while,” said a senior White House official.

The Vances departed early Friday on Air Force Two and will return later the same day after visiting the remote U.S. Space Force outpost at Pituffik, with all cultural exchange events canceled, and the vice president is expected to strike a militaristic tone against Denmark, a fellow member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“Unfortunately, Danish leaders have spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair," the senior White House official said. "Expect the vice president to emphasize these points as well."

Greenlanders and their government officials had spoken openly against the second lady's planned visit, and public protests were expected in the capital Nuuk, where about a third of the island's residents live, and its second-largest city Sisimiut, where a dogsled race is taking place.

“Trump’s talk of annexation and the visit of the Vances has united Greenlanders in defiance, with Greenlanders rallying together to protest,” said Dwayne Ryan Menezes, director of the UK-based think tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative.

“The Vances clearly realized that if they visited Nuuk or Sisimiut, the strategy would backfire even more than it has," Menezes added. "It would be a PR disaster, as all footage would likely feature protestors with placards of the sort we saw earlier this month (Yankee Go Home, and Make America Go Away), and would expose to the U.S. electorate the misinformation they were fed about how enthusiastically Greenlanders wished for Greenland to join the U.S.”

Usha Vance had apparently been invited to the dogsled race by American Daybreak, a group founded by Tom Dans, who worked on Arctic issues in the first Trump administration, and organizers for the race made clear they did not specifically invite her, and local media reports indicated Sisimiut residents had planned to silently protest her visit by turning their backs on her motorcade.

“In general, I think most Greenlanders are relieved that the unofficial visit to Sisimiut and Nuuk was cancelled," said said Jakob Nordstrøm, who runs a local pilot business in Nuuk. "Personally, I think it is a big win for Greenland. Most Greenlanders welcome tourists from the United States, but obviously this was not a tourist visit."

The White House official insisted that Usha Vance's original plans was set aside because they were incompatible with the vice president's schedule, not because of the backlash.

'But Greenland has a government': CNN host confronts conservative about J.D. Vance visit

Travis Gettys
March 28, 2025 

RAW STORY

CNN

CNN's Audie Cornish redirected a conservative blogger after he justified vice president J.D. Vance's visit to Greenland.

The vice president will join his wife Usha Vance in a drastically scaled-back unsolicited visit as Greenland officials and citizens make clear they're not welcome amid president Donald Trump's threats to take control of the autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark, but Vance tried to put a happy spin on the backlash.

"There was so much excitement around his visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn't want her to have all that fun by herself," the vice president said, "and so I'm going to join her."

The second lady had planned on attending a dogsled race with one of the couple's young sons, but they'll instead visit the remote, ice-locked Pituffik Space Base, which caused Daily Signal executive editor Rob Bluey and other panelists on "CNN This Morning" to chuckle.

"I'm not going to front, I want to see a Space Force outpost, too," said host Audie Cornish. "That sounds good, but Rob, I heard you laughing a bit when you heard [Vance] explain this, that he wanted to join the fun. So is this a person who needs to get out of town because of the Signal chat fubar? Or is this going over there to do his tough talk with our friends and allies? What are you looking at?"

Vance was among the participants in a group chat on the Signal app where defense secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed top-secret military plans despite a journalist's unnoticed presence, but Bluey said the vice president was advancing U.S. strategic interests by visiting the world's largest island.

"Well, Donald Trump has talked about Greenland now for months, so I don't think this has just popped up out of the blue," Bluey said. "I think it's clearly a strategic interest of his because he's worried about the influence of Russia and China in that that region, particularly for the shipping lanes in the Arctic, but also for the minerals and the natural resources in Greenland. He does not want those adversaries to necessarily take advantage of Greenland at the expense of the United States."

Cornish looked askance at her conservative panelist.

"All those things sound good," she interjected, "but Greenland has a government. Like, we're talking about it like it doesn't."

Watch below or click here.

Photos show the unique culture of Greenland, the massive ice-covered island Trump wants to acquire

Jenny McGrath
Fri, March 28, 2025 




People first arrived to Greenland over 4,000 years ago, and it has a unique culture.


Its population is mostly Inuit, though it's been part of the Danish kingdom for hundreds of years.


There are Scandinavian influences, but Inuit traditions remain strong.

US Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, are traveling to Greenland this week, after the second lady's original itinerary in the Arctic island was amended.

Her initial agenda, which included watching a dog-sled race, sparked backlash because of the US government's designs on Greenland.

President Donald Trump has said the US needs to acquire Greenland — the largest island in the world and an autonomous Danish territory — for security reasons, recently saying, "I think, we'll go as far as we have to go" to control it.

Now, the Vances are only expected to visit the US military base on Greenland, a change the Danish government called "very positive."

The Vances "are proud to visit the Pituffik Space Base," JD Vance's press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, said in a statement to Business Insider.

"As the Vice President has said, previous US leaders have neglected Arctic security, while Greenland's Danish rulers have neglected their security obligations to the island," Van Kirk added. "The security of Greenland is critical in ensuring the security of the rest of the world, and the Vice President looks forward to learning more about the island."

Greenland is known for its long, freezing winters, stunning glaciers, and fishing industry, but in many ways, it remains a frozen mystery to much of the world.

Part of that mystique is because it's been difficult for some tourists to travel to, except by cruise ship or lengthy plane rides. A new international airport is making the country more accessible, including to US residents.

Marianne A. Stenbaek, a professor of cultural studies at McGill University who studies Greenlandic art and literature, described Greenland as a "modern society with a traditional touch." That's because Denmark colonized it hundreds of years ago, but aspects of its Inuit traditions remain.

From its arts to its cuisine, Greenland has a culture all its own.

Greenland is located between Canada and Iceland, with much of the country above the Arctic Circle.

A map showing Greenland's critical minerals.Graphic by Jonathan WALTER and Valentina BRESCHI / AFP via Getty Images

The country is a little bigger than Mexico. It's also much colder. About 80% of Greenland's 836,330 square miles are buried in snow and ice. An enormous national park, the world's largest, covers much of the northeast.

The island has long made it of interest to many other countries for military purposes and as a source of natural resources, from rare minerals to natural gas and oil.

But to Greenlanders, it's simply home.

Greenland's first humans arrived over 4,000 years ago.

An 18th-century drawing of Greenland.Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Pre-Inuit groups, including members of the Saqqaq culture, came to the island around 2,500 BCE via Canada. They settled in northern, western, and southeastern Greenland. Today's Greenland Inuit population is descended from the Thule people, who moved into the country's north from Alaska through Canada around 1,000 years ago.




Between 985 and roughly 1450 CE, Vikings lived and then died out in Western Greenland. Erik the Red was the one who called the icy island Greenland. In Greenlandic, its name is Kalaallit Nunaat.

Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede established a settlement in what's now Nuuk, Greenland's capital, in 1721. Over the centuries, Denmark's culture profoundly changed the country.

Greenland remained a Danish colony until 1953 and became an autonomous territory in 1979. It has its own parliament, known as the Inatsisartut.

While the country self-governs its domestic matters, Denmark retains jurisdiction over defense and foreign affairs.




More people live in Ames, Iowa, than in all of Greenland.

Customers leave a shop in western Greenland in 2007.REUTERS/Bob Strong

Around 56,000 people make Greenland their home.

Just under 90% are Inuit, though most also have some European ancestry, according to genetic testing published by the American Society of Human Genetics in 2015. Danish people make up the rest of the population. Most live in coastal cities or communities.

Residents speak Greenlandic and Danish.

Politician Aki-Matilda Hoeegh-Dam speaks Greenlandic at the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen in 2024.LISELOTTE SABROE/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Kalaallisut, also known as Greenlandic, is an Inuit language and is the official language of the country. It's widely spoken, though some groups in the east speak Tunumiit, according to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.

Most residents also speak Danish, which is taught as a second language in schools.

Fishing is the country's biggest industry.

The Halibut Greenland fish processing center in 2025.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The population has long depended on fishing for their livelihoods. However, it's not enough to support the entire country. Denmark heavily supplements its budget with about $511 million annually, according to The BBC.

"The economy has been difficult," Stenbaek said. Tourism and the country's natural resources may be its future.

Cruise ships stop by in the summer, but airports are opening around the country, too.

The cruise ship Sea Venture arrives in Ilulissat, Greenland in 2022.ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

Whether they're hoping to spot narwhals or want to glimpse glaciers, nature-loving tourists are drawn to Greenland.




For a long time, it was difficult to get to the island by plane. Nuuk only opened its international airport in November 2024. Before that, only a few airports had runways long enough to land large jets.

Ilulissat, which has an ice fjord on UNESCO's World Heritage list, and Qaqortoq are also getting international airports, Reuters reported. Later this year, Americans will be able to hop on a direct flight from New York to Nuuk for the first time.

To get ready for the surge of tourists, some residents are buying snowmobiles to rent out, The New York Times reported. New hotels are opening, too.

Rich in both rare earth minerals and wildlife, Greenland is divided on what to do.

Euhedral quartz crystals and cryolite fill a cavity in Greenland.Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Greenland has a history of mining cryolite, which is used in aluminum smelting. A recent documentary, "The White Gold of Greenland," claimed that for over 100 years, Danish mining companies extracted billions worth of the mineral, and Greenland reaped very little of the benefit, Variety reported.

That's not a history it would want to repeat if it taps its deposits of uranium, gold, natural gas, lithium, and other resources. While some see mining as an opportunity to enrich the country, others have concerns.

"Greenlanders are very hesitant about many aspects of mining because it impacts the nature so much," Stenbaek said.

There are also worries about how it could affect the fishing industry, while residents in Narsaq are concerned about their health if a company moves forward with mining radioactive uranium at a nearby proposed site, The Guardian reported.

Colonialism turned some aspects of Greenland Scandinavian while also stamping out some of its Inuit culture.

Denmark's King Frederik and Queen Mary visit the village of Qassiarsuk in Greenland in 2024.Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters

Danish culture is visible in Greenland's healthcare system, educational institutions, and government. "To that extent, it has had a huge impact," Stenbaek said. At the same time, authorities contributed to the loss of many aspects of the Inuits' way of life.

Between the 1950s and '70s, the Danish government forced Inuit populations to relocate from smaller settlements and communities to cities, Reuters reported. During this time, doctors implanted IUDs in thousands of Inuit girls and women, sometimes without their consent, The BBC reported. Denmark is investigating the matter and has offered counseling to those affected, AP reported last year.

Members of the Inuit community were also pressured to give up their culture and language.

"We were told to act more Danish, to speak Danish, if we wanted to be something," Nadja Arnaaraq Kreutzmann, a Nuuk resident, recently told Reuters.

Some Inuits are preserving and reclaiming their culture.

Greenlandic goldsmith Nadja Arnaaraq Kreutzmann works on a ring in her studio in Nuuk, Greenland, in 2025.Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

From sewing national costumes to making jewelry to carving animal tusks, Inuit people in Greenland are finding ways to continue traditional practices.

"I'm concerned if we do not give the old traditions to younger people, it'll die out within 35 years," Greenlander Vera Mølgaard told National Geographic.

Qupanuk Olsen, a new member of Greenland's Parliament, has spent over five years gaining more than 300,000 Instagram followers by highlighting the country's food and traditions.

Most Greenlanders are Lutheran, but Inuit religious practices remain.

Salik Schmidt and Malu Schmidt hold their daughter as they pose for a photo during their wedding at the Church of our Savior in Nuuk, Greenland in 2025.AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Some estimates put Greenland's Lutheran population at 90%, heavily influenced by Hans Egede, the missionary who came to the island in 1721. His statue stands in Nuuk, and some want it removed, saying it's a symbol of the start of colonization, the AP reported.

Many Greenlanders incorporate traditional religious practices into their services, Stenbaek said. They also sing hymns in Greenlandic, she said.

About 15,000 people live in Nuuk, Greenland's capital and biggest city.

Houses covered by snow on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, in 2025.AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

The city's architecture is Scandinavian, but its artwork incorporates Inuit tales, according to Lonely Planet. That duality is Nuuk in a nutshell.

"It's very much, in many ways, like a modern Scandinavian city," Stenbaek said. "And at the same time, the Greenlandic culture, the traditional culture, is still there."

There are plenty of cafés, restaurants, and shopping for residents and tourists to visit.

A more traditional way of life survives in smaller communities.

The village of Attu in Greenland in 2024.IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Small settlements remain along the west and east coasts, Stenbaek said. Some have fewer than 100 people.

"They live very much like they would have lived 100 years ago," Stenbaek said. That means relying on fishing and other traditional knowledge to survive.

When there are no roads, residents use boats, sleds, and helicopters to get around.

An Air Greenland passenger helicopter in 2009.Reuters/Bob Strong

In the more remote areas of the country, it's not always easy to get from place to place.

"If you have to go from settlement to settlement, it's either by boat or dog sleigh or skiing," Stenbaek said.

If the water is too icy for boats, Greenlanders might have to jump in a helicopter. There are dog sled races in Uummannaq, but it's also a practical mode of transportation in the snowy weather. The same goes for snowmobiles.

Greenland has polar nights and the midnight sun.

The northern lights appear over homes in Nuuk, Greenland, in 2025.AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Far north regions experience polar nights in the winter, when the sun doesn't rise above the horizon. The opposite happens in the summer, when Greenland gets nonstop daylight for a couple of months.

Both are significant to Greenlanders.

Since the sun is not visible in the winter, when spring comes it brings life back," photographer Inuuteq Storch told The Guardian in 2024. "That time of total darkness is very spiritual."

Weather rules Greenlanders' worlds.

Sisters Tukummeq and Eva-Vera in Nuuk, Greenland, in 2025.Marko Djurica/REUTERS

Greenland is a maritime culture, according to Stenbaek. "Everything depends on ice and water," she said.

In some parts of the country, winters can last through April. The temperatures can be frigid, with some regions getting down to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Summers in northern towns are still chilly, averaging around 41 degrees Fahrenheit, per The Guardian. Temperatures are getting warmer, though.

Lots of Greenlanders read through those long, dark nights.

Ebbe Volquardsen, a professor at the University of Nuuk, in 2017.Julia Wäschenbach/picture alliance via Getty Images

Greenland has a very literary culture, Stenbaek said. "It's an old tradition that goes back 100 years," she said. It's long been a good way to pass a polar night. Local authors are published in both Greenlandic and Danish.

There are plenty of other types of Greenlandic art, too, including theater, sculpture, and music.

"Greenlanders are very artistic," Stenbaek said.

Locals love to get outdoors, too.

A cross-country skier outside of Nuuk, Greenland, in 2025.ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

Plenty of Greenlanders' pastimes involve braving the cold.

"Many of them are connected directly to nature, like fishing, hunting, skiing," Stenbaek said.

Greenland is rich in biodiversity.

A southeast Greenland polar bear on a glacier in 2016.Thomas W. Johansen/NASA Oceans Melting Greenland/Handout via Reuters

The snowy landscape and arctic waters surrounding the island are habitats for musk ox, reindeer, seals, polar bears, whales, and dozens of bird species.

Berries, flowers, and cottongrass also grow in some parts of the country.

The Greenland dog is an ancient breed.

A musher walks with his Greenlandic sled dogs in 2025.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Sled dogs aren't just companions. They're often working animals, and have a long history of surviving alongside humans. Greenland's first dogs arrived with the Thule people hundreds of years ago.

The husky-like dogs have thick coats, muscular bodies for pulling sleds, and a digestive system suited to high-fat diets, as reported by Newsweek.

Some dog sled races ban the use of other breeds, according to the Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation.

Lamb, ox, and lots of seafood are all part of Arctic cuisine.

Muskox broth from Koks restaurant in Ilimanaq, Greenland.ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

Long before there were grocery stores in Greenland, locals survived by hunting and fishing. Since the island doesn't have a lot of plant life, they got their vitamin C from whale skin, The New York Times reported.

Even today, there isn't much farming in Greenland, though people do raise sheep in the south.

While supermarkets sell imported food, like milk and vegetables, they'll also stock local fare, including fish, seal, and whale. Some Greenlanders also supplement their shopping by hunting reindeer, ox, and other animals.

"In Greenland, we have the world's wildest kitchen," chef Inunnguaq Hegelund recently told NPR.

The warming world is already affecting Greenland.

An iceberg melts in Kulusuk, Greenland.AP Photo/John McConnico

As the planet heats up, Greenland has started to melt. Its glaciers are shrinking, and the permafrost is disappearing. In 2016, researchers found that the Greenland ice sheet was losing the equivalent of 110 million Olympic-sized swimming pools of water each year.

"It had an influence on roads and airports and houses when all of a sudden the earth starts to unfreeze," Stenbaek said.

It's started to change animals' migration patterns, and polar bears have had to adapt to a new way of hunting without sea ice.

It's a hotbed of scientific research.

Researchers on the Isunnguata Sermia glacier in Greenland in 2024.Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The US National Science Foundation has been studying Greenland's ice sheet for decades.

The country's location also makes it the perfect location to obtain ice cores, test cold-weather engineering, monitor climate change, and study the elusive Greenland shark.

Most Greenlanders want to break away from Denmark.

People voting during the general election in Nuuk, Greenland in 2025.Marko Djurica/Reuters

Over the years, Greenland has become increasingly independent from Denmark. In 2008, it voted for a referendum granting them more autonomy. Many want to go even further and become completely independent from the Danish kingdom.

About 80% of Greenlanders support the move, according to recent polling. Yet one longtime backer of the movement has recently become a bit more hesitant.

Aqqaluk Lynge is the former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, a nongovernmental organization representing Inuit people in several countries. He recently told NPR that he now supports Greenland staying tied to Denmark because "if Greenland secedes from Denmark, it will be taken by United States."

"This is surprising because Aqqaluk used to be head of much of the independence movement," Stenbaek said.

Some want to stay independent from the US, too.

A protester in Nuuk, Greenland, in 2025.CHRISTIAN KLINDT SOELBECK/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to buy Greenland. In a recent speech to the US Congress, he said that if Greenland chose to join, "we welcome you into the United States of America."

It may be one of the reasons the Democratic party, which advocates for a slow approach to independence, won in recent elections, Stenbaek said. The majority of Greenlanders, 85%, according to a recent opinion poll, don't want to become part of the US.

"Greenlanders want to remain Greenlandic," Stenbaek said.

She said she thought it was important for Greenland to strengthen connections with other countries, Canada in particular. They have a lot in common in terms of environmental concerns and large Inuit populations, she said.

"Both are Arctic countries," she said. "They would be quite strong."

The US Occupation of Greenland Began Last Night

by Jan Oberg / March 26th, 2025

Preserve this video of street-boy demeanor Trump Regime arrogance. It can be interpreted as an indeed creative declaration of war on Denmark/Greenland.

Listen carefully to the end. It will be historic. Interestingly, if you can not see it embedded here from my homepage (see below). But just click this link to see it on YouTube.

Vice-president JD Vance’s 59 seconds speech about the “fun” in Greenland that he wants to join in marks the beginning of an occupation of Greenland by that US, which Denmark’s governments since 1948 have blindly been submissive to, supported politically and militarily no matter its illegal interventions and wars, CIA worldwide, regime changes, 650 foreign bases, mass killings, genocide, country-destruction, NATO militarism and economic exploitation.

In sum, the most violent and war-addicted country on earth for more than half a century.

He invents a series of “threats” from many other countries against Greenland (and the US…). He scolds Copenhagen for having ignored Greenland’s security for far too long, and he twice elevates Greenland to a world security issue and insists that only the US can make it secure and thereby secure “the entire world.”

For equally long, some of us argued – warned – that the US was not that good – and Russia and China were not that bad. That our world was not a black-and-white world. But that was too much of an intellectual challenge. Over time, facts, analyses, conflict analysis, objective threat analyses based upon decent intelligence as well as national and international law, the UN, diplomacy – not to mention peace-making – were treated as petty issues and thrown overboard.

The Danish foreign policy kakistocracy has finally entered a situation in which they will feel what it means to be blind friends of the Evil Empire and opportunistically never prepare for the obvious: That that empire would ruthlessly pursue only its own interests and humiliate its friends (except Israel) and treat them like dirt. It allegedly gave them “protection”…

Like the rest of Europe, Denmark will now face two Cold Wars for decades ahead – one with Russia and one with the US – and in best Frederiksen-Leyden-Kallas-style, militarise itself to death. You don’t have to be a prophet to see that, like “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

The tragedy – which is now also Sweden’s and Finland’s – is that it could all have been avoided.

By independent, free thinking and research, by listening and prudent decision-makers, not servants listening only to His Master’s Voice.

Europe will now be dragged down with the decline and fall of the US/Western world. What? Oh yes, the Trump Regime will not get away with all its crystal-clear extremist imperialism, its megalomania and delusional ways: It will meet increasing worldwide resistance and fall – “one way or the other” as Trump said about getting Greenland.

I fear the price to be paid with Trump in his undoubtedly golden bunker fiddling with the red button when he hears someone say, Mr President, it is all over. It’s all over.

Do you?

Jan Oberg is a peace researcher, art photographer, and Director of The Transnational (TFF) where this article first appeared. Reach him at: oberg@transnational.org. Read other articles by Jan.