A satirical petition started in Denmark proposing to buy the US state of California has already gathered more than 280,000 signatures, amid growing discontent in Europe over Donald Trump's plan to annex Greenland.
The Danes respond with irony to Trump's plans PHOTO: Archive
The initiative – “Let's buy California from Trump”, hosted on a site with a suggestive name, comes with a “plan” full of ironies: Disneyland would be renamed “Hans Christian Andersenland” and California itself would become “New Denmark”. The list of reasons for this fictitious purchase is long and even parodies the arguments used by Trump in relation to Greenland. “It is in the national interest to promote our nation's extraordinary heritage so that California becomes the New Denmark“, the website says, in a style reminiscent of the American president's rhetoric. “Los Angeles? More like Løs Ångeles“.
Another section claims that the acquisition of California would be necessary to “to protect the free world”. “Most people say we have the best freedom“, the site also says. “Colossal Freedom”. The petition also promises to bring “hygge,” the famous Danish concept of comfort and well-being, to Hollywood. According to the authors, everything would cost “1 trillion dollars (plus or minus a few billion)”.
The text also does not avoid the idea that the will of Californians would not matter much, in a direct irony to Trump's political style. “As for the will of the citizens? Well, let's be serious – when did that ever stop him?”it says on the website. “If Trump wants to sell California, he will sell it”.
Campaign donations come with equally satirical promises: a letter “from the Danish royal family”, a lifetime supply of Californian avocados and even a private beach in Malibu, The Independent reports.
The background to the tensions over Greenland
The joke comes as Donald Trump continues to make very real threats to Greenland. He has long argued that taking control of the island is necessary for US national security, citing both its rich reserves of rare minerals and the alleged increase in Russian and Chinese presence in the region. In parallel, he exerted pressure on Europe, threatening with tariffs the countries that openly condemn his plans.
But Denmark insisted it was determined to protect the territory, as were the United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada. The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, was categorical: the autonomous territory wants to remain within the Danish Kingdom. “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark”he said recently, in a press conference attended by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Ironic protests and slogans on the island
In recent weeks, protests have erupted in Greenland against the idea of an American takeover. A trend that parodies MAGA iconography has become popular among marchers: red caps that, instead of “Make America Great Again,” write “Make America Go Away”. At the marches there were cries of “Greenland is not for sale”, while protesters waved both the island's and the Kingdom of Denmark's flags.
