SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
This week, aboard Air Force One, President Trump reiterated his goal of the U.S. buying Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. The statements have surprised and shocked many around the world. Here's what Trump said last month when asked whether he would rule out the use of military or economic coercion to take control.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I can't assure you - you're talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can't assure you on either of those two.
DETROW: Earlier this week, Denmark announced another increase in defense spending, as Copenhagen faces more pressure over Greenland's security. Our co-host Juana Summers has been reporting from Greenland. She spoke with two men with diverging perspectives on a recent visit from President Trump's son, Don Jr.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Whoa.
JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: Donald Trump Jr. arrived here in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, in early January, days before his father would be sworn into office for a second term. He told reporters at the airport, in video posted online, it wasn't an official visit.
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DONALD TRUMP JR: We're here as tourists, seeing it. Looks like an incredible place - we've been talking about going for a while. I was actually supposed to be here last spring. But just really excited to be here - awesome country. The scenery coming in was just spectacular.
SUMMERS: Even so, his father promoted the visit on his Truth Social platform. He wrote in part, I am hearing that the people of Greenland are MAGA.
We met up with one Greenlandic man who fits the bill at a small café inside Nuuk Center, Greenland's largest mall. His name is Jorgen Boassen.
JORGEN BOASSEN: Don Jr. came here 7 January, and I was the guy who welcomed him and guided him here.
SUMMERS: Boassen is a bricklayer and is in his 50s. He was wearing a shirt with the now-famous image of Trump with his fist raised after last year's assassination attempt. The shirt says, American badass. Boassen has been watching U.S. politics for years and started supporting Trump in 2016. He sees Trump as a strong advocate for security and the global economy.
BOASSEN: From the first term, I was supporting him here in Greenland. So it was kind of a little bit difficulty because people make fun of me and tag me on the Facebook and say, you [expletive] idiot. Are you supporting Trump? - and everything like that because we have a small community.
SUMMERS: Recent polling from Danish and Greenlandic news outlets suggests Boassen is an outlier when it comes to Trump. A survey last month found that nearly half of Greenlanders see interest by Trump as a threat, and only 6% support the idea of being a part of the U.S. Boassen says his support for President Trump has made him a target. He even says he's received death threats, but he sees this moment as an opportunity for him and for his country.
BOASSEN: The whole world has calling me.
SUMMERS: He says the whole world has been calling him. Boassen has been working with an American foreign policy nonprofit that wants to strengthen ties between Greenland and the U.S. He says he would welcome a larger U.S. military presence in Greenland - that it would help protect Greenland and its people.
As a Greenlander, what do you make when you hear President Trump suggesting that the United States would like to acquire your country?
BOASSEN: You know, he's a businessman, and he always talk more higher than what he wants. So you have to also try to understand him - what he wants, because...
SUMMERS: So it's a negotiating tactic?
BOASSEN: Yeah, it is.
SUMMERS: Even as a Greenlandic citizen, Boassen has fully immersed himself in Trump world. He says he knocked on doors for Trump in Pittsburgh, ahead of the U.S. November election. On election night, he was a guest at a watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida. He met Donald Trump Jr. there in November. Soon, he says he got a phone call from Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA.
BOASSEN: And he say, hey, this is Charlie Kirk. How are you?
SUMMERS: And that call led to his role in Donald Trump Jr.'s January visit.
BOASSEN: Suddenly, he called me and say, hey, can you help us with planning? Don Jr. is coming to Nuuk. Can you do that for us, to help us what he can do here in Nuuk? So I say, yeah, of course I can do that. Yeah, I welcome him out of the plane and say to him, here, welcome to Greenland.
SUMMERS: Jorgen Boassen welcomed to Donald Trump Jr. on his trip to Nuuk, where he stayed for a few hours in January. Another Greenlander we spoke to never met Don Jr. but took a different view on his visit and on his father's ambitions.
AQQALUK LYNGE: The whole Arctic is in pain.
SUMMERS: That's Aqqaluk Lynge. He was, until recently, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents Inuit people of Greenland, Canada, Alaska and an autonomous area of Russia. We met him at his home, which overlooks the Nuuk fjord, and as we talked, he was repeatedly pointing to this big, round map of the Arctic that he'd spread out across his kitchen table.
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SUMMERS: He said, it's not just the Arctic. The whole world is in pain. He compared it to living during the time of the Emperor Nero, who watched as Rome burned.
LYNGE: I cannot understand how a democracy could breed that kind of power grabbing that we are seeing here. So the attitude toward Americans right after Trump Jr.'s crazy trip to Nuuk - what the heck is going on?
SUMMERS: Lynge has been involved in politics in Greenland for decades. He was elected to Greenland's parliament in the early 1980s. He spent years fighting for Greenland's right to self-determination and founded one of Greenland's leading political parties.
LYNGE: The worst thing was that after he was tooling around here in Nuuk and playing with his phone, then came his father in a speech, again outlining that he will not rule out a military intervention. For what? Who? United States is already here. They have their power. If there's any problem, why don't they talk to us?
SUMMERS: At one point, Lynge took a long pause.
LYNGE: It's the most uneducated people. I've never - oh, I'm too - it's too strong, isn't it (laughter)?
SUMMERS: You tell me.
LYNGE: I'm too - I'm evil now. I don't want to be evil, but I'm mad.
SUMMERS: Trump has insisted that U.S. control of Greenland is necessary for American security, though Denmark's prime minister has said that the island is not for sale. The U.S. already has a military base here and, as Lynge alludes to, could expand its operations with approvals from Greenland and Denmark.
LYNGE: This is so ridiculous. That shows that this is a small person speaking because he's speaking to a small nation. In the end, there will be a confrontation between the NATO allies and United States.
SUMMERS: A confrontation between the U.S. and other NATO members over the fate of Greenland - today, Lynge believes that Greenland's future must be tied to Denmark.
LYNGE: We understand, and we have been understanding for the last 50 years, if Greenland secedes from Denmark, it will be taken by United States. And why would we go? Most of us have only Denmark to go to. So are we going to be thrown out of our homeland? [Expletive] you (laugher). We will never surrender to anyone.
SUMMERS: For Aqqaluk Lynge, the message is clear - Greenland is not for sale, and he wants the future of his home to be decided by the people who live here. Juana Summers, NPR News, Nuuk, Greenland.
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