Don Bacon slams Jeff Landry over claim Trump 'put Greenland on the map'

Rep. Don Bacon slammed Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry over his claim that Greenland "was not on a map" until President Donald Trump brought attention to it. Landry is Trump's special envoy to Greenland, who recently concluded a trip to the Arctic territory, which the President has been eyeing to take from Denmark, a long-time ally of the U.S. Dismissing Landry's claim, Bacon urged the administration to treat the country's allies with respect. 

While the Iran war took the President's attention away from Greenland, renewed efforts were launched with a new U.S. consulate in the state capital Nuuk, and an uninvited visit from the Governor of Louisiana. During his visit, Landry spoke to reporters, claiming the U.S. had ignored Greenland before Trump came along, and the credit for bringing opportunity to the country goes to him. "What I've found is that Greenland was not on a map until Donald Trump put it on a map," Landry said in a clip posted to X. 

Responding to the comment, Bacon shared a post on X, claiming, "Greenland has been on the map for centuries. And… it is our ally." He went on to urge Trump and his envoy to "stop treating our friends like dirt," referring to the growing contentious relationship of Trump with U.S. allies in Europe. Trump faced tensions with European allies over his Greenland remarks, as the Arctic territory belonged to a NATO member, Denmark.

Landry's visit to Greenland was seemingly an effort to cool down the tensions, as Greenlanders have opposed a U.S. takeover from the start. Speaking to Danish reporters, Landry said the President asked him to "go there and make a bunch of friends," according to the Times-Picayune/NOLA.com. The effort included the inauguration of the new consulate.

However, things haven't gone the way the Trump administration wanted, as The New York Times reported that when Landry was touring the Greenlandic capital, a local flipped off the group he was with. Furthermore, on Friday, hundreds of Greenlanders gathered outside the new American consulate to protest against President Trump's ambition for greater influence over the island. The protest came at the very end of Landry's weeklong visit. "Our government already told Donald Trump and his administration that Greenland is not for sale," Aqqalukkuluk Fontain, the organiser of the protest, told the BBC. 

The crowd walked through the town centre at the capital, chanting "Greenland is for Greenlanders", before standing with their backs toward the consulate in silence. Fontain told BBC that their message to America and the world was that "in a democratic world, no means no." Some of the protestors also expressed that Landry's visit showed a lack of respect, and people had renewed fears from the U.S. as high-stakes talks continue to resolve the diplomatic crisis that was sparked with force in January by the U.S. President.