Danish Lawmaker Explains Why He Told Trump to ‘F**k Off’
Danish lawmaker Anders Vistisen on Thursday defended his decision to publicly tell U.S. President Donald Trump to “f--k off,” offering a couple reasons for his choice of words earlier this week.
When CNN anchor Erin Burnett asked the European Parliament member why he was “so blunt,” Vistisen said it was required in part because others in his party feel a stronger pushback is required.
“First of all, it is a completely unacceptable attack on Danish sovereignty to want to claim territory that has been Danish since the 10th century—three times as long as the United States has existed,” he said, after Trump claimed that acquiring Greenland “is an absolute necessity”—and that he might use the military take it by force.
Vistisen added that another reason for his colorful statement Tuesday is “because we in my party are unhappy with the Danish government not taking a more clear stand towards these signals from the U.S. president.”
Vistisen, of the nationalist Danish People’s Party, said the response to Trump’s other expansionist statements regarding Canada and Panama were more “firmly” shut down by members of those respective governments.
Last month, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino told Trump in a video message on X that “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjoining zone is Panama’s and will remain so,” adding that “the sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”
A few weeks ago, Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to Trump’s call for a U.S.-Canada merger by suggesting instead that Canada buy Alaska and Minnesota.
Greenland’s prime minister, while saying he would be open to meeting with Trump, has also affirmed that the territory is “not for sale,” and that “the Greenlandic people don’t want to be Americans.”
Vistisen said he didn’t care for the vice president of the European Parliament admonishing him for using such language.
“The European Parliament has a quite biased way of interpreting these rules. It‘s OK to call people fascists, racists, communists, but apparently you cannot use the same language as Mr. Trump has used regarding his own top generals in the Pentagon,” Vistisen said.
“If they have a problem, they can take it up with me,” he continued. “I have not heard from the president of parliament since my speech, so I‘m waiting for her to contact me, but I don‘t assume it will be a big deal.”
Vistisen also explained why he was skeptical that Greenland or Denmark would agree to any purchase.
“We take [American security] concerns very seriously. We are a NATO ally. But America has had a military presence in Greenland since 1941, and we have accommodated all security concerns. So if America wants to have more bases or different kind of equipment in Greenland, there is actually no one contesting that, neither in Greenland nor in Denmark,” he said.
“And for the other argument that America can make a great deal: We actually have some historical precedents for this: 100 years ago, we sold you what you call the U.S. Virgin Islands today. And that territory still doesn‘t have voting rights for your presidential elections. That place doesn‘t have a voting member of of your parliament—the Congress—either the House of Representatives or the Senate,” he noted.
“And when I visited, when we had the 100-year commemoration, there was not a great lot of enthusiasm about the way the U.S. is handling that,” he went on.
“So I think if the Greenlandic people are looking carefully at this and looking on the U.S. Overseas Territories, or looking at how indigenous people are treated in the U.S., it‘s very hard to make a compelling argument that they will have a better deal from the United States than what they have within the Danish realm, the Kingdom of Denmark, where they have full voting rights in the Danish parliament.”
