A local business owner in Greenland told Newsweek that he declined to meet with Second Lady Usha Vance during her visit to the island because he did not want to be associated with a “MAGA event.”
“We are known for our hospitality, and we welcome visitors from other countries as our valued guests,” Henrik Skydsbjerg, the manager of Tupilak Travel, told the outlet in an email.
“With this delegation however we were afraid that it would turn out to be a MAGA event [which] we did not want to be part of,” Skydsbjerg added.
Vice President JD Vance is now expected to join his wife on the trip. The second couple will only visit the Pituffik Space Base.
Second Lady Vance was originally scheduled to visit Greenland’s capital Nuuk, historic sites and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu dogsled race in Sisimiut.
However, those plans were changed after a frosty reception from locals.
According to Danish outlet TV2 correspondent Jesper Steinmetz U.S. representatives were knocking on doors in Nuuk, Greenland, to rally support for Vance’s wife ahead of her visit. When residents were asked if they would like to visit with the second lady, the responses were overwhelmingly, “No, thanks.”
Steinmetz reported that is why the U.S. delegation will no longer be visiting Nuuk.
Greenland, the world’s largest island and a semiautonomous territory within Denmark, is home to roughly 56,000 people. Trump’s repeated — and at times aggressive — remarks about acquiring the island, by force if necessary, have raised alarm on the island and in Denmark, according to Politico.
