Donald Trump has caused a major diplomatic incident in Europe with a deranged Truth Social post threatening a large-scale U.S. takeover.
Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday after the 80-year-old president shared a worrying doctored map showing the American flag covering the island nation, as well as Greenland, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Iceland’s foreign minister, Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir, said she demanded answers from Ambassador Billy Long, who only formally took up the post in August, over Trump’s “completely inappropriate” post, according to Reuters.
Trump has long threatened to take over Greenland—an autonomous territory of Denmark, a U.S. NATO ally—and previously did not rule out launching an all-out invasion to seize it.
The president has also strained international relations by suggesting that Canada could become the 51st U.S. state, as well as by his petty renaming of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” after Trump reignited a trade war with the top U.S. ally and neighbor.
It is unclear whether Trump directly sent the post showing the American flag across several countries and continents.
Natalie Harp, the president’s favorite White House aide who earns $150,000 a year as an executive assistant, is widely credited with assisting Trump’s social media output. This includes getting him to approve cringe-worthy AI-generated images and videos and then logging into his account to reshare them en masse.
Harp is reportedly the person who posted the racist video shared by Trump depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, as well as an image of Trump as Jesus.
Trump had previously caused concern after repeatedly mixing up Greenland and Iceland.
In a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a confused Trump repeatedly mentioned Iceland while lashing out at NATO for not allowing him to seize Greenland.
“I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they’d be there for us with all of the money we expend, with all of the blood, sweat and tears… They’re not there for us on Iceland, I can tell you,” Trump said. “Their stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland’s already cost us a lot of money.”
Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt desperately tried to defend the president’s gaffe by claiming he was simply referring to Greenland as a “piece of ice.”
However, Trump also mixed up the two countries at a White House news conference the day before while defending his tariff threats to force Denmark to sell Greenland to the U.S.
“Iceland, without tariffs, they wouldn’t even be talking to us about it,” Trump said.
Iceland, a small country with a population of just over 400,000, is a popular tourist destination, with Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, and her family visiting the country and its world-famous Blue Lagoon spa last month.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the U.S. Embassy in Iceland for comment.
