Danes offer to buy California to spite Trump’s Greenland aims: ‘We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood’

Since returning to the presidency last month, Donald Trump has called for Canada to become the 51st US state, suggested he might take over the Panama Canal, floated US ownership of Gaza – and tried to buy Greenland. Now, Denmark – which owns Greenland – is clapping back. More than 200,000 Danes have signed a satirical petition to buy California from the US. Aerial view of the town of Narsaq in southern Greenland. Nearly half of Danes see US as threat and 78% oppose Greenland sale, poll shows

“Have you ever looked at a map and thought, ‘You know what Denmark needs? More sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates.’ Well, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality,” the petition reads. “Let’s buy California from Donald Trump!” Across the top of the petition’s website, a slogan calls to “Måke Califørnia Great Ægain” and supposed supporters like Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Viggo Mortensen of Lord of the Rings fame offer their reasons for making California “New Denmark”. “We’ll bring hygge to Hollywood, bike lanes to Beverly Hills and organic smørrebrød to every street corner. Rule of law, universal healthcare and fact-based politics might apply,” the petition continues.

“Let’s be honest – Trump isn’t exactly California’s biggest fan. He’s called it ‘the most ruined state in the union’ and has feuded with its leaders for years. We’re pretty sure he’d be willing to part with it for the right price.” Trump and California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, have been locked in tense relations since the president retook office – with Newsom recently directing $50m to fight the Trump administration and its deportation efforts and Trump threatening to condition federal disaster aid to the state in wake of the Los Angeles wildfires.

The petition aims to crowdfund $1tn (“give or take a few billion”) and receive 500,000 signatures.