When Danny Brandt picked up an older man in his cab on Wednesday outside a hotel in downtown Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, he thought the passenger was just another visitor.<\/p>\n
Dressed in casual clothes and carrying a stack of papers, the man seemed friendly enough and identified himself in an American accent as Cliff from Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Then he made an intriguing proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want to earn $200,000?\u201d he asked, according to Mr. Brandt. All he, or any Greenlander, had to do was sign a petition he held in his hand to join the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, thanks,\u201d Mr. Brandt responded before dropping him off at another hotel a few minutes later. Then he called the police, who told The New York Times that officers have begun investigating.<\/p>\n
The offer might seem ridiculous and futile. Most Greenlanders have indicated they have zero interest in becoming Americans<\/a>. But the proposal has created a stir in Nuuk because of President Trump\u2019s repeated threats to annex the isle and the recent accusations of covert American activity in Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.<\/p>\n Police officials in Greenland remain tight-lipped but said the case could be connected to the \u201ccurrent political situation.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland\u2019s prime minister, has also weighed in.<\/p>\n \u201cOur future is not negotiated in a taxi,\u201d he said on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s not how you treat a people. And that\u2019s not how you talk about a country.\u201d<\/p>\n Ever since Mr. Trump threatened last year to \u201cget\u201d Greenland, \u201cone way or the other,\u201d Greenlanders have been suspended in a state of worry. Any activity from insistent Americans raises some alarms.<\/p>\n Mr. Brandt said he was unsettled when he saw a sheet of paper in his passenger\u2019s hands with \u201cbig letters whether Greenland wanted to be part of the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, I\u2019m no expert on North America,\u201d said Mr. Brandt, 34, who for the past five years has been driving a taxi and working on a fishing trawler.<\/p>\n Updated\u00a0<\/p>\n May 8, 2026, 5:47 p.m. ET<\/p>\n But, he added, \u201cI\u2019ve heard many things about poverty\u201d in the United States and was \u201cvery against\u201d joining the country.<\/p>\n According to Greenlandic media<\/a>, the same man approached other people with a similar offer. Pictures of him circulating on social media show him wearing a dark suit and talking to several Greenlanders with a clipboard in his hands. Another picture shows him speaking to two police officers.<\/p>\n On Friday afternoon, Sermitsiaq, a Greenlandic newspaper, published an interview<\/a> it had conducted with the man, who identified himself as Clifford Stanley, 86. Mr. Stanley told the paper he was working on his own \u2014 not at the behest of the Trump administration \u2014 and was trying to \u201cinvestigate support for the United States\u2019 taking over Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying to give the Greenlandic people an opportunity,\u201d he told the newspaper. \u201cIt\u2019s up to the people themselves. It\u2019s not my choice.\u201d<\/p>\n The Times obtained an email address for the man, but he did not respond to multiple queries.<\/p>\n Under an arrangement with Denmark, Greenland has the right to become independent, a status it would need before joining any other country. But independence is a touchy subject and not likely to happen anytime soon.<\/p>\n The process would involve the Greenlandic government, the Danish parliament and ultimately a referendum by the Greenlandic people. It\u2019s not clear how Mr. Stanley\u2019s petition drive fits into any of those requirements.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has remained open about its desire to take over Greenland, even if Mr. Trump\u2019s attention for the moment has been on the Middle East. Mr. Trump\u2019s allies have been traveling around the island, looking to make friends and business deals.<\/p>\n Last year, Danish authorities branded the actions of three Americans connected to Mr. Trump as a \u201ccovert influence operations\u201d<\/a> even though the men, like Mr. Stanley, were open about what they were trying to do.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not clear how Mr. Stanley came up with that $200,000 figure. He told the Greenlandic newspaper that it wouldn\u2019t be his money, but it would come from the United States, possibly even with the help of Middle Eastern allies. Each year, Denmark pays more than half a billion dollars in subsides to Greenland.<\/p>\n