The president of the United States, Donald Trump, published this Tuesday morning on his Truth social network two photographic montages generated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to simulate his conquest of the Danish island of Greenland and also Canada. The dissemination of these images occurs hours before coinciding on this day with several of its traditional Atlantic allies with whom it is involved in a tense fight due to the US threats to take control of Greenland by hook or by force.
The first image released by the president is a montage of a photograph of a real meeting he held in August with the main European leaders – including the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen – with a map of America in which not only the territory of the United States appears, including Alaska, covered by the stars and stripes of the American flag, but also that of Canada and Venezuela. In the image, you can also see the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, can be seen in profile.
The real image that served as the basis for the montage was taken on August 18 in the Oval Office and later distributed by the White House. That photograph reflects a meeting between Trump and European leaders who had traveled to Washington to support the Ukrainian president. The president then tried to force Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a disadvantageous peace agreement with Russia. The map that appears in that image is not the one of the American continent that the Republican released this Tuesday, but rather one of Ukraine.
Almost simultaneously, Trump has posted another image created with AI – as rudimentary as the first and in which it is not evident that it has been modified – in which he is seen, flanked by his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and his Vice President JD Vance, planting an American flag in a snowy landscape next to a sign that reads “Greenland, territory of the United States” and mentions the current year, 2026.
Along with these two images generated with AI, Trump has spread on his social network screenshots of supposed private messages from some European leaders, such as French President Macron and the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance. The president has claimed to have had “a very good conversation” with Rutte, hours before the meeting that the Republican has planned with European leaders about Greenland, an island that is part of the sovereign territory of Denmark and that Trump has been threatening to conquer since he returned to the White House, a year ago.
Meanwhile, European leaders have been outlining for days a forceful response to the US decision to impose new tariffs on countries that have shown solidarity with Greenland and Denmark by sending small contingents of troops to the Arctic island.
The risk of escalation, which European countries try to avoid, is very high. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent he said this Monday in Davos that “it would not be a wise idea” for the European Union to adopt retaliation and stressed that Trump’s words must be taken seriously.
Friedrich Merz (Germany), Emmanuel Macron (France), Mark Carney (Canada), Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission), among many others, are scheduled to participate in Davos. But Trump’s political allies such as Javier Milei (Argentina) and the British opponent Nigel Farage will also be in Davos.
Apart from the official program, there is expectation about meetings between the president of the White House with Von der Leyen and with the secretary general of NATO.
Denmark deployed more troops this Monday on the gigantic island and has proposed creating a NATO mission in the Arctic.
