Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has loudly proclaimed that Greenland should be controlled by the United States, sparking tensions within NATO. Beyond the public fireworks is an effort by a loose network of MAGA allies, with links to the White House, to woo Greenlandic leaders and win influence on the ice.

Pete McKenzie and Jacob Grønholt-Pedersen travelled to the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk to report on these influence efforts. Among the pro-Trump figures are a former member of the U.S. special forces, a chainsaw artist, and a bricklayer who has a record of accosting locals.

They have deployed a variety of tactics, including targeting a hallowed dogsledding event, dangling the possibility of big investments, and shining a light on painful chapters in Greenland’s colonial past.

One problem: Their actions appear to be backfiring. Rather than winning the hearts and minds of Greenlanders, local leaders have been incensed by their tactics.

“We are a colony,” Pipaluk Lynge, a leading Greenlandic politician, told McKenzie. “So we know what kind of tactics are usually used against people to take over a country.”