Following President Trump’s sudden Tuesday night announcement that he was canceling his Denmark trip because the Danish won’t entertain the idea of selling Greenland to him, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper observed that the president couldn’t seem to muster the same tough talk in his dealings with the National Rifle Association.
After it was reported earlier this week that Trump had repeatedly asked his advisers about the idea of purchasing Greenland from Denmark, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the notion “absurd,” leading to Trump’s Twitter blow-off of his upcoming visit.
Asking CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta about the latest developments on Trump’s canceled trip, Cooper pointed out that this all came across as a comedy bit on late-night TV.
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“You would think it’s made up?” Cooper wondered aloud. “You would think this whole thing — this is something on [Stephen] Colbert, but it’s real.”
Acosta, meanwhile, said that one of his sources suggested that Greenland was “one of the president’s bright shiny objects” that he threw out on Twitter Tuesday night to distract from a tough news day for the White House.
“You know what, if you can’t be tough with the NRA, go after the Danish prime minister,” Cooper snarked.
Cooper was referencing reports that Trump had spoken with NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre on Tuesday and assured him that universal background checks were off the table when it came to any potential legislation following the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings.
“Greenland was never on the table, anyway,” the CNN anchor concluded, getting one last dig in at the president.