Fact Check: Did Trump suggest targeting Moon and Antarctica after Greenland deal?
WASHINGTON, DC: After announcing the security agreement with Denmark and Greenland, an allegation is circulating on social media platforms claiming that President Donald Trump, in a post, suggested a deal aimed at the Moon and Antarctica. The claim has sparked concern and criticism of Trump, calling for a fact-check.
Claim: Donald Trump targets the Moon and Antarctica
The rumor surfaced as a screenshot claiming to show a post by Trump on his official Truth Social handle.
The alleged post read, “Greenland was a GREAT real estate and defense deal-everybody said so, top experts! Now we are looking VERY STRONGLY at the Moon and Antarctica, which many people, frankly, call the South Pole! China and the old Soviet Union desperately tried to get to the Moon-total failure, complete disasters!"
"But we put our Big, Beautiful American Flag up there FIRST—it is the ONLY real flag on the entire Moon, everybody knows it! We also sent the great American explorers who found the South Pole—which actually has real LAND, very valuable, unlike the North Pole which is just a giant magnet! Total fake pole!”
The post has been shared on multiple social media platforms, and many appear to believe it is an authentic post by the president.
Fact Check: Donald Trump made no such post
However, the claim is rated as false, as the screenshot is fake and fabricated and does not appear on any of Trump’s social media handles.
A search for the post on Trump’s Truth Social account, as well as on his commentary accounts that automatically archive all his social media posts, yielded no results that match the text in the screenshot.
Moreover, the screenshot includes several signs of fabrication and indications that it's a satire, such as a watermark stating, ‘Mrs Trump Satire,’ and Trump’s username appearing as ‘@realDotardTrump,’ while his actual username is ‘@realDonaldTrump.’
Donald Trump's Greenland security deal
The claim appeared after Trump, on Friday, September 18, announced a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland that supposedly allows the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs” on the Arctic island.
“I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland," Trump wrote in a post.
"That gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing all of our many US concerns.”
He further said that the agreement comes at “no cost” to the US and described it as an “Infinite Life’ Agreement, there is no end!
