The Ugly Face of American Exceptionalism: When Arrogance Masquerades as Diplomacy

Once again, American exceptionalism is rearing its imperial head—this time in the icy North Atlantic, where Greenland is resisting what even its closest ally Denmark calls “unacceptable pressure” from the United States. A high-level U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance is making an uninvited and unwanted trip to Greenland despite clear opposition from local and Danish officials. This isn’t diplomacy—it’s domination. It’s entitlement. It’s American imperialism in action.

The face of imperialism

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen didn’t hold back: “It is unacceptable pressure being placed on Greenland and Denmark… You cannot make a private visit with official representatives from another country.” Greenland’s Prime Minister, Múte Egede, called the visit “highly aggressive.” The newly elected Greenlandic government, which favors continued ties with Denmark over American interference, made it clear: this visit is not welcome.

Yet Donald Trump insists the U.S. will “acquire” Greenland—as if we’re still living in the era of the 1898 annexation of the Philippines or the 1893 U.S.-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy when the will of local populations was seen as a minor inconvenience in America's quest for control. That same mindset is alive today—not just in foreign policy but in the very fabric of our domestic politics.

Because imperialism doesn’t only operate overseas, it operates internally in how we treat those who don’t fit a narrow, white, heterosexual, Christian ideal of “American.” The same entitlement that sends U.S. officials to Greenland against the will of its people is the same entitlement that bans books by Black authors, outlaws drag shows, targets immigrants with dehumanizing rhetoric, and strips LGBTQ+ people of basic human rights.

It’s all part of the same worldview: dominate what you fear, erase what you don’t understand, control what you cannot accept.

• Immigrants are painted as threats to “our way of life” and then caged, deported, or blamed for economic woes created by corporations and greed.

• LGBTQ+ communities are framed as corrupting “traditional values,” then targeted by laws that deny their right to exist openly.

• Women and people of color are told to be grateful for the “opportunity” to participate in a system never built for them, while their autonomy, wages, and lives remain under attack.

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This isn’t a coincidence. It’s ideology. It’s the same supremacist logic that justifies invading countries, toppling governments, and making backroom deals over sovereign lands. Whether it’s calling Canada the “51st state” or floating the idea of annexing Greenland, the message is clear: if you’re not like us, you’re ours to claim.

And the world sees it. A Pew Research Center study found that a global median of 45% across 23 countries see the United States as the biggest threat to global peace—more than Russia, more than China. That’s not an accident. That’s a reputation earned through war, sanctions, coups, and, now, performative diplomacy masking aggressive ambition.

Greenland’s leaders said no. Denmark’s leaders said no. We should listen—but we won’t, because American exceptionalism tells us that our desires are more important than anyone else’s democracy, culture, or sovereignty. And unless we challenge that belief—from within—we will keep replicating this violence. Not just on foreign soil, but on our own people.

This is what American imperialism looks like in 2025. It’s not just tanks and treaties—it’s laws, jokes, press conferences, and visits no one asked for. It’s in every act of forced submission dressed up as freedom.

If we truly want to be exceptional, we must stop acting like we’re entitled to everything and start acting like we belong to a global community. That begins by dismantling the imperialism within us, and rejecting it in all its forms—foreign and domestic, blatant and subtle, past and present.