Andy Craig
Role at the time: Election-law analyst and editor at The UnPopulist, posting on his own Bluesky account
Statement summary
In a Bluesky post quoting a journalist's post that reproduced President Trump's Truth Social announcement of an agreement with Denmark and Greenland, Andy Craig wrote that what it describes "is literally the status quo" and that "We've had exactly this for decades."
“This is literally the status quo. We've had exactly this for decades.”
The speaker's own post; the quotation matches the post character for character. The post quotes journalist Aaron Rupar's post of 5:22 p.m. ET (bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mvt42eegvc27), whose image is a screenshot of Trump's Truth Social announcement; Craig's own reply 20 minutes later (next source) ties his remark to what Trump was describing. We did not save an archive copy of the post.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Craig, quoting a post that reproduces the announcement, says what it describes is "literally the status quo" and that "We've had exactly this for decades," and his reply twenty minutes later ties that to what Trump was describing, which disputes that the description reflects something new without praising or criticizing the agreement. The closest competing label is minimizes, because calling something the status quo also downplays its significance. That loses because the post contests what the arrangement is by placing it among arrangements already in place, rather than accepting a change and playing down its consequences.