Ole Henriksen sat in front of an American official with his hand on the Bible.
It was the late 1970s in Los Angeles. The young Dane from Nibe in northern Jutland had been summoned for an interview with immigration authorities. He had already opened his own skin-care clinic and begun building a life in the United States.
Now his residence permit was to be made permanent. The conversation suddenly took an unexpected turn.
»Out of the blue, he asked about my sexuality. I immediately knew something was up«, Ole Henriksen says.
He answered honestly.
»I’m gay«.
Back then, that answer could have cost him everything.
The official explained what the law said: Homosexuality was considered sexually deviant behavior and could be grounds for deportation from the United States.
»You can go home and pack your suitcase«, he was told.
Ole Henriksen stood up and walked toward the door. But just before he stepped out, he turned around.
»I’m a fighter«, he said. »You’re not getting rid of me. I’ll get my residence permit – whatever it takes«.
That’s how it happened. After insisting that his case be reviewed by a panel of judges who would assess his mental and physical health, the judges concluded that Ole Henriksen could be granted his residence permit.
It was his first encounter with a country where the political pendulum swings fast and hard. Ole Henriksen has seen the United States elect its first black president. And he has watched the country choose Donald Trump. Twice.
After half a century, he is a man with a foot in both worlds. He is both a Danish and an American citizen and for decades has moved back and forth between continents, between Copenhagen and Los Angeles, between Europe and the United States.
That has also given him a particular perspective on a relationship that has been under strain in recent years: the transatlantic one.
More than Trump
When Politiken speaks with him over the phone, Ole Henriksen is sitting high above Los Angeles.
From his apartment on the 27th floor on the Wilshire Corridor in Beverly Hills, he can look out over the Pacific Ocean and the metropolis that, for more than half a century, has been the starting point for his American adventure.
The view sometimes makes him think of his mother.
»There’s at least one advantage«, she said. »When you die, you’re closer to heaven«.
That is not where Ole Henriksen thinks Donald Trump will end up. Optimism is otherwise his specialty. Compliments, energy, and an almost contagious enthusiasm. A kind of permanent sunshine in human form.
But when the subject turns to Donald Trump, the clouds gather.
»Politically, I think it’s tragic that Americans chose Donald Trump – and even twice«.
During the conversation, he refers – with a laugh – to the president as an »orange gorilla«.
At the same time that he believes Trump’s temper and authoritarian tendencies have done great damage and could do even more damage over the next three years, he also sees a president who is on shaky ground.
Ole Henriksen has, after all, seen a lot in American politics.
When he first set foot in the United States in 1974, Richard Nixon was in the White House. That same year, the president was forced to resign after the Watergate scandal. Presidents have come and gone; crises have erupted and then faded.
Because if you want to understand the United States, he says, there is one thing you have to remember:
The country is far more than its president.
»You definitely have to separate the two. Absolutely«, Ole Henriksen says. »In general, Americans are very kind and welcoming people. I travel all over the country with my brand – whether it’s Texas, New York, or California – and I still love being in the United States«.
He singles out California in particular.
The state where he lives has nearly 40 million residents and an economy so large it would be the fourth biggest in the world if it were an independent country. It also works closely with European countries – including Denmark – on green technology, innovation, and climate.
»The United States has many different sides«, he says.
That is why he is not ready to write off the relationship between Europe and the United States – not even with Donald Trump in the White House.
Again and again, he points out that Trump is nowhere near as popular as it can sometimes look from the outside.
»He’s one of the least popular presidents in the polls«, Ole Henriksen says. He points, among other things, to the large demonstrations under the name ’No Kings’ as well as the prospect of a defeat for Republicans in the midterm elections in November.
»A lot of people have only just started to understand the consequences now. Luckily, many are starting to wake up and respond to what they’re experiencing«.
He voted for the first time himself in 2016 – the year after he became an American citizen – for Hillary Clinton and has voted Democratic ever since. But the criticism, he stresses, is not coming only from Democrats:
»There’s also opposition to him inside the Republican Party. Some people are still living in fear of Trump. But more and more are starting to speak up«.
And then there is, of course, something else the king of cream cannot help noticing:
Donald Trump’s skin.
That distinctive color is unlikely to come from self-tanner, he reckons. More likely a heavy foundation or other full-coverage makeup.
»No one naturally has orange skin«, he says.
»He probably applies it himself. It looks pretty amateurish, at least«.
A self-assured Europe
When Ole Henriksen talks about Europe, he does so not only as a Dane. He also speaks as an international businessman.
His skin-care brand is sold in large parts of the world. That gives him a pretty clear view of just how tightly connected the world’s economies really are.
»Trump is standing there scolding the rest of the world and talking about America being the biggest and the strongest«, he says.
»But he forgets that we depend on one another«.
Many products in the United States come from China, Europe, and the rest of the world. Even cars sold in the United States are often produced in other countries – for instance in Japan, Ole Henriksen notes.
That is why the idea of an America that can make it entirely on its own doesn’t make much sense in a global economy.
At the same time, he sees a Europe that is beginning to stand more firmly on its own feet. The continent is often described as weak and dependent – but that is not a picture Ole Henriksen recognizes.
»Europe can function without the United States – and in fact it already does in many areas. At the same time, the situation has given Europe greater self-confidence«, he says.
When Ole Henriksen returns to Copenhagen, it is typically to his apartment on Sankt Annæ Plads – just steps from Amalienborg Palace. From there, he sees a society that in many ways is organized differently from the United States, where he has lived most of his adult life.
»Denmark has a democracy where prosperity is shared, and where society holds together in a way you don’t see in the same way in the United States«, he says.
»There’s a balance to life that you also see in many other places in Europe. There’s time for vacation, there’s respect for women, there’s equality«.
He also mentions something that often strikes him when he follows European politics:
»In Europe, it seems more natural for many voters to choose women for power. In the United States, there are still some barriers that make it harder«.
And then there is something else Ole Henriksen points to.
Education.
»Take universities, for example. There is no free education in the United States. Many young people are left with very large student debt when they’re done. For some, it takes decades to pay it back«, Ole Henriksen says.
»And it depends to a great extent on what family you come from and what financial means you have«.
Education and social mobility, in particular, have for decades been the thread running through the story that drew people from all over the world to the United States.
That story became known around the world as the American dream.
Dream of the United States
For decades, that dream often began in the same place: in a dark movie theater.
On the screen, Los Angeles lay drenched in sun, Cadillacs glided down palm-lined boulevards, and American idols sang their way through yet another film, where life looked a little easier on the other side of the Atlantic.
From Paris to Copenhagen, Europeans learned to imagine a different life.
So did a boy from Nibe in northern Jutland.
»As a kid, sitting in the movie theater and watching Elvis Presley films, it was incredible«, Ole Henriksen says.
Many years later, he would end up in exactly that world he had dreamed himself into. At his clinic in Beverly Hills, customers came from the entertainment industry that had shaped the imagination of millions of Europeans.
Elvis Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, and his former wife, Priscilla, also stopped by the clinic.
In many ways, Ole Henriksen himself is a classic American-dream story: a young Dane who travels to the United States, starts over, and builds an international success from scratch.
For decades, that story felt almost like a force of nature. But the fascination with the United States has taken more than a few scratches.
»America’s appeal has suffered enormously under Donald Trump. Enormously«, Ole Henriksen says.
»It will take time to build it back up, no doubt. But at some point, of course, it will be put right«.
The optimism is still part of Ole Henriksen, who turns 75 in May.
That same optimism that, nearly half a century ago, led the young Dane from Nibe to refuse to pack his suitcase and go home now makes him insist that the United States – and its relationship with Europe – will outlast Trump.
