As President Donald Trump once again reiterated his call for the U.S. to take over Greenland, the vice president and second lady touched down Friday in the semi-autonomous Danish territory for a daylong visit to a U.S. Space Force base.
“How we doing? It’s cold as s— here — nobody told me!” Vice President JD Vance said as he arrived at the base in Pituffik with second lady Usha Vance.
At a press conference later, the VP attempted to pitch the U.S. as a better alternative for Greenland’s security than Denmark.
“We respect the self-determination of the people of Greenland, but my argument again to them is I think that you’d be a lot better having — coming under the United States’ security umbrella than you have been under Denmark’s security umbrella,” he said.
Vance also admonished Denmark for what he suggested was a failure to do right by Greenlanders — a scolding tone he similarly took with European leaders during his visit there last month.
“Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance said. “You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful land mass filled with incredible people.”
Most Greenlanders would beg to differ. Trump’s calls to take over the Arctic island have led to some of the largest protests the territory has ever seen, Reuters reported, with demonstrators wearing “Make America Go Away” hats and carrying “Yankees Go Home” signs. Usha Vance’s initial itinerary was also met with a frosty reception from local officials. A January poll found that a vast majority of Greenlanders do not want to join the United States. Against the backdrop of Trump’s insistence that the U.S. will control Greenland “one way or the other,” the second couple’s visit to the Arctic island was largely uneventful. Usha Vance had initially planned to visit a number of cultural events in Greenland over three days and without her husband in tow. U.S. national security adviser Michael Waltz — who is in hot water back home over a stunning security lapse involving the messaging app Signal — had been set to tour the Pituffik military base with her. But their plans caused an uproar among local officials, and Greenland Prime Minister Múte B. Egede called the U.S. delegation’s visit a “provocation.” The vice president later announced that he would join his wife on the visit and that they would merely tour the U.S. base on a day trip.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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