ANALYSIS — Amid President Donald Trump’s talk of the U.S. acquiring Greenland, Vice President JD Vance has taken on a role of White House good cop, using softer language as his boss keeps the option of using military force on the table.
During a three-hour visit Friday to a U.S. military base on the Arctic island, Vance did not speak of an invasion or air strikes to add the Danish territory to the American portfolio. Instead, he spoke in a sort of code, suggesting the idea would eventually catch on with Greenlanders.
Congressional Democrats have expressed incredulity over Trump’s continued talk of a “need” to make Greenland an American appendage. He has cited various reasons as his rationale: fueling a manufacturing boom at home partly using Greenland’s rare earth minerals; building part of his envisioned “Golden Dome” missile defense system there; bolstering America’s Arctic presence; and combating Russia’s and China’s quest for national resources in the harsh Arctic.
Vance’s Friday trip to the island appeared to go against his own isolationist instincts, which analysts have said appear more deeply rooted than Trump’s “America First” philosophy. Still, Vance made clear the president had no plans to back down — while framing the administration’s goal differently from Trump.
“The president said we have to have Greenland, and I think that we do have to be more serious about the security of Greenland. We can’t just ignore this place. We can’t just ignore the president’s desires,” Vance told reporters Friday. “But most importantly, we can’t ignore … Russian and Chinese encroachment in Greenland. We have to do more.”
“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 coming under the United States security umbrella than you have been under Denmark’s security umbrella,” he added. “Because what Denmark’s security umbrella has meant is effectively they pass it all off to brave Americans and hope that we would pick up the tab.”
Vance focused on a proposal under which Greenland’s new government would bring up a referendum on breaking away from Denmark. Then, it would be art-of-the-deal time for Trump.
“We think this makes sense, and because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good, we think we’re going to be able to cut a deal, Donald Trump-style, to ensure the security of this territory — but also the United States of America,” Vance said.
The vice president spent parts of his remarks trying to describe Trump’s wishes in a softer tone, suggesting the president would be doing Greenlanders a favor.
“We’re simply saying to the people of Greenland, when the president says we’ve got to have Greenland, he’s saying this island is not safe. A lot of people are interested in it,” Vance said. “A lot of people are making a play. We know that America cares about the security of this island for the people, for the sake of the people of Greenland, but also for the sake of the national security interests of the United States of America.”
But his words also exposed potential fissures with his boss, with Vance declaring: “We do not think that military force is ever going to be necessary.”
‘A revolution’
A day later, during a phone interview with an NBC News journalist, Trump had a different take.
“I never take military force off the table,” the president said Saturday about acquiring Greenland. “I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force.”
Even though the president and vice president appear to disagree about the use of force, they share the objective of acquiring the island. And that led House Minority Whip Katherine M. Clark to ask during an interview on the MeidasTouch podcast that aired over the weekend: “What are we doing?”
“My real fear is it is going to be generations for us to recover our place in this world, our leadership as a democracy that values the rule of law,” she said, referring to Trump’s first 70 days back in the White House.
“And this sort of expansion policy, Denmark, Canada, they’re now the enemies, the states that we have to draw a hard line with? And we elected this strongman who rolls over on his back for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, abandons our democratic ally in Ukraine,” she added. “And we’re sending the vice president and his wife to a contained [military] base in Greenland because the people of Greenland don’t want them outside of that base.”
Vance and second lady Usha Vance did not leave the Pituffik Space Base during their visit Friday. Polling data shows the overwhelming majority of Greenlanders oppose Trump’s push, which is also unpopular in the United States.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, echoed Clark’s remarks as he also slammed Trump’s approach to longtime U.S. allies since taking office in January.
“This is a crazy foreign policy, and America is stronger when we have allies,” he said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council, said Monday in a piece for the think tank that he had asked a Trump ally “to help me understand the underlying logic of this flurry of activity and the president’s end game, including on Greenland.”
According to Kempe, the response he received was that “’what you’re witnessing is a revolution. And as you know, every revolution has its own logic, its own rules, and its own confusion.’”
That led Kempe to conclude: “What we’re experiencing is a revolution against a range of perceived adversaries that vary depending on who you talk to in Trump world.”
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