The Observer view on JD Vance: spurned in Greenland and humiliated at home, the vice-president should resign

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His foolish foreign trip and the response to the Signal chat leak reflect the irresponsibility of White House team

Not for the first time, JD Vance, America’s outspoken vice-president, has made a public fool of himself. He insisted on visiting Greenland despite unequivocal statements by the territory’s leaders and Denmark’s government that he was not invited and not welcome. Vance’s trip was confined to a remote Arctic base, where he briefly spoke to a few Americans. Plans to make a wider tour and speak to Greenlanders were cancelled – because Greenlanders did not want to speak to him.

Such hostility is entirely understandable, given the repeated, provocative and disrespectful declarations by Vance’s boss, Donald Trump, that the US plans to annex Greenland and may do so illegally and by force. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark. Election results this month showed the vast majority of local people back expanded self-rule or outright independence. They do not want to be Americans.

In a feeble attempt to justify what is, in effect, a Putin-style bid to seize another country’s sovereign territory, Vance claimed Denmark had failed to protect Greenland from Chinese and Russian threats – but did not produce any evidence. He also failed to explain why, if such dangers exist, the US, which like Denmark is a Nato member, has not honoured its legal obligation to develop a “collective capacity to resist armed attack” under the 1951 US-Denmark “Defence of Greenland” treaty.

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Trump, too, has been prating about Greenland’s importance for “world peace”. It’s true the Arctic region is seeing increased great power competition, partly because climate change renders it more accessible. Yet Trump, in another echo of Ukraine, appears more motivated by desire to control Greenland’s untapped mineral wealth. As in Gaza and Panama, his main interest is not security and justice but geopolitical, financial and commercial advantage. Insulting plans to enrol Canada as the 51st state reflect another Trump preoccupation: a return to an earlier age of aggressive US territorial expansionism.

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Vance in Greenland may have preferred a woolly hat to a pith helmet, but his imperialist intentions were unmistakable. Yet despite his frosty reception, he was perhaps glad to escape Washington, where he and his travelling companion, US national security adviser Mike Waltz, are feeling the heat for another scandalous piece of foolishness: the Signal message group security breach. This concerns the inadvertent inclusion of a leading journalist in an online discussion by Vance, Waltz and senior officials of real-time US bombing attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

This breach, by itself, is bad enough. It might have endangered US pilots and wrecked the Houthi operation. The discussion, on an insecure platform, could have been, and probably was overheard by the Russians and others. Yet its contents, which have now been published in full, also include rude and mocking comments by Vance and Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, about European allies. Their shaming, ignorant exchanges dramatically and damagingly highlight the rapid deterioration in transatlantic ties since Trump took office.

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Like the Greenland incursion, the official response to the Signal scandal speaks volumes about the true nature of the Trump administration. Trump’s shabby instinct was to deny all responsibility, minimise its importance, denigrate the journalist and dismiss the whole thing as a hoax. Hegseth’s claim that no classified information was released is an obvious, stupid lie, as the transcript demonstrates. There is huge hypocrisy in the refusal of Waltz, Vance and Hegseth to even contemplate resignation, when such a blunder by a lower-ranking official would certainly have led to the sack.

Above all, the hubris, arrogance, amateurishness and irresponsibility revealed by both episodes is truly shocking – and a chilling warning to the world.

JD Vance accuses Denmark of failing to keep Greenland secure as he slams European allies

PITUFFIK, GREENLAND – MARCH 28: US Vice President JD Vance speaks at the US military’s Pituffik Space Base on March 28, 2025 in Pituffik, Greenland. The itinerary for the visit was scaled back after a plan for a more extensive trip drew criticism from officials in Greenland and Denmark, which controls foreign and defence policy of the semiautonomous territory. (Photo by Jim Watson – Pool / Getty Images)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused Denmark of underinvesting the security of Greenland and claimed other European allies had failed to keep pace with defense spending.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to gain control of the autonomous Danish territory, describing the prospect as an “absolute necessity” for U.S. national security.

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“Denmark hasn’t done a good job at keeping Greenland safe,” Vance told servicemembers at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on Friday.

“We know that too often our allies in Europe have not kept pace, they haven’t kept pace with military spending and Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, China and other nations with interest in this area,” Vance told reporters.

The vice president said the island was important because Pituffik would be the first to alert the U.S. if a missile was fired from an enemy country or enemy submarine at the U.S.

US Vice President JD Vance (C) poses with Second Lady Usha Vance (2nd L), National Security Advisor Mike Waltz (3rd L), his wife , former homeland security advisor, Julia Nesheiwat (L) and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright (R) as they tour the US military’s Pituffik Space Base on March 28, 2025 in Pituffik, Greenland.

Jim Watson | Getty Images

“We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways and Arctic naval routes and indeed in the minerals of the Arctic territories. We need to ensure that America is leading in the Arctic because we know that if America doesn’t, other nations will fill the gap,” he said.

Following Vance’s visit, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his country was “open to criticism” but that they did not “appreciate the tone in which it’s being delivered.”

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“This is not how you speak to your close allies,” he said in a video message shared on the social media platform X.

“We respect that the United States needs a greater military presence in Greenland, as Vice President Vance mentioned this evening. We, Denmark and Greenland, are very much open to discussing this with you,” Rasmussen said.

reiterated earlier this week his desire to take over Greenland for national and international security purposes, saying the U.S. would “go as far as we have to go.”

“We need Greenland and the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark,” he said, referring to the island which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen condemned Trump’s comments, saying the “far-fetched” rhetoric was a further escalation from the U.S.

Both the governments of Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly voiced opposition to Trump’s proposals, with Mute Egede, the outgoing prime minister of Greenland, earlier this month saying: “Don’t keep treating us with disrespect. Enough is enough.”

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin this week warned that it would be a “profound mistake” to dismiss Trump’s effort “as some preposterous talk by the new U.S. administration.”

Putin said the U.S. had previously offered to buy Greenland and had plans to control the territory “as far back as the 1860s.”

“In short, the United States has serious plans regarding Greenland. These plans have long historical roots, as I have just mentioned, and it is obvious that the United States will continue to consistently advance its geo-strategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic,” the Russian president said.

The U.S.′ initial plan for a delegation of officials to visit the island this week was met with stark criticism from leaders in Denmark and Greenland. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen claimed the plans were creating “unacceptable pressure.”

The trip was shortened to a one-day event and restricted to a visit of the U.S. Pituffik Space Base on the island, which is located far away from the territory’s cities.

Denmark appeared to welcomed the changes, with Foreign Minister Rasmussen suggesting they symbolized a de-escalation.

JD Vance accuses Denmark of neglecting Greenland, makes highest-profile case for US control of the island

Vice President JD Vance on Friday made the highest-profile case to date for American control of Greenland during a controversial visit to the semiautonomous island, which its residents had resisted and its leaders said was unwelcome.

Vance Accuses Denmark of Underinvesting in Greenland as Trump Presses for US Takeover of the Island

“We want to have good relationships with everybody,” Vance said during a visit to an American military installation high above the Arctic Circle. “But part of having good relations is showing your strength when you have to.”

It was the clearest message yet to Greenlanders who have been watching with anxiety as President Donald Trump vows to acquire their land “one way or another.” Vance, who only decided in the last few days to make the trip, said Denmark had neglected its territory and that America could no longer ignore Russian and Chinese alleged designs on the island.

“Our message to Denmark is very simple,” Vance said. “You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.”

He repeatedly claimed the island was vulnerable and that the United States had “no other option” than to ramp up its presence there.

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Greenland would be better off “coming under the United States’ security umbrella than you have been under Denmark’s security umbrella,” he said, saying it was the “policy of the United States” to see changes to the island’s Danish leadership.

Still, he acknowledged the future of the island should be up to its residents.

“Yes, the people of Greenland are going to have self determination. We hope that they choose to partner with the US because we’re the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security, because their security is very much our security,” he said.

US VP Vance Accuses Denmark Of Underinvesting In Greenland

Vance’s visit was a very different trip than the cultural foray White House officials had originally planned for his wife, second lady Usha Vance.

Instead of viewing a dog sled race as she had originally planned, the Vances visited the US Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the northwest coast of Greenland, 1,000 miles from the capital of Nuuk. Miles away from any civilian population center, they were greeted by enthusiastic troops in the sub-freezing weather.

“It’s cold as sh*t here!” Vance exclaimed when he arrived.

Why the VP decided to join the trip

What the White House initially characterized as a visit by the second lady to learn more about the culture of the island, quickly became contentious earlier this week – with the outgoing leader of the semiautonomous Danish territory Múte Egede describing it as “highly aggressive.”

As JD Vance watched the outrage over his wife’s trip grow, he decided to join her, a senior White House official told CNN on Thursday.

“It was a combination of a little bit of commotion from Danish leaders combined with Vance wanting to go for a while,” said the official.

“I decided I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said in a video announcing his participation earlier this week.

Vance’s 11th-hour decision elevated the US delegation visit, with the vice president becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit Greenland, and in so doing, traveling further north than any senior American leader has ever gone on an official visit, the White House official said.

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But the shortened trip also carried a more overtly militaristic tenor and kept the American visitors sequestered away from any planned protests.

Vance’s first trip abroad – to conferences in Paris and Germany – was notable for his tough rhetoric about Europe, a viewpoint reinforced by his texts revealed this week in a private Signal chat about military action in Yemen. His message on this second trip overseas struck a similar tone.

The visit to the American military base avoided any potentially embarrassing incidents between the Vances and either members of the public or government officials, many of whom openly spoke out against Usha Vance’s original plans.

Protests had been planned in the capital Nuuk, where about a third of Greenlanders live, and Greenland’s second largest city Sisimiut, where the dog sled race is taking place.

“Trump’s talk of annexation and the visit of the Vances has united Greenlanders in defiance, with Greenlanders rallying together to protest,” Dwayne Ryan Menezes, director of the UK-based think tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative, told CNN in an email.

“The Vances clearly realised that if they visited Nuuk or Sisimiut, the strategy would backfire even more than it has: it would be a PR disaster, as all footage would likely feature protestors with placards of the sort we saw earlier this month (Yankee Go Home, and Make America Go Away), and would expose to the US electorate the misinformation they were fed about how enthusiastically Greenlanders wished for Greenland to join the US,” he said.

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The White House official pushed back on that assertion, telling CNN, “The itinerary changes had nothing to do with any potential protests.”

The official argued that Usha Vance’s original plans were scrapped because her itinerary was not compatible with her husband’s schedule.

Her visit to Nuuk, for example, was off the table because Greenland was still forming its government after recent elections and did not have the officials in place to receive him, the White House official said. Meanwhile, the dogsledding race was in a remote part of Greenland, and installing the vice president’s full security footprint wasn’t possible on just a few days’ notice, they added.

A visit ‘far away from anyone Greenlandic’

Just hours before the Vances were due to arrive, a new coalition government with Greenland’s four leading parties was announced Friday, shutting out a staunch pro-independence party that expressed interest in working with the United States.

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Demokraatit party leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen will be the next prime minister and has urged unity in the face of pressure from the United States.

“The coalition agreement could not have come at a better time as it will signal to the Vances the unity forged in defiance of Trump’s aggressive rhetoric and their ill-timed visit,” Menezes said in a statement Friday.

The visit to the space base was less likely to put the Vances near Greenlanders who may be expressing those opinions.

Ulrik Pram Gad, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, said that Vance going to Pituffik Space Base “from a Greenlandic perspective, is a lot less aggressive, because that’s a place where Greenlanders are used to American officials. It’s far away from anyone Greenlandic, basically.”

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Usha Vance has largely remained above the political fray since her husband took office, assembling a small team of staff, transitioning her three children to life at the Naval Observatory, and settling into the public role, for which she will have her own platform and responsibilities.

Her original visit to Greenland for the dogsled race appeared to originate with an invitation from American Daybreak, a group founded by Tom Dans, who worked on Arctic issues in the first Trump administration.

“As a sponsor and supporter of this event I encouraged and invited the Second Lady and other senior Administration officials to attend this monumental race. This visit was always intended to be purely personal in nature and in the spirit of the friendship between our two nations,” Dans wrote on X, describing himself as “very disappointed by the negative and hostile reaction” to the visit.

Organizers for the race said they didn’t invite Usha Vance specifically, but that anyone could attend.

But residents in Sisimiut planned to silently demonstrate her visit by turning their backs to her motorcade, according to Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq.

“We want to show the world that we don’t want to be a part of America,” said Minik Lange, a resident of Sisimiut, who helped organize the protest against Vance’s now-cancelled visit.

“We are also aware that there are a lot of propaganda from the president to the American population that we want to be American citizens. That is one huge lie from him,” Lange told CNN. “And we see it as a very disrespectful action for the Greenlandic population. All we want is to be respected as a Greenlandic population from all sides.”

Jakob Nordstrøm, who runs a local pilot business in Nuuk, said he thinks Greenlanders were “relieved” that the original visit to Sisimiut and Nuuk was cancelled. “Most Greenlanders welcome tourists from the United States, but obviously this was not a tourist visit,” Nordstrøm said.

American officials have downplayed the role potential protests played in altering plans for the trip. One person close to JD Vance said he had wanted to go to the island since Donald Trump Jr. returned from a visit earlier this year and “raved about how cool it was.”

“Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance are proud to visit the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland this Friday,” said Taylor Van Kirk, Vance’s press secretary.

The US Consulate in Nuuk declined to comment, referring questions to the vice president’s office.

Also part of the delegation were national security adviser Mike Waltz – who has been at the center of this week’s scandal over top Trump Cabinet officials discussing strikes in Yemen in a Signal chain that included a reporter – and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, as well as Republican Sen. Mike Lee, a vocal supporter of Trump’s desire to control Greenland.

White House officials have argued for months that the president’s fixation with acquiring Greenland has dual benefits, both economic and for national security.

Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric in recent months, insisting his administration will acquire the territory despite Greenland and Denmark’s leaders repeatedly making clear the island isn’t for sale.

“We have to have it,” he said on the “VINCE” podcast earlier this week. “And I think we will have it.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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