VP’s ‘Aggressive’ Greenland Visit Part of Trump Power Play

Amid Trump’s big push to control Greenland, Vice President JD Vance will visit the Pituffik Space Base in the world’s largest island, in what is being called by some, as a form of ‘hybrid warfare’ to destabilize the strategic Danish territory.

And this time the critics may be right. The question is, will Trump’s aggressive campaign toward Greenland succeed, or backfire?

An imperial relic, Greenland is an autonomous Danish territory with self-government and its own parliament.

Because it straddles the Arctic circle between the US, Russia and Europe (it is far closer to North America than any place else), Greenland is a geopolitical prize that the US and others have eyed for more than 150 years.

It’s even more valuable as the Arctic opens up more to shipping and trade, with the Northwest Passage and Northeast Passage cutting thousands of miles off Suez and Panama Canal routes from the Far East to Europe and the US East Coast.

Despite boasting vast oil, gas, and rare earth mineral reserves, the island depends heavily on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark, which cover roughly half of its public budget.

And President Trump is doubling down on getting Greenland.

Originally, the Trump administration said that Usha Vance, the second lady, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, would make the trip to the Danish territory.

The New York Post reported:

Tom Dans, who worked in the first Trump administration on Arctic issues and is the founder of American Daybreak, told The Post he pitched to visits by both the Vances and the first son.

“It was meant to kind of bring our peoples together a little bit … that was spirit. I mean [the Avannaata Qimussersua dogsled race] is the most highly attended, highly watched event of the year,” he said.

“It’s Greenland’s Super Bowl, and so we wanted to help. They’re woefully underfunded and we wanted to draw attention to the culture and the dogs — they are a 9,500-year-old breed of dogs. It’s the oldest in the world.”

Officials from Denmark and Greenland immediately branded the move “very aggressive pressure” and part of the president’s plan to get the island, as he recently put it, “one way or the other.”

Since the visit had included the capital, Nuuk, as well as the dog sled race, protests were also expected.

The White House then quickly changed up the visit, adding the Vice President and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to a new itinerary to visit Pituffik, a US military installation high above the Arctic Circle that the US has jurisdiction over, “to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with U.S. service members.”

The base is America’s northernmost military installation.

In a post on X, the VP said he would “just check out what’s going on with the security there of Greenland.”

After the planned visit was pared back to only include the Pituffik base, the Danish defense minister called the decision was “wise.”

Meanwhile, just ahead of the planned visit, Trump tripled down, telling reporters in the White House that the US will “go as far as we have to go” to control Greenland.

“We need Greenland for national security and international security,” Trump added. “We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens.”

Greenland’s prime minister dismissed Trump’s remarks on social media, saying, “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” 

But Team Trump didn’t stop there, the Post reported, with a senior White House official later raising the temperature with Denmark Thursday by accusing the Danes of “mistreating” the Greenlandic people.

“Unfortunately, Danish leaders have spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair. Expect the Vice President to emphasize these points as well.”

And a member of Trump’s team added, according to the Post:

“For decades, Denmark has severely underinvested in Greenland,” said a source with direct knowledge of the trip. “As the President said on Truth Social, we not only respect Greenlanders’ right to determine their own future, but also are committed to keeping them safe, as we have since World War II, and are ready to invest billions to help develop their natural resources.”

Surprisingly, or not, the Post reports, support may be growing among native Greenlanders for Trump’s Make Greenland Great Again rhetoric about annexing the Arctic island — as well as actually becoming part of the US.

The Post spoke to multiple Greenlanders on Thursday who quietly approved of Trump’s proposals to form a partnership with the island — or even take it over from its Danish rulers — but asked to speak anonymously after receiving death threats over their views and advocacy.

“For the American people, the highest-ranking valuable thing you can give another country is to be part of the United States,” said one resident of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. “When Donald Trump says, ‘You can even join the United States’ — that’s the most valuable thing Donald Trump is saying he can give up.”

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