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

[Celerity]

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

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/30/the-observer-view-on-jd-vance-spurned-in-greenland-and-humiliated-at-home-the-vice-president-should-resign



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.

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.

snip

[SheltieLover]

1. They should all go to moscow. That's where their hearts appear to be.

[rubbersole]

2. Pootie will send a limo to pick them up at the airport.

[SheltieLover]

4. ...

That works for me!

[buzzycrumbhunger]

3. Have these morons considered

… how many electoral votes Canada would get if they succeeded in hijacking the country as a “51st state”—and they sure as hell wouldn’t lean red?

Hm… that might not be a bad idea. Might be the fastest way to universal healthcare and other overdue socialist goodies.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. It is rare to hear calls for high-level resignations.

Especially absent a scandal, though one could argue this administration is one big rolling bonfire of a scandal. But more to the point there were calls for Nixon to resign. Clinton to resign. Lesser calls for Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld to resign. That's about it. Now we have a weekly chorus calling for Trump or Vance to resign. Such calls have a moral component on some level, and if political (Clinton's wasn't), they impact political legitimacy. The foundations of the Trump 2 administration are eroding. Political elites are not defeated. They're just afraid to come out of the shadows, or await the most propitious moment.

[Dulcinea]

6. VD Jance should resign, but he won't.

If he had a shred of self-respect, he'd get out. But it's too late for that; he debased himself to get where he is. He despised the Fascist Felon at first, but quickly reversed course when he saw the power he imagined he could have. He has a chip on his shoulder the size of the Washington Monument, and a host of mommy & daddy issues.

VD Jance is a worthless little wanker who thinks he's much more important than he really is. He'll probably be the first one jettisoned when all this comes to an end, which it will. Under no circumstances can this putz ever become president. That won't happen unless the Fascist Felon kicks off. No one likes him. He'll never win a national election on his own.