PITUFFIK, Greenland — Vice President JD Vance arrived Friday in Greenland — which President Trump hopes to annex — and was prepared with some humor, telling US army personnel: “It’s cold as s— here! Nobody told me.”
Vance, 40, mentioned Air Drive Two flew over some “pretty cool spots” approaching the northern coast of the world’s largest island earlier than he sat down for lunch with a few of the roughly 600 US troops on the Pituffik Area Base.
The vice chairman was joined on his whirlwind cease within the Arctic by second girl Usha Vance, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and Power Secretary Chris Wright.
Trump has lobbied for Greenland’s roughly 56,000 residents to sever ties with Denmark and be a part of america to spice up American pursuits within the area, together with management over vital delivery routes and entry to uncommon earth parts.
It was certainly frigid open air, the place the temperature was -3 levels Fahrenheit.
“The president is really interested in Arctic security, as you all know, and it’s only going to get bigger over the coming decades,” Vance mentioned, noting that he’s the primary vice chairman to go to Greenland.
The US delegation then obtained a briefing on the work of the Area Drive within the northern frontier, although most of it was closed to journalists.
After extolling a member of the army’s current polar plunge, wherein a daredevil colonel survived “near freezing temperatures, the threat of collapsing icebergs and lusty seals,” Vance requested the press to depart as the principle dialogue was set to start.
“Thank you reporters. Get out of here so we can talk about this stuff,” he mentioned.
The journey is a pared-down model of what was initially supposed as a goodwill-building mission wherein Usha Vance was resulting from attend the autonomous Danish territory’s annual canine sled race father south.
The canine sled go to was canceled amid pushback from native politicians and enterprise house owners.
