Usha Vance has kept a low profile since her husband J.D. Vance was sworn in as vice president, but she's stepping into the geopolitical spotlight by taking one of their two young sons to Greenland.
The second lady has characterized this week's visit as a goodwill mission, as Donald Trump and her husband threaten to take control of the world's largest island. But MSNBC columnist Hayes Brown cast doubt on her intentions.
"Her mild words do little to paper over the current tensions between the U.S. and Greenland," Brown wrote. "Trump has been clear that he hopes to acquire the island from Denmark, reportedly at least in part because of how huge it appears on the most common map projection. He’s also hinted that it should be acquired for vague national security reasons or to obtain the minerals under its permafrost."
"Neither Greenland nor Denmark has been particularly enthusiastic about Trump’s remarks," he added, "even less so after Trump hinted that, if it were not put up for sale, he could take Greenland by force or economic leverage."
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Energy secretary Chris Wright and national security adviser Mike Waltz will also take part in the Greenland trip, where they will tour Pituffik Space Base, America’s northernmost military outpost. Brown questioned why the vice president's wife and school-age son were joining them.
"It feels ridiculously unnecessary for Vance to be dragged into this mess as the soft power side of what’s clearly a good cop-bad cop routine," Brown wrote. "But, then again, the vice presidency has long been regarded as one of the least consequential roles in Washington. By the transitive property alone, the role of the vice president’s spouse must be up there as far as gigs go. Second ladies (or, as of recently, gentlemen) haven’t accumulated the same sort of cache as cultural icons that first ladies have, but that still doesn’t help explain the odd choice of Vance’s first solo destination."
Voters in Greenland recently backed two parties seeking independence from Denmark, reflecting the larger public's opposition to Trump's overtures, and outgoing prime minister Múte Egede denounced the second lady's and security adviser's junket as "highly aggressive" and an unmistakeable "demonstration of power."
"Who knows? Maybe Vance really did want to visit Greenland to watch a dog race with her kid," Brown wrote. "Maybe she got recruited to go simply as a boost to Waltz and Wright’s trip. Whichever it is, Vance is no rube. She’s highly accomplished and sophisticated; that is, she’s smart enough to know that her trip signals support for Trump’s ambitions toward Greenland. She could have declined to go if she didn’t want to send that message."
"No offense to the Greenlandic people, but I can’t imagine that Greenland was at the top of Vance’s list of places she wanted to travel as second lady," he added.