Fox News Reminiscent of Hiroshima: J.D. Vance's Greenland Visit Draws Criticism, Scorn, and Outrage

Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Fox News Reminiscent of Hiroshima: J.D. Vance's Greenland Visit Draws Criticism, Scorn, and Outrage David Schmitz • 8 hrs. • 5 mins read US Vice President J.D. Vance, his wife Usha, and other American government officials spent three hours on Friday visiting the US base in Pituffik on the Danish island of Greenland. Trump's vice president had no contact with the local government or residents of the world's largest island – Vance was not welcome among the Greenlanders. Prime Minister Mute B. Egede clearly rejected the travel plans in advance. And ordinary citizens apparently also wanted nothing to do with the American visitors. According to reports, the US delegation had previously sought out Greenlanders who might have been interested in meeting with Vance and his wife – without success. And so, during his trip to Greenland, Vance ended up meeting primarily with American soldiers stationed in the icy wilderness of Pituffik in the north of the vast island. The affront nevertheless occurred. J.D. Vance: Can't ignore Trump's "demand" Vance said he hoped the people of Greenland would choose "a partnership with the United States." Washington assumed that Greenland was seeking independence from Denmark. "And then we will have talks." "We can't simply ignore the president's demand," declared the US Vice President, launching a frontal attack: "Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job for the people of Greenland. You have invested too little in the people of Greenland, and you have invested too little in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass." Ambivalent speech by J.D. Vance in Pituffik Vance's speech remained ambivalent. Washington does not believe that military means would be necessary, the Vice President explained. Donald Trump had previously not convincingly ruled this out. Vance's reference to Greenland as an independent country also appears to be a softening of the US President's previous statements, which made annexation seem conceivable. However, the Vice President's words can also be interpreted as a reinforcement of US aggressive plans. "When Vance says Denmark is not protecting Greenland and the base, then he wishes to see decades of cooperation and the NATO alliance itself disappear," commented American historian and totalitarianism researcher Timothy Snyder on the Vice President's words. "Denmark was a founding member of NATO; it is already the Americans' job to defend Denmark and Greenland, just as it is Denmark's job to defend the United States," Snyder explained. Icy Reaction from Denmark: "We Do Not Appreciate the Tone at All" The reaction from Denmark was correspondingly icy: A stronger US military presence in Greenland was certainly conceivable. "If that's what you want, let's talk about it," said Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in a video message on the X platform. Rasmussen then sharply criticized Vance: "That's not how you talk to close allies." Denmark is always open to criticism, the foreign minister emphasized, "but to be completely honest: We do not appreciate the tone in which this is being expressed at all," Rasmussen added. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also responded to Vance's unwanted trip to Pittufik – and announced a visit to Greenland next week. She looks forward to continuing the "close and trusting cooperation between Greenland and Denmark" with the future Greenlandic Prime Minister, Jens Frederik Nielsen, Frederiksen declared on Saturday – emphasizing that she is welcome among the island's residents, unlike J.D. Vance. The Danish Prime Minister had already rejected the US Vice President's criticism on Friday. Headwinds for Trump's Greenland Plans Also in the US In the United States, too, there is strong opposition to Vance and Trump's "desire" to annex the Danish island. "What the hell is J.D. Vance doing in Greenland?" Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell asked on X. "They don't want him there. We don't need him there," Swalwell emphasized, adding: "Why doesn't he go to Greensboro or Green Bay to see how much Trump's tariff tax is costing the people?" Michael McFaul, political scientist and former US ambassador to Russia, also sharply criticized the US government's actions. "Inventing conflicts with our most loyal democratic allies in Europe and Canada must rank among the worst foreign policy decisions of any new administration to date," McFaul wrote at X. For the US, this brings no "gains," only "costs," the former diplomat explained. Polls: Americans Reject Takeover of Greenland When asked by Yahoo News and YouGov last week whether they "would support or oppose a US annexation of Greenland," only 19 percent of US citizens surveyed said they would approve of this move. In a poll commissioned by Fox News, only 30 percent of respondents supported the administration's Greenland plans. Trump and Vance are apparently acting not only against the will of the Greenlanders, where 85 percent recently voted against a US takeover, but also against that of the Americans. J.D. Vance: Ridicule and Scorn for "Trump's Medvedev" Vance had to endure a lot of ridicule for his Greenland trip. In particular, his statement that Trump's "demand" could not simply be ignored earned him plenty of scorn on social media. Not for the first time, former Russian chess world champion Garry Kasparov nicknamed the US Vice President "Medvedev," a reference to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who, especially since the beginning of the war, has repeatedly appeared in public with shrill tones and wild threats. Fox News Reminds Some atomic bombs on Japan "Tomorrow and the day after, he'll say something even more pathetic. That's his job description – J.D. 'Medvedev' Vance," Kasparov, who lives in New York, commented on X. "J.D. Vance is truly Trump's Medvedev," Julia Davis agreed with the Kremlin critic. The US journalist runs the "Russian Media Monitor" and regularly reports on the radical tones being struck on Russian state television. Meanwhile, Trump's court broadcaster, Fox News, also reminded some observers of Russian state media over the weekend. "We don't need friends. If we have to burn a few bridges with Denmark to conquer Greenland, so be it," moderator Jesse Watters declared candidly, even bringing up American nuclear weapons. "Rhetoric is similar to that of Putin, who threatens nuclear weapons." "We're big boys. We dropped atomic bombs on Japan, and now they're our allies in the Pacific," the moderator recalled the devastating American attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in World War II. "Maybe we need to burn a bridge to build a big, beautiful new bridge to the next generation," Watters added. The moderator failed to mention that Japan, unlike Denmark, was not allied with the United States at the time, nor did he mention the fact that Japanese forces had destroyed Pearl Harbor before the use of atomic bombs. Danish attacks on the United States are unknown. "This rhetoric is similar to that of Putin, who threatens to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and claims that Russia and Ukraine are brotherly nations," commented former Ukrainian Economy Minister Tymofiy Mylovanov on the Fox News host's words, which were indeed close to the tone regularly used on Russian propaganda TV. Nuclear weapons are also regularly discussed there – but not merely from a historical perspective, as with Watters.