That’s, if you happen to admire the second in command standing up for his oath to the Structure as a substitute of a person, and if you happen to lengthy for the times when America revered our European allies and was a proud member of the North Atlantic Treaty Group.
You’ll be able to definitely disagree with Pence’s ideology, however all Individuals ought to have the ability to admire his willingness to attract a line.
On a latest journey to the U.S. army’s Pituffik Area Base in Greenland, present Vice President JD Vance mentioned, “We will’t simply ignore the president’s needs” when talking about President Donald Trump’s fascination with buying Greenland.
Sorry, vice chairman. Sure, in some instances, we will ignore the “president’s needs,” and in different instances, we must always, as within the case of Pence on Jan. 6, 2021.
Vance went on to say, “When the president says we’ve to have Greenland, what he’s saying is that this island is just not secure” from the likes of Russia and China.
He referenced Trump with, “The president mentioned in his State of the Union deal with and he was very clear about this, is we respect the self-determination of the folks of Greenland, however argument once more to them is I feel you’d be so much higher coming beneath the US safety umbrella than you could have been beneath Denmark’s safety umbrella. As a result of what Denmark’s safety umbrella has meant is successfully, they’ve handed all of it off to courageous Individuals and hope that we’d choose up the tab.”
Individuals can definitely talk about whether or not it’s in our safety curiosity to someway have a larger presence in Greenland, however Vance’s phrase selection is essentially the most regarding.
A Fox Information survey performed from March 14 to 17 confirmed that 70% of registered voters opposed Trump’s aim of constructing Greenland the 51st state. Simply 26% of respondents supported the Greenland plan.
The concept is much more unpopular with Greenlanders. A brand new survey performed by Verian and commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske confirmed that an amazing 85% of Greenlanders don’t want their island to turn into part of the US. Solely 6% are in favor of changing into a part of the U.S., and 9% are undecided.
Vance’s disdain for our European allies has been on show for a while now. Simply earlier than Vance left for Greenland, we discovered that Vance was a member of the Sign group chat, “Houthi PC small group,” which Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was unintentionally invited to hitch.
The group of nationwide safety officers within the Trump administration mentioned the assault plans for Houthi rebels in Yemen.
On the textual content chain, Vance shared that the Houthis had been interfering with Europe’s commerce within the Suez Canal greater than the U.S., writing “I simply hate bailing out Europe once more.”
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth agreed by writing, “VP: I totally share your loathing of European freeloading. It’s PATHETIC.”
Maybe Vance and Hegseth want a reminder that Denmark made the last word sacrifice 43 occasions on behalf of the US and that after 9/11, NATO invoked Article 5 for the primary and solely time in its historical past, declaring that the assaults on the US had been an assault on all NATO allies, triggering the collective protection clause.
There have been 3,621 army deaths in the course of the warfare in Afghanistan — 2,461 had been U.S. troopers, leaving 1,160 troopers misplaced to our NATO allies. The U.S. misplaced 7.96 deaths per million. The nation that got here in second for the variety of lives misplaced per capita was the aforementioned Denmark, with 7.82 deaths per million, having misplaced 43 Danish troopers.
Pence, then again, has a protracted historical past of supporting NATO. In a memo from 2024, Pence wrote: “Whereas not good, NATO has been an irreplaceable a part of American overseas coverage since 1949. Abandoning NATO would embolden our enemies and betray our allies. Regardless of a few of its current shortcomings, a robust NATO stays vital to America’s world management and pursuits overseas.”
Throughout a time in our nation’s historical past when the checks and balances on one of many coequal branches of presidency appear to be barely hanging on, we must always all desire a principled and honorable quantity two.
In his memoir “So Assist Me God,” Pence wrote that in a New Yr’s Day 2021 telephone name, Trump instructed Pence: “You’re too trustworthy,” he chided, predicting that “lots of of 1000’s are gonna hate your guts” and “persons are gonna suppose you’re silly.”
Even after being scolded by the president of the US a number of days earlier and along with his life in danger, Pence did the noble factor and authorized the 2020 election for President Joe Biden.
I miss having a second in command who prioritizes our founding rules and the rule of legislation over his boss’ whims. I miss Vice President Mike Pence.
