Uninvited guest in Greenland Second lady with underestimated power - that's Usha Vance
She smiles, her husband is provocative: But there is more to Usha Vance's façade than a loyal wife. Now her planned visit to Greenland gives an insight into her quiet role in the US power structure.
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- Usha and J.D. Vance's visit to Greenland has been limited to a US military base in order to defuse diplomatic tensions with Denmark and Greenland.
- The Second Lady's originally announced solo visit had caused resentment in Copenhagen due to Greenland's geopolitical importance.
- Usha Vance, a lawyer with Indian roots, is usually reserved in public. However, her role in the current controversy raises new questions about her political position.
The announcement from the White House has Copenhagen breathing a sigh of relief: US Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Vance will only be visiting the US space agency's outpost in Pituffik on the northwest coast of Greenland this week. Originally, a solo trip by Usha Vance to a traditional dog sled race was announced.
She wanted to "visit historical sites" and "get to know the Greenlandic heritage", Usha Vance's office announced last weekend. Her husband followed suit on Tuesday, saying that he didn't want his wife to "have all the fun alone".
Greenland and Denmark reacted with a huff. As a reminder, Greenland is an autonomous part of Denmark, lies on strategically important air and sea routes in the North Atlantic and has rich deposits of rare earths. US President Donald Trump already had his eye on the world's largest island during his first term in office and repeatedly declared after his election victory in November that it would one day belong to the USA "one way or another".
Travel change appeases Copenhagen
Against this backdrop, his son Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Greenland for a day at the beginning of January to attract media attention. And now the Greenlandic regional government is once again emphasizing that it has "not issued any invitations for visits, either private or official". Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the visit was "unacceptable pressure".
With the change in travel plans, the USA is now circumventing the diplomatic taboo of sending official representatives to a foreign country uninvited and allowing them to meet the population there. Rasmus Jarlov, spokesman for the Conservative Group for Greenlandic Affairs in the Danish parliament, wrote on Platform X that the visit to an American military base was completely uncontroversial.
While First Lady Melania Trump regularly makes headlines, the Second Lady has so far been relatively quiet despite her husband's loud politics. Usha Vance usually stays in the background, represents a traditional role model and looks after the family.
Who is this woman who is now suddenly venturing into a political minefield with an official trip abroad?
Top lawyer with Indian roots
The daughter of Indian immigrants grew up in the US state of California, her birth name is Chilukuri. She grew up in a religious household, her parents were Hindus, she says about her childhood. She met her future husband at the elite Yale University, where they were both studying law.
The couple, who now have three children, married in 2014 in an interfaith ceremony - the wedding combined elements of Catholicism and Hinduism. According to the New York Times, she was still registered as a Democrat at the time.
After graduating, the lawyer worked as a clerk at the Supreme Court for Justice John Roberts. Vance later became a lawyer in a law firm that specializes, among other things, in claims for damages and represents large companies.
Young and camera-ready
Even during the election campaign, J.D. Vance focused on his wife's public image and had her paint the picture of an approachable husband. "I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with J.D.? He was then and now the most interesting person I knew, a working class guy who had overcome childhood traumas," said the 39-year-old.
J.D. is still the same man she met back then. "Except for the beard," she joked. The couple know exactly how to present themselves as young and suitable for the camera.
In a speech at the 2024 Republican Party Conference, Usha Vance described the traditions and practices of Hinduism as the basis of her values. How this ethos and her migration biography go hand in hand with her husband's political stance also puzzles political experts in the US media.
Friendliness for de-escalation?
Especially as the US Vice President is strictly adhering to the Trump course and has repeatedly drawn attention to himself with statements critical of migration. However, J. D. Vance himself has undergone a political transformation over the past decade. In 2016, he compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler.
It is unclear whether his wife has undergone a similar political turnaround. Her always friendly face, including her broad smile at official events, remains unchanged. Whether she can defuse the tensions between the USA and Greenland and Denmark remains to be seen.
With material from the news agency DPA
