When I was a smart aleck teenager getting ready to go out at night with my friends, my mom and dad (who were Goldwater Republicans) would tell me: “Behave yourself in public, and don’t embarrass us in front of the neighbors.” As a fun-loving youth, I dismissed what they were telling me. But now, as a parent and grandparent, I see it as sage advice.

I thought of my mom and dad the other day when I read news stories about Donald Trump and JD Vance trying to bully Greenland and Denmark into submission. Watching Vance’s 23-minute press conference at a U.S. military base made me cringe. I was thoroughly chagrined, and outraged. Why are Trump and Vance doing this? Who else are they trying to threaten? I don’t remember Greenland being a big issue in voters’ minds last November.

Trump and Vance would do well to heed my parents’ wise counsel: Behave yourself and stop embarrassing us in front of our global neighbors.