What is JD Vance’s problem with Europe? Former diplomat shares his theory
https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-europe-signal-texts-2050428
by newsweek
What is JD Vance’s problem with Europe? Former diplomat shares his theory
https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-europe-signal-texts-2050428
by newsweek
29 comments
He’s a fascist.
Really could have stopped at “What is JD Vance’s problem”.
He’s basically one of those reddit users mocked in r/ShitAmericansSay who has become vice-president of the United States.
>“His hostility to alliances is deliberate. It’s rooted in the idea that foreign policy should serve a narrow domestic narrative,” he said. “That makes him dangerous — but also, in a way, useful. He forces Europe to face the question it has avoided for decades.”
He’s a sellout with no spine…?
He will say anything and would even sell his mother for power
Just what the far-right is or does
Americans talking about “unsustainable indulgence” is funny considering how much they consume. Not saying it in a negative tone just its a bit hypocritical.
Nonetheless, EU leaders ..hell leaders globally need to figure out a way to navigate this without being confrontational, its unfortunately the cards everyone is dealt with and crying about it on media won’t help. People might make fun of JD Vance but there is a chance he could become POTUS.
Well, isn’t he just an arrogant American? He’s also more outspoken than other American politicians (even if they may privately be just as arrogant), which is probably a good thing for domestic popularity.
My guess is that he’s a country bumpkin who thinks US deserves everything they want just by sheer existing and other countries are just vasals who need to kiss the ring and say thank you.
It’s interesting how their message is promulgated as they know that whatever they say will be repeated.
For example here Newseek repeats that he:
>denounced the prosecution of a British man for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.
Which appears a reasonable denouncement since it suggests that the act of prayer, even *silent*, is restricted.
Yet nobody in the UK cares whether he was praying or not. He was breaching a local order around that facility. It’s an absolute lie that Newsweek enforces here. That a man was prosecuted for praying.
It’s constant and insidious and Europe should question every voice from America now even those that are ostensibly critical of the current regime.
He probably did some Eurotrip in his twenties, trying to score European pussy
And was rejected by all the French,German,Dutch girls all the way
Ironically the American VP is a caricature of the European view of an ignorant hillbilly American.
He hates Europe because they’re not on their knees worshiping at the alter of America, he’s a genuine believer in American exceptionalism; everyone should love America & want to be American etc. so when confronted by nations that openly mock America’s ridiculousness he instantly reacts with bile.
Lack of emotion, low EQ, narcissistic, developmental issues. Man i hope this man is getting rebirth in to a very poor citizen. What goes around comes around
Actually it’s quite easy, the US administration has decided to force its allies into vassals.
We are to pay up and shut up, failure to comply will lead to unexpected FREEDOM in the form of tariffs, threats, and possibly JDAMS.
Well, he’s of course pissed off at nations with reproductive rights for women, LGBTQ+ rights, socialized health care and people that hate Nazis. So, most of the EU right there.
JD Vance’s opinions change whenever it’s beneficial to him. He’s a spineless, unprincipled scumbag.
His ban from Ikea?
Maybe his former couch was an European one?
It could also be because he’s an ignorant American that does not know a thing about the world outside of the continental US?
There are many problems with JD, but the biggest one is not him. He is a result of a problem. A sizeable portion of the US population felt abandoned with their financial hardships for the last decade or so and they were shown an easy enemy to blame for it – Europe. And they went for it. It is far away, no real borders, no real chance of encountering “the european” at work so you can share your frustrations with coleagues without any guilt, they can discuss our mammalian pouches and stuff. Basically just a perfect “enemy” where you do not actualy have to fight or do anything about at all, but it feels better during that coffee break to shit on the French for having a month of vacation by law.
I’m guessing JD never forgave Rimmel London for raising their prices on eyeliner.
He’s so ignorant of even his own countries policies and history. It was the US that wanted the current set up. They would be the military superpower and the rest of NATO it’s sidekicks. That is how they set it up. Maybe all the other coalition countries should send the US a bill for their costs in Afghanistan and Iraq and hold a memorial march for all their military and civilian personnel lost right past the White House.
Europe needs to start acting and planning as if the US was neutral or hostile. No amount of deals, kowtowing or invites to meet the king will change anything. The people in power have their plan and any seeming co-operation, gratitude or respite is just a delaying tactic. While people are reassuringly saying they’ll never get an amendment on term limits passed they are dismantling the whole structure that upholds all those laws and norms.
Europe is keen to tax and regulate the tech bros who fund him, and limit their power to control the masses. It stands in the way of the tech bro takeover of the west which is, at this point, their religion.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous.
**Europe actually spends roughly the same as US on defence, as well as buying 64% of the equipment in the US**
The “who pays more for defence” thing.
A former Finish military guy shed light on the fact that US includes their health insurance for military (estimated $61bln), as well as VA costs into their military spending ($301bln in 2023).
US defence budget 2023: $816bln.
BUT. **These are costs Europe budgets in other areas/budgets, NOT in defence**. You know, universal healthcare and all.
So.
For a FAIR comparison, we should exclude these costs. Approximate US defence spending minus healthcare related in 2023:
$816-301-16=$442bln
In 2023, Europe (incl non-EU) spent $390bln.
In 2024 it’s $457bln.
On top of that, it remains important that 64% of all European NATO’s military equipment is bought in the US between 2019-2024 (52% in 2015-2019). Given a flood of recent news articles I struggled to find the source for the exact number it comes as – if you’ve got one please share+source.
Again- US $442 vs Europe $457.
So where, really, is the problem or inequality? Certainly not “freeloading”.
Sources:
https://youtu.be/BrzunwO_g1M?si=PR53wjyz6gNLOo7O
https://www.politico.eu/article/us-dominates-european-weapons-purchases-report/
https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/military-balance/2025/02/global-defence-spending-soars-to-new-high/
Like many Americans, J.D. Vance suffers from a case of “main character syndrome,” better known as American exceptionalism. His narrow, self-centered analysis of global affairs makes him incapable of recognizing the complex web that sustain U.S. power. He fixates on what the U.S. gives, primarily military might, without acknowledging the strategic benefits it receives in return. The U.S. military-industrial complex has long been NATO’s primary weapons supplier, which has effectively subsidized U.S. weapons research and procurement for its own needs. But thanks to the Trump administration’s shortsighted and transactional approach, that advantage is going away.
Another reality they will likely come to realize too late is the strategic value of the vast network of U.S. military bases around the world. Once they start pulling troops out, they may assume they can still keep those bases to operate freely. But they’re in for a rude awakening when some host countries decide to permanently shut the door on them, stripping the U.S. of key strategic footholds. At that point they might not be “the only ones who can” because they gonna lack the infrastructure to do so.
The Houthis wouldn’t be trying to close the Red Sea to shipping if the US weren’t supplying Israel. The idea that the US is keeping the shipping lanes open as a favour to us makes me sick.
Vance has a point in that Europe might need to do more. But there are several aspects he doesn’t consider:
– The Western Alliance is not only an expense for the US. Europe repays in (pretty obedient) loyalty, in buying american products (arms, information technology), and following US culture (movies, music, liberal democracy).
– The UK has been following the US into every war. France has had a shadow war against Russia in Africa. Eastern Europe and Scandinavia are constantly keeping an eye on Russia and are fighting it not with armies, but with intelligence and police. AND Säsome European countries spend 5% of their GDP on the military. Only Germany and Italy might be doing less than they could.
My theory is that Vance doesn’t like the soft power aspect of the Western alliance. He doesn’t value European efforts and loyalty because Western democracy is just not what he wants. He probably thinks that the efforts to adhere to a common western catalogue of values is keeping America weak. The Trump administration is fully convinced that they need to be more like China or Russia, their role model is probably China, but they can’t say that because conservative voters hate China, so they use Russia as a proxy.
Trump and Vance are like the worst, most ugly stereotypes we have about Americans, all rolled into individual persons. They are like some sort of grotesque, living, walking, epitomic caricatures of everything that makes Americans repulsive. They are in almost every way the opposite of all the values and principles that Americans supposedly pride themselves on.
And Americans voted for them. They voted for Trump twice. He still has 48% approval rating. That is sort of the worst part. Trump might go away in 4 years (if USA still has legitimate elections) or when the burgers finally catch up to his heart, but the people who voted for him remain. They will still be there. They have shown the world what they are really like, what Americans are really like. And when Trump is gone, they will go on having learned nothing and having done zero self-reflection, and even if they suffer consequences, they will just blame it on someone else. They will claim to support those “American values” which were entirely absent in Trump and Vance, and then they will cheerfully go out of their way to vote for the next Trump.
That means that USA is a dead society. They are a source of misery on the world. They are dead to me. Even in the most optimistic scenario, it will take decades for me to overlook that they voted for Trump, twice. I can be friendly to Americans who voted for Democrats (non-voters are just as disgusting as Trump voters), but for any Americans I don’t know, it will be revolting to think that they may have voted for Trump. Or if I buy an American product, I might be supporting people who cheered on Trump and Vance. And so on.
Is it because he’s jealous of our luxurious sofas?
What they can’t do is have it both ways.
If they want Europe to take full responsibility for itself (which is fair) you can no longer act as the world’s policeman and dictate policy for Ukraine etc.
Vance and others should stop pretending that their investment into European security has been totally out of benevolence. Their bases in UK, Greenland, Germany have been primarily to protect their own interests.
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