J.d. vance

Europe is its own worst enemy

Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech condemning Europe’s abandonment of basic western values was a seminal moment in US-European relations. It provoked immediate praise from American conservatives and disparagement from European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Critics and admirers both recognized the significance of Vance’s message. The February 14 speech, which Mr. Vance gave on his first trip abroad as vice president, yielded millions of views on X and spawned dozens of op-eds in response. At the Munich Security Conference – typically a venue to discuss defense spending and the like – Mr Vance told the entire European leadership class that they themselves are the biggest threat to European security.

So long, Elon?

What with all the Rose Garden theatrics of “Liberation Day” and Donald Trump’s wild decision to tariff most of Planet Earth at once, Politico’s big “Musk will leave” scoop quickly sank down the news agenda. That’s partly because it wasn’t really a scoop at all. Elon Musk has said repeatedly that his role in the White House is only temporary. His status as a “special government employee,” which exempts him from some ethics and conflict-of-interest rules, is only meant to last 130 days and so his contract, such as it is, is likely to expire in late May or early June. Musk confirmed to Fox News last week that he was not in government for the long term while President Trump told reporters on Monday: “I think he’s amazing, but he’s got a big company to run...

Why does Britain think it can censor Gab?

A dramatic escalation has happened in the information war between the US and Europe. Ofcom, the British media regulator that fancies itself as a global censor, has made a move. Ofcom sent a formal demand to Gab – an American social media platform with no legal presence in Britain – threatening it with ruinous fines unless it complied with the UK’s Online Safety Act. Gab’s reply to Ofcom was not polite. It was cold, clinical and lethal. Through its lawyers, Gab told Ofcom – with legal precision and unmistakable clarity – to get lost. This isn’t some polite regulatory disagreement.

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Which member of the ‘Houthi PC small group’ chat are you?

Most people use groupchats to share memes, organize brunch or gossip. The Trump administration plans air strikes. After Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently included in the "Houthi PC small group" Signal chat by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, administration officials were eager to stress that no classified information was included in the unofficial chat. As a result, Goldberg published screenshots of the full conversation this morning. The messages offer a glimpse into not just the views of various cabinet members on foreign affairs; they reveal the texting styles of some of the most consequential government officials in the world. Some are relatable. "Having read thru the full Houthi PC small group logs, I've come to the sad realization that I'm the J.D.

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The ‘government by groupchat’ scandal should cost Mike Waltz his job

Blimey! Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg has written a fresh exposé that should result in the immediate resignation or firing of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. His story is called “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plan.”  In calm and lucid prose, Goldberg explains that he was initially suspicious of his inclusion in a text chain about a potential American military attack on Yemen on the encrypted app Signal. Various Trump national security officials, ranging from Vice President J.D. Vance to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, appeared to be in the chat with him.

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Trump’s war on Europe should not surprise anyone

Has there been a more cataclysmic year for US-Europe relations than 2025? It began with J.D. Vance’s “sermon” to EU leaders at the Munich Security Conference last month, in which he berated Western Europe for its policies on immigration and free speech. This year has also seen the growing threat of NATO falling apart after 76 years of peace in Western Europe, with the White House seemingly tilting toward Russia and Trump demanding that alliance members such as Germany, France, and the U.K. dramatically increase their defense spending. This week, as the Trump administration imposes tariffs on Europe and Europe retaliates, there are even signs of a full-scale trade war.

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Vance booed at Kennedy Center performance

You wouldn’t expect the Kennedy Center to exactly love J.D. Vance. But that doesn’t make the audience’s reaction to him showing up there on Thursday any less extraordinary. Vance went to the Kennedy Center with his wife Usha, to watch a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, perhaps expecting a genteel evening at one of Washington’s most high-brow venues. Instead, the audience acted like a mob, booing him as he took his seat in a box. Boos for JD Vance as he enters tonight’s concert at the Kennedy Center pic.twitter.com/IWTsJUWjCR— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) March 13, 2025 The crowd’s performance is perhaps explained by the President’s recent, er, changes to how the Kennedy Center runs.

Vance Derangement Syndrome

Bret Stephens has come a long way in his estimation of Donald Trump. Back in 2016, when Trump was first running for the presidency, Stephens wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “the candidacy of Donald Trump is the open sewer of American conservatism.” As the election season progressed, Stephens mostly dropped the sewer talk, sliding into its place evocations of Trump’s “darker antipathies” and warnings that his “candidacy is manna to every Jew-hater.” A “Trump administration,” he explained,“would give respectability and power to the gutter voices of American politics.” At one point he giddily announced that Trump’s chances of victory were “next to nil.

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Christianity, culture wars and J.D. Vance: a conversation with James Orr

From our UK edition

62 min listen

James Orr was living the life of a young, high-flying lawyer when, after a few drinks at a New Year's Eve party, he asked for signs that God existed. The signs came; among other things, he narrowly avoided a fatal skiing accident. Now he is a passionate Christian and a conservative culture warrior who helped defeat an attempt to impose the tyranny of critical race theory on Cambridge University, where he is an associate professor of the philosophy of religion. He's also an intellectual mentor to the vice president of the United States; Politico describes him as 'J.D. Vance's English philosopher king'. Dr Orr says Vance is 'extremely articulate, but he takes no prisoners'.

Freedom of speech in the UK is very, very under threat

With all the transatlantic back-and-forth over Ukraine, and J.D. Vance’s contentious remarks on Fox News about some “random country that hasn’t fought a war in thirty or forty years,” it’s easy to forget that just three weeks ago, the vice president gave a landmark address about free speech in Europe and Britain, in particular. Last week, when Keir Starmer visited Washington, DC, Vance raised his concerns more directly with the prime minister about “infringements on free speech … that affect American technology companies and by extension American citizens.

The bully-boy tactics of Trump and J.D. Vance

From our UK edition

Just before Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping announced a ‘friendship without limits’. The phrase seems to apply equally well to Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Has Trump ever breathed a word of serious criticism of Putin, questioned his democratic mandate, challenged his right to invade an independent country, condemned his kidnapping of children? Before his inauguration, Trump stepped in on behalf of ‘the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely and against their will in the Middle East’. He warned Hamas that there ‘would be ALL HELL to PAY’ for the perpetrators and that they must ‘RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!’.

Will Trump’s pause of Ukrainian military aid force Zelensky to the negotiating table?

The decision couldn’t have come as a surprise to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. And if it did, then his capacity to read the room is even worse than imagined. Last night, the Trump administration paused all US military aid to Ukraine. The move came after an extremely tumultuous few weeks, which started on February 19 when Zelensky claimed that Trump was living in a Kremlin-orchestrated disinformation bubble. Trump wasted no time howling back by calling Zelensky a dictator because he canceled elections during a time of war. The spat accelerated on Friday, when the two men, egged on by Vice President J.D.

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No peace at Trump-Zelensky talk

The much-awaited Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky went off the rails Friday. What was expected to be the signing of a deal that granted the US privileged access to Ukrainian natural resources unraveled into a shouting match — as well as a masterclass in diplomatic self-immolation from the visiting Zelensky. At one point, Vice President J.D. Vance told a visibly cross Zelensky: “Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems.

Zelensky goes to town

If the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, were on my Christmas list, I think I might give him a copy of Thucydides’ history of the Peloponnesian War. I’d mark that bit in book five we call “The Melian Dialogue.”  It tells the story of how Athens confronts the tiny island of Melos, a neutral ally of Sparta. Athens demands that the island surrender its neutrality. The leaders of Melos resist. Athens delivers an ultimatum: surrender or be destroyed.   The Melians offer a number of arguments about why they should not be forced to capitulate. Athens is not being fair, the Melians have right on their side, et cetera.

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All along Trump’s aim has been to dispose of Zelensky

So much for the flurry of visits by European leaders such as French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer this past week to placate, prod and persuade President Donald Trump to back Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Kyiv’s lonely battle to retain its sovereignty just got a little bit lonelier as Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky quarreled during a televised meeting in the Oval Office.   The president and his deputy disrespected Zelensky by telling him that he was being “disrespectful.” It ended with Zelensky being dismissed from the White House, a canceled press conference and the mineral deal with Ukraine in a state of inanition.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?

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Zelensky’s White House visit goes off the rails

An astonishing flare-up in the White House between President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have thrown any Russia-Ukraine peace deal — or US-Ukraine mineral deal — into jeopardy. Trump met Zelensky at the door of the White House where he gave reporters a thumbs up ahead of his arrival. However, the mood quickly turned sour when they sat down for initial remarks ahead of talks and a press conference where the pair were expected to sign the US-proposed minerals deal with Ukraine. Sat in the Oval Office, Trump was accompanied by key members of his team including J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio.

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Trump holds first Cabinet meeting

The Cabinet Room was packed. President Trump sat in the middle of the full oblong table. On his right was his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was voted in unanimously by the Senate; on his left a newcomer to politics, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, whose appointment only passed the Senate thanks to the deciding vote of Vice President J.D. Vance. Vance was directly opposite the president — and crowded between the VP and the back wall were several journalists equipped with microphones and cameras, leering over Trump’s appointees.In his introductory remarks, Trump said he was reelected to cut taxes, handle the border and balance the budget. He reaffirmed that his mandate to accomplish these tasks came from the US electorate.

A color revolution at CPAC

National Harbor, Maryland Cockburn has been poring over ostentatious Elon Musk fan art, reexamining that guide to which salutes are allowed and playing a mental game of “what’s that nice lady done to her face?” He is, of course, addressing you from the press pen of the Conservative Political Action Conference across the river from DC. The crowd seems older than previous years, with fewer college students milling around. Cockburn feels like the only person who wasn’t in the Capitol on January 6, 2021: he saw a couple of gents in Proud Boy attire rolling around, beers in hand, at 3 p.m. on Thursday — and while on his way in he was behind one recently freed prisoner and his four-month-old service dog in training, Whitney.

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VP Vance touts border security, energy and humor at CPAC

Vice President J.D. Vance took to the Conservative Political Action Committee stage moments ago for a sit-down interview with Mercedes Schlapp.   In his signature earnest-yet-easy style, Vance reiterated his boss’s main, shared goals one month into the new administration: secure the southern border and grow the economy by unleashing American energy. While casting plenty of blame on the Biden administration throughout his talk, Vance touted the Trump administration’s early accomplishments; border crossings are already down 90 percent, he said, and “we’re just getting started.” In response to a question about fixing the economy, Vance said the key is, “Drill, baby, drill.

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Why has CBS developed a penchant for censorship?

CBS News put its disturbing love for censorship on display this weekend on its two premiere programs, Face the Nation and 60 Minutes. The network offered a preview of the affection the authoritarian left is likely to exercise during the next four years for just shutting up everyone they disagree with at the point of the bayonet. When J.D. Vance took the stage in Munich to offer a calculated and well-crafted critique of our European allies for their betrayal of shared Western values of free speech, he had to expect there would be a response.

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