Republican vice presidential nominee says ‘Germans and other nations’ – not Russia – would ‘have to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction’

JD Vance has suggested that American support for NATO should be predicated on the European Union not regulating Elon Musk and his X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

The Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio senator claimed in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan that a top EU official had threatened to arrest the billionaire if he allowed former President Donald Trump back on X.

“The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said, ‘We’re going to arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,’ who, by the way, is the likely next president of the United States,” Vance said in the interview published last week.

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  • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
    53·
    16 days ago

    This might be the dumbest thing a candidate in this race has said and that bar is pretty high considering Trump might think political asylum and insane asylums are the same thing.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    541·
    16 days ago

    This is why Europe must take control of its own defense. Europe doesn’t want to be a mere vassal of the US for precisely this reason.

    • frezik@midwest.social
      2·
      16 days ago

      I have a bit of schadenfreude around this. For years, people said Europe was fine, and didn’t need to invest more in their military. “No, you silly American, we are just fine with the military we have because we don’t go invading other countries.”

      Now here we are. Thing is, I wasn’t even talking from the perspective of Europe becoming warmongers like us. I wanted Europe to be armed well enough to handle what the US has been doing, and the US can draw down its military. Then we could put that money into healthcare and schools and shit, but Europe would have to pick up the slack (and also Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, and Australia). This is still a good idea.

  • normalexit@lemmy.world
    14·
    16 days ago

    I’m glad he is such a bad running mate. He doesn’t have a single redeeming quality… God help us if these people get the white house (again), but everyone involved seems to be trying their hardest to prevent that.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
    98·
    16 days ago

    It’s an amazing thing to say you can abandon a military Alliance because a campaign donor ask you to.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      101·
      16 days ago

      That’s just how the Trumpies do business. “Give me what I want or I’m leaving” is how Trump claimed he renegotiated NAFTA and reworked the US / China trade relationship and was allegedly going to forge an Amazing Massive Incredibly Lucrative New Deal with the then-Brexit-ing UK.

      Far more often than not, the renegotiation just involves bribing Trump and his immediate crony base of support in order to leave existing policies alone. That is, incidentally, how Trump left the back door to Mexico open for Chinese EV imports, despite claiming it was the bestest renegotiation of a trade deal in the history of ever.

      If Vance is ever in a position of authority, there’s little doubt he’ll be at some NATO summit demanding everyone in Germany buy a copy of Hillbilly Elegy in order to get him to STFU about a pull out.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    812·
    16 days ago

    The fact checking in this article is perfect lol

    “So what America should be saying is, if NATO wants us to continue supporting them and NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?” Vance asked. “It’s insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech. I think we can do both. But we’ve got to say American power comes with certain strings attached. One of those is respect free speech, especially in our European allies.”

    Musk has been accused of banning several journalists since taking over Twitter, now X.

    “I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.”

    The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.

    • thefartographer@lemm.ee
      2·
      16 days ago

      I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives

      “Nah, we like your people oppressed”

  • dustyData@lemmy.world
    66·
    16 days ago

    The gall of saying, that entirely different culture that’s been around for longer than our country, they should have our same values, right after calling them backwoods countries. The extreme narcissist egoism is palpable and disgusting.

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      20·
      16 days ago

      He didn’t call the Europeans “backwoods countries”. He called those other places that. He specifically says that European countries should be more like us, for all the white right reasons…

      • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        16 days ago

        The insult is the implication. “I wouldn’t tell a backwoods country to be like us, [but we should]. So instead I will tell you that you are not like US [because I actually think that you are backwoods], and you should be like us to [so you aren’t like those backwoods countries anymore].”

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    16 days ago

    “I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,”

    So he’s not just a weird couch fucker, he’s also totally ignorant of US foreign policy over the last hundred years.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
      1·
      15 days ago

      He’s an isolationist… So this comment might be true. His stance is fuck every other country, I’ve got mine.

      Just wait untill they find out many, many, many of their supply chains come from and/or run through countries kept stable only through pax americana. Doing an afghan style withdrawal on a global scale will not only fuck every other country… it will fuck them more.

      But who are we kidding, this is just rhetoric. The moment this guy feels he has the power to tell other countries what to do, he absolutely will.

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
      42·
      16 days ago

      “I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,”

      What a weird thing for someone who served* in Iraq to say.

      *Vance served in Iraq the same way he fucks couches: from the rear.

      • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
        11·
        16 days ago

        He “served” in the PR office.

        Trying to manipulate public opinion and distort facts has been his entire career.

  • Konala Koala@lemmy.worldEnglish
    61·
    15 days ago

    While you can imagine “Tim Walz says US could support NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms”.

  • Jumi@lemmy.world
    23·
    15 days ago

    If Trump becomes president we should embargo the US like Russia since he’s Putins lapdog

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    62·
    16 days ago

    I don’t understand why the symbol of the Democratic Party is the donkey when JD Vance is a jackass every time he opens his mouth.

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
      762·
      16 days ago

      I think it’s Musk’s backers, the Russians who helped fund the twitter acquisition, who are really taking center stage.

      Lots of talk about Europe and NATO means they’re pushing hard for those talking points.