Munich (TDI): US Vice President JD Vance has launched a brutal ideological assault on Europe, accusing its leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running in fear from voters’ true beliefs.
In a chastising speech on Friday that openly questioned whether current European values warranted defence by the United States, he painted a picture of European politics infected by media censorship, cancelled elections and political correctness, The Guardian reported.
Arguing that the true threat to Europe stemmed not from foreign actors such as Russia or China, but Europe’s own internal retreat from some of its “most fundamental values”, he repeatedly questioned whether the United States and Europe any longer had a shared agenda.
Vance stated, “What I worry about is the threat from within.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Vance had been expected to address the critical question of the Ukraine war and security differences between US and Europe.
Instead, he widely skated over these to give a lecture on what he claimed was Europe’s failure to listen to the populist concerns of voters.
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The vice president said of Donald Trump’s re-election: “There is a new sheriff in town.”
The blistering and confrontational remarks were met with shock at the moot and were later condemned by the EU and Germany, while drawing appreciation from Russian state television.
They signalled a deepening of the transatlantic differences beyond contrasting perceptions of Russia to an even deeper societal rupture about values and the nature of democracy.
Vance said: “If you fear the voices, opinions and conscience of your own people. If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing US can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the US people.”
Accusing European politicians, and the organisers of the Munich Security Conference, of refusing to address matters such as migration, he urged a shocked and largely silent hall in Munich to realise they should not exclude politicians representing populist parties.
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“People dismissing voters’ concerns, censoring down their media, protects nothing. It is the fastest way to undermine democracy,” he added.
