Vance’s remarks were riddled with contradictions, not least because the United States has been an active participant — and often a guiding force — behind many of the very policies he condemns
The simple explanation is that the Trump administration would see their predecessors at 'unAmerican' and, therefore, see no need to acknowledge their role in what went before, because that era has come to an end. Until there are more political changes in Europe, the existing policies will continue. That's surely why Vance put the spotlight on Europe?
As for Trump, I hope he sees it that way, but quite the contrary, they should emphasize it explicitly through diplomatic channelsand publicly, and not leave people wondering after decades of hispredecessors' domination.
As Dan Hunn says, Trump and Vance clearly repudiated the Biden White House policies on Net Zero, free speech, big tech and government censorship etc.. Their whole campaign is a repudiation, so why do they have to apologise for the Biden regime? We all understand they have stood against it from day 1 of Trump's re-election bid. So no, not hypocritical. And it's one thing to exercise political leadership as Vance is doing, as opposed to simply dominate your political partners.
It also takes two to tango. Europe have been vassals not just because they are economically weaker but also because they have been ideologically weaker than America. It's up to European nations to break free, and I see in the various populist pushbacks emerging that there are groundswells of independent thought against the neoliberal narrative of the last 30 years.
Eve - honestly, ignore what they say and watch what they do.
While scolding the EU for following US orders, the Trump administration is threatening to deport foreign students for exercising free speech about Palestine.
And before you or anyone else argues that 'well, they aren't Americans, so the First Amendment doesn't count'—that's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution proclaims that these rights are God-given, and the government may not infringe upon them.
The previous administration, which Europe seems still to be very stupidly in love with. The previous administration, which scared the shit out of me with its reckless warmongering, neoconservatism, criminality, contempt for democracy and love of authoritarianism. I never thought I'd welcome a Trump administration, but I do (with reservations, of course).
The entire EU fell under the thrall of neoliberalism in the 1980s - Bill Clinton, Obama, and all the rest of the Davos-type WEF (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Global_Leaders) leaders are veritably worshipped here.
Hypocritical, sure, but contradictory? Europe has been and remains a vassal state of the US. Any contradiction is in the minds of the EU leaders, who seem to be deluded into thinking that they are somehow forging their own, independent (and of course more virtuous) path, and can't wrap their heads around the fact that "there is a new sheriff in town" with a radically new set of rules to be handed down to them.
The real tragedy is the way Europe went all in on the Biden administration's agenda - to the perfectly predictable destruction of Germany's economy and the erosion of freedom of expression and democratic values for bonus brownie points. Now that Europe has allowed the US to make Russia into their actual military enemy, instead of a trade partner fueling their economy, the new sheriff - or more like mob boss - Trump asks, hey why are we paying for your defense? You should be paying US for your protection. And so, Europe spirals down, with America grabbing their limp arm, slapping them across the face with it, and asking, "Why are you hitting yourself?"
Upon thinking more, I also wanted to note something about the threatened 'dissolution of NATO' and the multi-party whinging about the US paying for the EU's security...
The notion that the EU refuses to spend money on its defense, relying on US generosity, shows a remarkable ignorance of post-WWII history and current US military deployments. In fact, the US put limits on EU defense spending, using both carrots and sticks. Treaties and agreements vastly limited the rearmaments of Germany, Austria, and Italy. The limitations lasted well into the end of the 20th century.
Other current EU nations fell under Soviet hegemony and were likewise restrained from re-arming under the Soviet Union. The damage from the Second World War was profound enough that the rebuilding of many European nations is STILL not complete.
The post-war security agreements, in addition to limiting the speed of rearmament and limiting the military power and numbers of weapons and troops, also allowed for the establishment of an enormous and permanent US presence in these nations. Currently, there are 2 million US troops deployed across the EU and some 200 US military bases on European soil.
These troops aren't here because the EU requested them to be here. They are here because of US demands in the post-war period as a bulwark against Russia (who had sacrificed far more people in the fight against Nazism than any other nation.)
So, next time you hear someone scolding Europe for not 'paying for its own defence', remind them that this is by design, and in exchange for becoming permanent vassals of the US—and NOT because the EU is some sort of vast welfare state, too lazy to pay for its own security.
Having now read the actual speech online, it's clear that Vance did overtly call out America for the same political censorship nonsense. Vance said:
"Free speech, I fear, is in retreat and in the interests of comedy, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation. Misinformation, like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth."
And: "In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer them in the public square."
And: "Speaking up and expressing opinions isn’t election interference. Even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential – and trust me, I say this with all humour – if American democracy can survive ten years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk."
This is the best political speech I've read in decades. Of course Trump and Vance may turn out to be hypocrites. But here at least is a vision I can believe in and get behind.
However many valid criticisms of the EU and its policies Vance put forward, there is a certain irony in him extolling the virtues of free speech and dialogue when the Trump administration is taking action to silence anyone who speaks about Palestine or genocide, in their declared intention to deport ‘anti-semites’, as well as going after universities and the mostly young people protesting on a whole catalogue of issues.
Thank you for the balanced, insightful analysis. While everyone trips over themselves rushing to the front of the all-hail-our-new-overlords queue, yours is one of the only voices pointing out the uniparty behind the curtain: if Vance’s criticisms were real, he would have extended them to the US influence operations behind everything he attributed to our “allies”/vassals.
Thank you for this. I read an article by Taibbi, praising this speech - and my entire thought was 'wait a minute - the EU was acting, in all these cases, under the direction of their US masters.'
But isn't it obvious by now, Thomas, that "America" is not one single thing, but that we divided into two bitterly opposed factions--the "American Tories" ridiculed by Franklin Roosevelt, versus the patriots who won our Revolution and Civil War? What you think are inconsistencies in "American" policy, are simply results of that fact that our faction has taken over again under President Trump.
The transition from a unipolar world to a multi-polar world is not synonymous with the removal of imperialism or giving up hegemony. It simply means a change from one large bully dictating everything to the class to multiple bullies each dictating to a smaller circle around each of them. As they say, it is a matter of sphere of influence. I don't see the USA leaving Europe, only to spend less money in Europe, such as reducing military forces stationed in Europe. Until the Europeans decide to behave otherwise, they are still vassals.
As other comments have pointed out, the inconsistency which the article purports to find in the speech of VP Vance does not reflect an internal contradiction of the Trump administration, but an internal cleavage of American society. Vance might have well said that the worst enemy of America in within America, namely, the liberal elites associated with the Democratic Party.
The real internal contradiction might actually be with the position of Thomas Fazi, who routinely pleads for a dissolution of the European Union and a return to fully sovereign nation-stares, without pausing for a moment to consider the question of which real sovereignty such nation-states could enjoy in the era of Trump, Xi and Putin: the sovereignty to decide the shape of bananas?
This war, immigration and woke are psychological operations that created the blindness which allowed the looting of the richest country in the history of the world. Billions have been stolen from us and it is stashed somewhere. I suspect in some an underground system that is loaded and ready to go. Woke, hideously fat generals and dumbass bureaucrats scared the crap out of Putin. Stupid in every way, the war, immigration and woke are cover for the steal of all history. We have been robbed of our national treasure. Those billions are going to be used and it will not be for good. Time is not in our side. I suggest the world’s largest finders fee. We need the whole planet sleuthing this. There is no black hole. Somebody has the money? Who/what and where?
Thank you. A great article to remind us of Europe’s vassal state relationship with the USA. If I am not mistaken, Vance referred at some point about US policy actions as ‘supporting democracy in Ukraine’. I now think back to what happened in Sept 2022 (which most observers have now forgotten about and no vassal state politicians are allowed to investigate) with the terror attack on Nordstream II. Here in Germany an important supply of cheap energy suddenly disappeared. The net result of this was the USA benefitted by finding new customers in Europe for its gas. German and European industry is made less competitive. So the US strategy of global dominance wherever it can get away with it continues unabated and that is even without going into the atrocities in the Middle East.
The simple explanation is that the Trump administration would see their predecessors at 'unAmerican' and, therefore, see no need to acknowledge their role in what went before, because that era has come to an end. Until there are more political changes in Europe, the existing policies will continue. That's surely why Vance put the spotlight on Europe?
As for Trump, I hope he sees it that way, but quite the contrary, they should emphasize it explicitly through diplomatic channelsand publicly, and not leave people wondering after decades of hispredecessors' domination.
As Dan Hunn says, Trump and Vance clearly repudiated the Biden White House policies on Net Zero, free speech, big tech and government censorship etc.. Their whole campaign is a repudiation, so why do they have to apologise for the Biden regime? We all understand they have stood against it from day 1 of Trump's re-election bid. So no, not hypocritical. And it's one thing to exercise political leadership as Vance is doing, as opposed to simply dominate your political partners.
It also takes two to tango. Europe have been vassals not just because they are economically weaker but also because they have been ideologically weaker than America. It's up to European nations to break free, and I see in the various populist pushbacks emerging that there are groundswells of independent thought against the neoliberal narrative of the last 30 years.
Eve - honestly, ignore what they say and watch what they do.
While scolding the EU for following US orders, the Trump administration is threatening to deport foreign students for exercising free speech about Palestine.
And before you or anyone else argues that 'well, they aren't Americans, so the First Amendment doesn't count'—that's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution proclaims that these rights are God-given, and the government may not infringe upon them.
The previous administration, which Europe seems still to be very stupidly in love with. The previous administration, which scared the shit out of me with its reckless warmongering, neoconservatism, criminality, contempt for democracy and love of authoritarianism. I never thought I'd welcome a Trump administration, but I do (with reservations, of course).
The entire EU fell under the thrall of neoliberalism in the 1980s - Bill Clinton, Obama, and all the rest of the Davos-type WEF (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Global_Leaders) leaders are veritably worshipped here.
Hypocritical, sure, but contradictory? Europe has been and remains a vassal state of the US. Any contradiction is in the minds of the EU leaders, who seem to be deluded into thinking that they are somehow forging their own, independent (and of course more virtuous) path, and can't wrap their heads around the fact that "there is a new sheriff in town" with a radically new set of rules to be handed down to them.
The real tragedy is the way Europe went all in on the Biden administration's agenda - to the perfectly predictable destruction of Germany's economy and the erosion of freedom of expression and democratic values for bonus brownie points. Now that Europe has allowed the US to make Russia into their actual military enemy, instead of a trade partner fueling their economy, the new sheriff - or more like mob boss - Trump asks, hey why are we paying for your defense? You should be paying US for your protection. And so, Europe spirals down, with America grabbing their limp arm, slapping them across the face with it, and asking, "Why are you hitting yourself?"
Well put!
Upon thinking more, I also wanted to note something about the threatened 'dissolution of NATO' and the multi-party whinging about the US paying for the EU's security...
The notion that the EU refuses to spend money on its defense, relying on US generosity, shows a remarkable ignorance of post-WWII history and current US military deployments. In fact, the US put limits on EU defense spending, using both carrots and sticks. Treaties and agreements vastly limited the rearmaments of Germany, Austria, and Italy. The limitations lasted well into the end of the 20th century.
Other current EU nations fell under Soviet hegemony and were likewise restrained from re-arming under the Soviet Union. The damage from the Second World War was profound enough that the rebuilding of many European nations is STILL not complete.
The post-war security agreements, in addition to limiting the speed of rearmament and limiting the military power and numbers of weapons and troops, also allowed for the establishment of an enormous and permanent US presence in these nations. Currently, there are 2 million US troops deployed across the EU and some 200 US military bases on European soil.
These troops aren't here because the EU requested them to be here. They are here because of US demands in the post-war period as a bulwark against Russia (who had sacrificed far more people in the fight against Nazism than any other nation.)
So, next time you hear someone scolding Europe for not 'paying for its own defence', remind them that this is by design, and in exchange for becoming permanent vassals of the US—and NOT because the EU is some sort of vast welfare state, too lazy to pay for its own security.
Having now read the actual speech online, it's clear that Vance did overtly call out America for the same political censorship nonsense. Vance said:
"Free speech, I fear, is in retreat and in the interests of comedy, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation. Misinformation, like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth."
And: "In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer them in the public square."
And: "Speaking up and expressing opinions isn’t election interference. Even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential – and trust me, I say this with all humour – if American democracy can survive ten years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk."
This is the best political speech I've read in decades. Of course Trump and Vance may turn out to be hypocrites. But here at least is a vision I can believe in and get behind.
However many valid criticisms of the EU and its policies Vance put forward, there is a certain irony in him extolling the virtues of free speech and dialogue when the Trump administration is taking action to silence anyone who speaks about Palestine or genocide, in their declared intention to deport ‘anti-semites’, as well as going after universities and the mostly young people protesting on a whole catalogue of issues.
Thank you for the balanced, insightful analysis. While everyone trips over themselves rushing to the front of the all-hail-our-new-overlords queue, yours is one of the only voices pointing out the uniparty behind the curtain: if Vance’s criticisms were real, he would have extended them to the US influence operations behind everything he attributed to our “allies”/vassals.
Thank you for this. I read an article by Taibbi, praising this speech - and my entire thought was 'wait a minute - the EU was acting, in all these cases, under the direction of their US masters.'
But isn't it obvious by now, Thomas, that "America" is not one single thing, but that we divided into two bitterly opposed factions--the "American Tories" ridiculed by Franklin Roosevelt, versus the patriots who won our Revolution and Civil War? What you think are inconsistencies in "American" policy, are simply results of that fact that our faction has taken over again under President Trump.
The transition from a unipolar world to a multi-polar world is not synonymous with the removal of imperialism or giving up hegemony. It simply means a change from one large bully dictating everything to the class to multiple bullies each dictating to a smaller circle around each of them. As they say, it is a matter of sphere of influence. I don't see the USA leaving Europe, only to spend less money in Europe, such as reducing military forces stationed in Europe. Until the Europeans decide to behave otherwise, they are still vassals.
As other comments have pointed out, the inconsistency which the article purports to find in the speech of VP Vance does not reflect an internal contradiction of the Trump administration, but an internal cleavage of American society. Vance might have well said that the worst enemy of America in within America, namely, the liberal elites associated with the Democratic Party.
The real internal contradiction might actually be with the position of Thomas Fazi, who routinely pleads for a dissolution of the European Union and a return to fully sovereign nation-stares, without pausing for a moment to consider the question of which real sovereignty such nation-states could enjoy in the era of Trump, Xi and Putin: the sovereignty to decide the shape of bananas?
This war, immigration and woke are psychological operations that created the blindness which allowed the looting of the richest country in the history of the world. Billions have been stolen from us and it is stashed somewhere. I suspect in some an underground system that is loaded and ready to go. Woke, hideously fat generals and dumbass bureaucrats scared the crap out of Putin. Stupid in every way, the war, immigration and woke are cover for the steal of all history. We have been robbed of our national treasure. Those billions are going to be used and it will not be for good. Time is not in our side. I suggest the world’s largest finders fee. We need the whole planet sleuthing this. There is no black hole. Somebody has the money? Who/what and where?
Thank you. A great article to remind us of Europe’s vassal state relationship with the USA. If I am not mistaken, Vance referred at some point about US policy actions as ‘supporting democracy in Ukraine’. I now think back to what happened in Sept 2022 (which most observers have now forgotten about and no vassal state politicians are allowed to investigate) with the terror attack on Nordstream II. Here in Germany an important supply of cheap energy suddenly disappeared. The net result of this was the USA benefitted by finding new customers in Europe for its gas. German and European industry is made less competitive. So the US strategy of global dominance wherever it can get away with it continues unabated and that is even without going into the atrocities in the Middle East.
This clip I think perfectly sums up the US relationship with the German vassal state http://shortxxvids.com/big-brother/government/nordstream-sabotage-whodunnit-feb-2023/