My exchange with JD Vance

The Vice President responded to my recent article about his Munich speech

US Vice President JD Vance was gracious enough to respond on X to my recent article in which I offered some critiques of his widely discussed speech in Munich.

In the piece I wrote that as much as I share many of the points raised by Vance about the authoritarian and anti-democratic drift in European politics — indeed, most of my work is dedicated to exposing precisely that — I couldn’t help but feel that his talk left out an important part of the story: that the United States has been an active participant — and often a guiding force — behind many of the very policies he condemned.

While Vance’s attack on European authoritarianism is compelling, his omission of the US role in these developments is just as notable. The case of Romania illustrates this perfectly. As the entrepreneur and political commentator Arnaud Bertrand pointed out on X, it was the US State Department that first issued a statement expressing concern over Russian involvement, two days before the Romanian constitutional court annulled the election. American involvement also extends to the crucial role played by US-funded NGOs in orchestrating this unprecedented judicial intervention.

In short, the EU didn’t act independently: it followed the US’s lead. It’s therefore a bit rich for Vance to lecture the Europeans about democratic backsliding without acknowledging America’s instrumental role in setting the precedent. The same applies to censorship policies. Much of the EU’s approach to online censorship was developed in close coordination with American agencies and tech companies. The current Brussels content moderation framework is not a uniquely European creation — it was heavily influenced by American practices and pressures, particularly in the wake of US concerns over “disinformation”.

Indeed, as former US State Department official Mike Benz has highlighted, NATO — an organisation largely steered by Washington — has been instrumental in developing a the “anti-disinformation” framework that has significantly influenced global internet censorship policies. Vance completely ignores this reality as well, portraying Europe as the sole architect of policies that were, in fact, transatlantically coordinated — if not led by the US.

More broadly, it is important to recognise that the feebleness of today’s European leadership is not incidental. It is, in part, the result of decades of US efforts to keep Europe in a state of strategic vassalage and subordination. Washington has consistently cultivated European politicians willing to prioritise American interests over those of their own nations and citizens. This broader context is also completely absent from Vance’s speech.

Here’s how Vance responded on X:

This is an odd criticism, and makes it seem like you read the social media clips but not the full speech. Here’s actual line from the speech, right after I went through the litany of free speech issues in Europe: “Free speech, I fear, is in retreat and in the interests of comity, 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. So I come here today not just with an observation, but with an offer. And just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that”. I explicitly called out the previous administration’s role in censorship, rejected it, and encouraged European allies to work together on a new approach.

And here’s my response:

Mr Vice President — thanks a lot for taking your time to comment the article. I don’t deny that your administration’s commitment to taking a different approach on these issues vis-à-vis Europe is genuine. My point is that the pitiful state of European policy/leadership isn’t just the result of homegrown problems (which are plentiful) or even just of the previous administration — it’s also the result of decades of US efforts to keep Europe in a state of strategic subordination, economically, politically and militarily. You’ll recall, for example, that during his first administration Mr Trump played a key role in trying to derail the Nord Stream project, a sovereign decision by the German government — a goal that was finally achieved by the Biden administration (BTW, it would be great if your administration could declassify all documents related to the NS sabotage!). The dangerous infantilisation of our political class is partly a result of these US longstanding efforts to exercise its influence over Europe under the guise of benevolent tutelage. As much as I would like to see European governments more aligned on the new administration’s stance on issues like Ukraine and censorship, the fact remains that if this were to occur simply because “there is a new sheriff in town” we wouldn’t be addressing the root cause of Europe’s problems — the psychological subordination of our elites to Washington. We need to solve our continent’s problems by ourselves — and freeing ourselves from US control, eighty years after WW2, is part of that process.

Despite our disagreements, one thing is undeniable: under the previous administration — or virtually any administration — it would have been unthinkable for a top government official to take the time to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with a critical journalist. This, more than anything else, marks a real break from the past — one that is both significant and welcome.

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Thomas Fazi

Website: thomasfazi.net

Twitter: @battleforeurope

Latest book: The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor—A Critique from the Left (co-authored with Toby Green)