In a blistering speech on Friday, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance told European leaders โthere is a new sheriff in town under Donald Trumpโs leadershipโ and warned governments that internal threats to democracy, like election cancellations and censorship, are greater threats to their countries than external antagonists like China and Russia.
โThe threat that I worry the most about vis-ร -vis Europe is not Russia, itโs not China, itโs not any other external actor,โ Vance said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference. โWhat I worry about is the threat from within โ the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.
โIโve heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from and of course, thatโs important. But what has seemed a little bit less clear to me โฆ is what exactly youโre defending yourselves for?โ
In his own remarks to the conference, Vance lectured European officials on free speech and illegal migration on the continent, warning elected officials that they risk losing public support if they donโt quickly change course.
He specifically targeted the December 2024ย cancellation of Romaniaโs elections, which were annulled by the countryโs top court after accusations of Russian meddling, dismissing worries of disinformation as โugly Soviet-era words.โ
โDismissing people, dismissing their concerns โฆ shutting down media, shutting down elections โฆ protects nothing. It is the most surefire way to destroy democracy,โ he said.
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โIf youโre running in fear of your own voters thereโs nothing America can do for you.โ
The vice-president also warned the European officials against illegal migration, saying the electorate didnโt vote to open โfloodgates to millions of unvetted immigrantsโ and referencing an attack Thursday in Munich where the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan who arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in 2016.
He stressed that Europe must โstep upโ in managing its own security, taking a combative tone during a time of increasing transatlantic discord around trade, defence and other issues.
And despite Trumpโs top alliesโ repeated attacks on journalists, Democrats and perceived critics, Vance hit out at his bossโ predecessor, former president Joe Biden, who Vance said โseemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds.โ
โThere is a new sheriff in town under Donald Trumpโs leadership,โ Vance said. โWe may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square. Agree or disagree.โ
NBC News reports the vice-presidentโs comments โwere met with an icy reception and only scattered applause.โ
The future of Ukraine was at the top of the agenda in Munich after a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, where they pledged to work together to end the conflict, but Vance did not bring it up.
Instead, he said Brussels had shut down social media over hateful content, and criticized Germany for what he described as raids against its own citizens for posting anti-feminist comments, Sweden for convicting a Christian activist and the United Kingdom for backsliding on religious rights.
The vice-presidentโs speech sparked immediate criticism in Europe.
โVanceโs attack on European democracy in Munich, perversely twisting the language of democracy itself should leave no doubt whatsoever that the aim of this administration is to destroy the EU and its liberal democracies,โ Nathalie Tocci, director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali think tank, told Reuters.
Responding to Vanceโs speech, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told the conference: โIf I understood him correctly, he is comparing parts of Europe with authoritarian regimes. This is not acceptable.โ
โWith files from Reuters and The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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