JD Vance Isn’t Joking

JD VANCE ISN’T JOKING

A less appreciated takeaway from the leaked dudes + Tulsi chat fiasco is something Americans don’t commonly see: Politicians and political leaders speaking in private the way they speak in public.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called Europe’s “free-loading … PATHETIC.” That was in response to when Vice President JD Vance questioned to what degree Trump had been talked into the impending strikes on the Houthi rebels. He said such an action – “bailing out” Europe – broke with Washington’s recent posture that Brussels ought to start pulling its own weight.

Of course, Europe saw all this and shrieked like teenaged girls. Nevermind that we bailed them out anyway, striking the Houthis, keeping European-dominated shipping lanes defended. They’re still worried. They should be.

“The anger that European diplomats have towards JD Vance is that he actually means what he says that Europe is a reckless set of freeloaders,” wrote Matt Stoller, a center-left economic analyst and one-time MSNBC producer.

“European diplomats are horrified someone is publicly honest about their fecklessness … instead of being a nice lying club member.”

The lead of a Wall Street Journal article pretty much sums it up.

“European leaders had hoped that Vice President JD Vance’s antagonism was a political show to build domestic support.”

Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Brussels: JD Vance isn’t joking.

His public persona is not merely fan service until he gets on the fairway with European elites. His political ideology is not a pair of pressed pants he hangs in a closet beside his desk, to be taken out and donned 15 minutes prior to an event.

He means what he says.

Europe better plan to start ponying up for its own defense. Ever traveled there, Dear Reader? The whole continent conducts itself like it’s living a whimsical college girl’s “gap year,” except it’s permanent, and we’re paying for it. Like my mother said about me getting a job: Europe, buddy, this is for your own good.

And, for whatever it’s worth, I don’t think Vance’s vision is a complete and utter severance. Just a dialing down.

How else can we afford to counter Chinese ambitions? Or win the Star Wars competition in space? How can we afford to buy Greenland if we’re still writing checks for Europe’s car payment?

And we’re not joking about Greenland either.

Vance is on his way there right now.

AUTHOR

Geoffrey Ingersoll

Editor at Large. Geoffrey Ingersoll graduated from Penn State in 2004 and quickly achieved becoming a Teach For America reject. He then enlisted in the Marines as a writer. He enrolled in NYU’s graduate journalism program after his honorable discharge in 2009, discovering in the process that Greenwich Village is scarier than Baghdad. Geoffrey has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, the Korean DMZ, and New Jersey.

RELATED VIDEO: New U.S. Marine Corps Ad Featuring Vice President a former Marine JD Vance

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