OPINION:
Europe is no longer the great place it once was. J.D. Vance raised a ruckus Friday when he dared acknowledge this, suggesting the continent should no longer be treated as a geopolitical equal.
The vice president spoke to the world’s foreign policy elite at the Munich Security Conference, expressing concern over the $183 billion America had spent in Ukraine since 2022. This vast sum was allocated to defend European democracy, but Mr. Vance isn’t sure Europeans still understand what the word means.
“To many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old, entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion,” he said.
Mr. Vance cited examples of people being arrested and jailed in Germany and Sweden for endorsing policies contrary to the prevailing wisdom. In England, a man was seized while silently praying outside an abortion facility.
Not that such blunders haven’t been repeated on our shores. It’s easy to forget that just a few months ago, several state Democratic officials sought to erase Donald Trump’s name from the ballot. The Biden administration did everything it could to imprison Mr. Trump.
The difference between what happened here and in Europe is that the American people resoundingly rejected these underhanded tactics by electing Mr. Vance and Mr. Trump.
“In America, you cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail — whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home or a journalist trying to report the news,” the vice president said.
European leaders are keen on silencing populist candidates whose surging popularity is based on stopping mass migration. Germany’s attempts to outlaw a leading political party, the AfD, have failed. Polls ahead of Sunday’s snap elections show the disfavored party is likely to double its influence in the Bundestag.
“I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns or, worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy,” Mr. Vance said.
The real power in Europe is wielded by bureaucrats in Brussels who aren’t held accountable at any ballot box. Questioning whether we will continue to defend such a system is a way to convince Europeans they must shoulder more of the burden for their protection.
With Department of Government Efficiency teams descending on the Pentagon, there are no more blank checks for U.S. defense contractors. Last week, Mr. Trump even floated the concept of striking a deal with Russia and China in which the three great military powers agreed to cut arms spending by half.
“There’s no reason for us to be spending almost a trillion dollars on the military,” the president said. He also announced his intention of brokering a deal ending the Russia-Ukraine war without Europe’s input.
Like his boss, Mr. Vance rejects the globalist mindset built around the assumption that all nations are inherently equal. Countries that fail to pull their weight in terms of defense spending will be locked out of negotiations. U.S. taxpayers might stop propping up the socialized economies of nations that spurn traditional Western values.
The new administration is done pretending.
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