To say that Americans of all walks of life have an opinion about J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, would be a gross understatement. Ever since Trump announced Vance as his V.P. nominee, hot-takes about the senator have been everywhere. Democrats were revolted, with one calling the selection “a direct threat to American values and rights.” Republican voters and delegates were largely happy with the choice.
Outside of the United States, officials, leaders, and opinion-makers are still trying to come to grips with a relatively unknown man who isn’t known for his foreign policy chops. Elected to the Senate in 2022, Vance’s work has centered largely on hyper-local issues in his home state of Ohio, such as ensuring U.S. steel isn’t taken over by foreign companies and holding the federal government accountable for cleaning up the toxic chemical spill in East Palestine. Vance doesn’t serve on any national security committees.
What we do know comes from his comments to the press and the speeches he has delivered at places like the Heritage Foundation and the Munich Security Conference. Most European officials don’t like what they hear.
Vance isn’t shy about expressing his displeasure with Europe’s tendency to lean on the U.S., a theme Trump has brought up incessantly going back to his infamous 1990 Playboy interview. On the war in Ukraine specifically, Vance is highly vocal about his opposition to more U.S. aid to Kyiv—not because he has an affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin but rather because he thinks it’s akin to throwing money down a rat hole. Writing in The New York Times in April, Vance argued that Ukraine’s military needs are so extensive that the U.S. defense industrial complex couldn’t possibly keep up. And the more weapons and ammunition the U.S. does give to Ukraine, the less the U.S. can provide to Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to incorporate into the Chinese mainland.
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