JD Vance has suggested that American support for NATO should be predicated on the European Union not regulating Elon Musk and his X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
The Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio senator claimed in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan that a top EU official had threatened to arrest the billionaire if he allowed former President Donald Trump back on X.
“The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said, ‘We’re going to arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,’ who, by the way, is the likely next president of the United States,” Vance said in the interview published last week.
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So what America should be saying is, if NATO wants us to continue supporting them and NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?
JD, buddy, what you don’t understand is that Europe’s free speech is far more free than the US.
Americans have a tendency to think they have everything and everyone else has nothing. Until we go somewhere else and discover it’s the other way around.
JD: But Germany banned the Nazi symbol! One of the few free speech things I care about!
Europe’s free speech is far more free than the US
But not Europes FREEZEPEACH™! And freezepeach is all that matters
Americans have a tendency to think they have everything and everyone else has nothing. Until we go somewhere else and discover it’s the other way around.
Obviously healthcare and education are things they are pretty much guaranteed that we don’t have. They have better worker protections. I mean I’m not against gun rights, but what we have in the States is an embarrassment. I’m sure there are several other issues that I’m not thinking of right now or don’t know about, but I didn’t know we had worse free speech than Europe.
What makes Europe free speech more free than ours?
What makes the US have more free speech?
Legally all EU countries have freedom of expression enshrined in their constitutions.
Culturally I find Americans blind to any non governmental censorship. Since it’s legal its OK.I believe not allowing private companies to censor people is absurdly considered a violation of free speech.
There are obvious results as well: the US is way less politically diverse.
I’m not who you asked, but I often think of supression tactics against forms of free speech used in the US that some countries in the EU do less. Not all of them (UK online speech policing and arrests as a counterexample), but voter supression, union busting, and law enforcement response to protests have been handled in various countries in ways I consider more free for the citizens.
TLDR: Intimidation tactics and biased response happens less in other countries.
It’s an amazing thing to say you can abandon a military Alliance because a campaign donor ask you to.
That’s just how the Trumpies do business. “Give me what I want or I’m leaving” is how Trump claimed he renegotiated NAFTA and reworked the US / China trade relationship and was allegedly going to forge an Amazing Massive Incredibly Lucrative New Deal with the then-Brexit-ing UK.
Far more often than not, the renegotiation just involves bribing Trump and his immediate crony base of support in order to leave existing policies alone. That is, incidentally, how Trump left the back door to Mexico open for Chinese EV imports, despite claiming it was the bestest renegotiation of a trade deal in the history of ever.
If Vance is ever in a position of authority, there’s little doubt he’ll be at some NATO summit demanding everyone in Germany buy a copy of Hillbilly Elegy in order to get him to STFU about a pull out.
“ask” he he he
If Trump becomes president we should embargo the US like Russia since he’s Putins lapdog
Musk’s donations to the Trump campaign taking center stage.
I think it’s Musk’s backers, the Russians who helped fund the twitter acquisition, who are really taking center stage.
Lots of talk about Europe and NATO means they’re pushing hard for those talking points.
it was the saudi’s not russians who backed the twitter accusation
“the twitter accusation”?
Did google translate barf on ya? Anyway, you’re both right: https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/2a00ce74-6d58-4f8e-bc2c-1bb820ee4705.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_10
Plus those wiley Canadian banks and some douchebag named “Larry Ellison”
We don’t need the USA anymore
“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,”
So he’s not just a weird couch fucker, he’s also totally ignorant of US foreign policy over the last hundred years.
“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,”
What a weird thing for someone who served* in Iraq to say.
*Vance served in Iraq the same way he fucks couches: from the rear.
He “served” in the PR office.
Trying to manipulate public opinion and distort facts has been his entire career.
The gall of saying, that entirely different culture that’s been around for longer than our country, they should have our same values, right after calling them backwoods countries. The extreme narcissist egoism is palpable and disgusting.
He didn’t call the Europeans “backwoods countries”. He called those other places that. He specifically says that European countries should be more like us, for all the
whiteright reasons…
The same Elon Musk who asked why no one is trying to assassinate Harris/Biden? Maybe using your huge platform to become a national security threat should result in sanctions.
The fact that he’s so rich because of government contracts is infuriating
“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.
The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.
😂😂😂
“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives, but I’m going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives!”
Hate and Ignorance: The American Way™
You mispronounced republiQan
WOAH there, slow down a bit.
He would never go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives.
He will send OTHER people, no point in getting his shoes dirty by actually going there.
It’s an American tradition.
NATO and EU overlap, but are different.
I didn’t know we need to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms. Now I do!
The fact checking in this article is perfect lol
“So what America should be saying is, if NATO wants us to continue supporting them and NATO wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?” Vance asked. “It’s insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech. I think we can do both. But we’ve got to say American power comes with certain strings attached. One of those is respect free speech, especially in our European allies.”
Musk has been accused of banning several journalists since taking over Twitter, now X.
“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.”
The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.
EU can straight up send Elon on a one way ticket to space and I hope the US does nothing
On a boeing product plze
He must have shouted that quote so that the interviewer could hear him with his head so far up Elon’s ass
While you can imagine “Tim Walz says US could support NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms”.
