Vance berates European leaders as tensions with close allies burst into the open

Vice President JD Vance publicly berated European leaders on a host of issues from free speech to security and mass migration, as simmering tensions between the United States and its close allies boiled over at an international conference in Munich on Friday.

Vice President JD Vance publicly berated European leaders on a host of issues from free speech to security and mass migration, as simmering tensions between the United States and its close allies boiled over at an international conference in Munich on Friday.

The vice president used the podium at the high-level security gathering that had been focusing on the invasion of Ukraine and the threat Russia poses to Europe and the rest of the world to raise social issues animating many on the American right.

"The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any external actor," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "What I worry about is the threat from within — the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America."

He added: “I’ve heard a lot about what you need to defend yourselves from and of course, that’s important. But what has seemed a little bit less clear to me ... is what exactly you’re defending yourselves for?”

The vice president's comments were met with an icy reception and only scattered applause — and groans when he joked about how if American democracy could "survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/vance-ukraine-russia-deal-trump-military-tools-rcna192182

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