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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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
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
Its a race to the bottom as the police and surveillance states of the entire NATO block fill to bursting.
Vance is bitching because an American company got on the wrong side of the European security state today. Tomorrow, he’ll be clamoring to shut down the BBC or to censor some German metal band for being critical of his Dear Leader.
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.
What makes Europe free speech more free than ours?
The gist: While free speech is a constitutional right in both the US and most European countries, free speech is now controlled to a large degree by social media companies in the US.
Here’s a good, short recap of a longer study on the subject from a US scholar: https://news.ku.edu/news/article/2020/01/11/study-analyzes-american-other-free-speech-traditions-suggests-inevitable-clashes
“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 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
Encouraging assassinations of the current elected president and VP should really earn him the chance to see the inside of a jail cell. Even for a few days while they question him. I think that would be good for everyone involved.
This might be the dumbest thing a candidate in this race has said and that bar is pretty high considering Trump might think political asylum and insane asylums are the same thing.
This might be the dumbest thing a candidate in this race has said
I’ve given up trying to rank the stupidity level of the various claims and statements Trump and people connected to him have made.
It’s all just toxic garbage.
They are eating Dawgs!
Did you see the part where he questioned where Haitian people are from and said we would send them back to Venezuela? And his running mate said they are from Haitia?
If Trump becomes president we should embargo the US like Russia since he’s Putins lapdog
Isn’t this in regards to an unofficial letter sent by 1 politician?
And doesn’t that letter talk about banning disinformation?
Also, why is this kid threatening other nations (by weakening them) when they want to protect their people from this kind of influence?
It’s happened to us, so it must happen to you!
It shouldn’t happen to anyone.
Almost like they’re looking for an excuse to hang NATO out to dry.
I’m glad he is such a bad running mate. He doesn’t have a single redeeming quality… God help us if these people get the white house (again), but everyone involved seems to be trying their hardest to prevent that.
EU can straight up send Elon on a one way ticket to space and I hope the US does nothing
We don’t need the USA anymore
NATO membership benefits US interests in so many ways, it’s ridiculous how quickly the Republicans have become a total party of quislings
fuck the republican party and especially fuck elon musk.
That’s a bold move, Cotton, taking on the MIC, let’s see how this works out.
While you can imagine “Tim Walz says US could support NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms”.
Stop outing the populist fearmonger!
How can that be the populist fearmonger when Elon Musk needs to have his shit investigated and regulated?
