Vice President JD Vance quipped that Europe could survive Elon Musk’s criticisms if the U.S. could “survive” climate activist Greta Thunberg’s.
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference largely critical of Europe’s censorship activities, the vice president insisted the gathered leaders should listen more to their voters.
“Trust me, I say this with all humor,” he said. “If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”
Thunberg, the 22-year-old Swedish environmental crusader, stole the spotlight among liberals over her climate concerns before she even turned 18.
VANCE EVISCERATES ‘SOVIET’-STYLE EUROPEAN CENSORSHIP IN ADDRESS TO MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE
Vice President JD Vance quipped that Europe can survive Elon Musk’s criticisms if the U.S. could ‘survive’ climate activist Greta Thunberg. (REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay)
“I know you are trying, but just not hard enough. Sorry,” Thunberg told a U.S. Senate climate panel in 2019.
“Don’t invite us here to just tell us how inspiring we are without actually doing anything about it,” she said at age 16.
“How long do you think you can continue to ignore the climate crisis, the global aspect of equity and historic emissions without being held accountable?” Thunberg asked U.S. lawmakers two years later before the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment.
GERMANY ACCUSES ELON MUSK OF TRYING TO INTERFERE IN ITS NATIONAL ELECTIONS
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is removed by police during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the Malmo Arena venue ahead of the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2024 on May 11, 2024. ((Photo by JOHAN NILSSON/TT/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images))
”You get away with it now, but sooner or later, people are going to realize what you have been doing all this time. That’s inevitable. You still have time to do the right thing and to save your legacies.”
Musk, meanwhile, has gone toe-to-toe with Europe over censorship, and the European Commission recently ramped up its probe into whether Musk’s X had breached EU rules on content moderation. Musk has called the commission “undemocractic” and called on the European Union to hold referendums to vote on policies that apply to all of its nations.
Musk has also riled European officials with his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany’s elections, and for endorsing Britain’s right-wing Reform party.
Musl riled European officials with his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany’s elections, and for endorsing Britain’s right-wing Reform party. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard)
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“It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything,” he said in a recent video appearance at an AfD campaign event.
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In a speech to European leaders, Vice President JD Vance said the continent’s recent censorship activities were a bigger threat to its existence than Russia.
“The threat that I worry the most about Vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China. It’s not any other external actor,” he said in an address 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.”
Vance called out former European Commissioner Thierry Breton who said in January that if the right wing German AfD party won elections in Germany, the results could go the way of Romania.
“These cavalier statements are shocking to American ears,” said Vance.
HEGSETH SAYS HE AND VANCE ARE ‘ON THE SAME PAGE’ DESPITE VP’S REMARK ON US TROOPS IN UKRAINE
Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance wave upon landing at Munich international airport, southern Germany, on February 13, 2025, one day before the start of the Munich Security Conference (MSC)(TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“For years we’ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy. But when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard.”
Romania annulled the results of its December presidential election because President Klaus Iohannis declassified intelligence reports alleging a Russian influence campaign on social media to the benefit of Calin Georgescu, the darkhorse candidate who won the most votes.
“You can believe it’s wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections. We certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage, even. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”
The vice president even called out the organizers of the Munich conference, who he said had “banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations.”
The conference barred the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the newly formed left-populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) for what MSC chair Christoph Heusgen described as a rejection of the conference’s principle of “peace through dialogue.” Heusgen said the tipping point was when lawmakers with the parties walked out of the room as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was addressing German parliament last June.
“The threat that I worry the most about Vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China. It’s not any other external actor,” Vice President Vance said.(REUTERS/Leah Millis)
“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 or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.”
He then said Europe had forgotten the lessons of the Cold War and the Soviet Union’s censorship policies.
“Within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. And consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections,” Vance said.
“Unfortunately, when I look at Europe today, it’s sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the Cold wars winners. I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they’ve judged to be ‘hateful content’ or to this very country where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of ‘combating misogyny on the internet.’”
“Most concerning,” according to Vance, is the United Kingdom.
“The backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the crosshairs.”
Vance recounted Adam Smith Connor, who was found guilty in October of breaching the local government’s Public Spaces Protection Order, after he stood outside an abortion facility nearly two years ago with his head bowed in silent prayer.
” I wish I could say that this was a fluke, a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But no,” said Vance.
VANCE WARNS US WILL USE SANCTIONS, MILITARY ACTION IF PUTIN DOESN’T AGREE TO UKRAINE PEACE DEAL: REPORT
US Vice President JD Vance delivers his speech during the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany on February 14, 2025. (THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)
The U.K. law suggests that those within the buffer zone of 200 meters of an abortion clinic cannot attempt to influence someone’s decision to access an abortion. Those who are in homes within the buffer zone cannot hang signs outside or shout anti-abortion messages that could be heard in range of the clinic.
Vance also called out Sweden, where Danish activist Rasmus Paludan was sentenced to four months in prison for burning copies of the Quran.
“Sweden’s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, ‘Grant,’ and I’m quoting, ‘a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief,’” said Vance.
Vance’s speech had veered away from what European leaders had been expecting to hear – details on President Donald Trump’s plan for peace between Russia and Ukraine and how to strengthen the NATO alliance.
“I’m sure you all came here prepared to talk about how exactly you intend to increase defense spending over the next few years in line with some new target,” said Vance.
“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, and certainly I think to many of the citizens of Europe, is what exactly it is that you’re defending yourselves for. “
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The vice president went on: “What is the positive vision that animates this shared security compact that we all believe is so important? And I believe deeply that there is no security If you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people.”
“The crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making. If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.”
Vice President JD Vance told world leaders in Paris that AI must be free from ideological bias, and that American tech wont be a censorship tool. (Credit: Reuters)
Vice President JD Vance told world leaders in Paris on Tuesday that the United States intends to remain the dominant force in artificial intelligence (AI) and warned that the European Union’s far tougher regulatory approach to the technology could cripple it.
Vance warned that the technology should be free from ideological bias and that President Donald Trump’s administration would ensure that the most powerful artificial intelligence systems would be built in the United States. He added that Washington wanted to partner with the world in the industry.
“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” said Vance, at his first scheduled trip abroad since taking office.
Vice President JD Vance told world leaders in Paris that the United States intends to remain the dominant force in AI and warned that the EU’s far tougher regulatory approach to the technology could cripple it. (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier / Reuters)
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“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off, and we’ll make every effort to encourage pro-growth AI policies and I’d like to see that deregulatory flavor making its way into a lot of the conversations at this conference.”
Vance was speaking at the AI Action Summit where world leaders, top tech executives and policymakers gathered to discuss the technology’s impact on global security, economics and governance. French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Shri Modi and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing were among those in attendance.
The summit comes weeks after Trump announced a new $500 billion AI infrastructure project called Stargate.
Vance said that Europe’s online privacy rules, known by the acronym GDPR, meant endless legal compliance costs for smaller firms.
European lawmakers last year approved the bloc’s AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology. Tech giants and some capitals are pushing for it to be enforced leniently.
Vice President JD Vance speaking at the summit on Tuesday. (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Vance has previously suggested the U.S. should reconsider its NATO commitments if European governments impose restrictions on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.
“Many of our most productive tech companies are forced to deal with the EU’s Digital Services Act and the mass of regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation,” Vance said.
“And of course, we want to ensure that the internet is a safe place, but it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation.
Vance said that hostile foreign adversaries have weaponized AI software to rewrite history, surveil users, censor speech and undermine other nations’ national security. He said the Trump administration will work to safeguard American AI and chip technologies from theft and misuse.
He also said American workers will be central to the United States’ policies on AI.
Vance said American workers will be central to the United States’ policies on AI. (iStock / iStock)
“We believe – and we will fight for policies that ensure – that AI is going to make our workers productive, and we expect that they will reap the rewards, with higher wages, better benefits and safer and more prosperous communities,” Vance said. “From law to medicine, manufacturing, the most immediate applications of AI almost all involved supplementing – not replacing – the work being done by Americans.”
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The U.S. and the U.K. did not sign the Paris AI Summit’s declaration entitled “Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence.”
The communiqué prioritizes “ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy, taking into account international frameworks for all” and “making AI sustainable for people and the planet.”
It wasn’t immediately clear why the U.S. and the U.K. did not sign up.
