The Daily Populous Saturday February 15th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by huffpost.com and submitted by ObjectiveAd6551

JD Vance could have attempted a “charm offensive” when he spoke at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Instead, the vice president chose to emphasize the “offensive” by claiming that the greatest threat facing America’s European allies wasn’t from Russia and China but “from within.”

Vance also downplayed the threat of election interference from those countries. “You can believe it’s wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections ... 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,” he said at one point.

Later, Vance said “expressing opinions isn’t election interference even when people express views outside your own country and even when those people are very influential.”

He added that “if American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius later called Vance’s remarks “unacceptable.”

“If I understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes,” Pistorius said, according to The Associated Press. “That is unacceptable, and it is not the Europe and not the democracy in which I live and am currently campaigning.”

Vance also said that “if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you,” The AP reported.

Pistorius may have found Vance’s comments especially problematic since the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is in second place ahead of a national election scheduled for Feb. 23.

AfD is supported by 20% of Germans even though members of mainstream parties have vowed not to work with the party ― a stance AP says is known as “a firewall.”

During his speech, The AP reported, Vance insisted that “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters,” while adding, “There’s no room for firewalls.”

Vance’s speech was brutally mocked on various social media platforms ― and many people noted the tepid reaction he got from his fellow conference attendees.

The falseness of Vance even jokingly comparing a teenage activist with the power that the world’s richest man empowered by Trump to dismantle the US govt and pursue his private agenda is evident for all to see https://t.co/YKh63yhb6E — Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 14, 2025

JD Vance in Munich is like the intern who gets invited to a conference where he tries to dominate a conversation with actual experts on a topic because he once read an article on it for a class assignment. — Jeh Jager from the musky dark site (@bloomingiris.bsky.social) 2025-02-14T19:10:29.270Z

BREAKING: JD Vance suffers a humiliating moment on the world stage, as only 3 people clapped at his failed attempt to minimize the damaging impact Russian meddling can have on a country's democratic elections.

The Trump Admin is a huge embarrassment.pic.twitter.com/OJ6xWztCgI — Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) February 14, 2025

"I'm not here to make friends," says man with no friends. — Martin Calladine (@uglygame.bsky.social) 2025-02-14T19:09:04.491Z

Why don't you condemn Russians interfering in our elections instead of making excuses for them? — Dog House Show (@Dog_House_Show) February 14, 2025

Jesus Christ he’s literally just a controlled Russian puppet — Cabot Montana (@BigSkyDairyKing) February 14, 2025

He has opted to justify Russia's election interference worldwide rather than denouncing it. — 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢 (@ChidiNwatu) February 14, 2025

So if the propaganda works, bravo? @JDVance — ReSergent (@resergent) February 14, 2025

Ah yes, the timeless argument—'it’s just opinions, bro!' Apparently, openly meddling in other countries' affairs is fine as long as it benefits their own agenda. The audience groaning says it all. Maybe Vance should take a hint and spare Europe his Musk-apologist nonsense. Nobody… — Ultramõrd Sillu (@suunasolkija) February 14, 2025

JD Vance presented an inverted mirror image of Europe at the Munich Security Conference. This is exactly what Steve Bannon worked to establish along with a weaving together of far right dictators. America is no longer a democracy - look at what is happening there. And they want to destroy Europe. — (@1-theyshallnotpass.bsky.social) 2025-02-14T19:08:55.745Z

Signed_LCF on February 15th, 2025 at 13:05 UTC »

The USA has become a shithole country. Incredible to live through and see in real-time.

Brilliant-Job5671 on February 15th, 2025 at 12:03 UTC »

Not only do i agree with Bill Burr but i think his list should be expanded to Tech-bros

TheLoyalTR8R on February 15th, 2025 at 12:00 UTC »

Republicans only believe in election interference when they're losing. If they've won there's no way it could possibly be worth looking into.

Which should tell you everything anyone needs to know about them.