Washington (AFP) – In lighting the match that set off an extraordinary public clash with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, US Vice President JD Vance has again shown his steely determination in pushing his “America First” worldview. The Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Zelensky was bound to be awkward due to the two presidents’ tense history and opposing views, but started off on comparatively civil terms, as they discussed plans for a minerals deal.
More than half an hour after media started recording, Vance spoke up and urged a turn to diplomacy over war — moving Zelensky to explain how Russia has violated earlier deals. Vance, speaking with sangfroid from the facing couch, then told Zelensky that he was being “disrespectful” and that he should have come to the White House to thank Trump. Trump, not one to tolerate questioning of his authority, soon raised his voice with Zelensky and warned him that he had to accept a deal with Russia or be abandoned by the United States. Zelensky, in a later interview on Fox News, voiced hope at ending the rift. But he made clear how he felt about Vance’s role. The two presidents can answer questions but “with all due respect to the vice president, I mean, he has his (own) interviews,” Zelensky said.
– ‘Too radical’ –
Vance, as a senator, famously said he did not care what happened to Ukraine. After Trump picked him as his running mate, Zelensky told The New Yorker that Vance was “too radical.” The clash with Zelensky was the latest bold foray by Vance into pushing US foreign policy sharply away from internationalism. Vance, who at 40 is one of the youngest vice presidents in US history and almost half the age of Trump, made his international debut with a February speech urging Germany to break its taboo of dealing with the far-right, whose leader he met.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Vance stunned the audience by urging restrictions on immigration and declared of Trump, “There is a new sheriff in town.” One day before the Zelensky meeting, in a far more cordial meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Vance complained about “infringements on free speech” by the bedrock US ally — repeating criticism he made in Munich about restrictions on disinformation and other tech regulation. Starmer politely replied that Britain had a “very proud” history of free speech.
– Rising star –
With Trump constitutionally prohibited from seeking another term, Vance was the strong favorite to succeed him in a straw poll a week ago at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Vance, who rose from poverty to Yale Law School, gained national prominence with a book on the struggles of working-class white Americans before heading to Silicon Valley. “There’s been this effort to put Trumpism on a more rigorous academic footing, and Vance is well placed to do that,” said Aaron Mannes, an expert at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy on the national security role of the vice president. The most effective vice presidents, he said, know not to air any disagreements with the president publicly. “He is probably following that model. Plus, Trump likes loyalty, so Vance is going the extra mile on that,” Mannes said.
Vance has quickly taken a different role than Trump’s vice president from his first term, Mike Pence, a mild-mannered conservative Christian who starred in memes showing him sitting silently as Trump spoke. Pence also showed loyalty to Trump — until January 6, 2021, when the then-vice president refused to throw out results of their election defeat, prompting Trump to berate him and pro-Trump rioters to threaten to kill him. One of the most influential vice presidents on foreign policy was Dick Cheney, who under George W. Bush championed a sweeping “war on terror” and the invasion of Iraq. Many Bush critics saw him as manipulated by Cheney, who had decades of experience in Washington, although Bush called himself “the decider.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum saw Vance as key to the confrontation with Zelensky. Senator Mark Kelly, who alongside fellow Democrats met Zelensky earlier Friday, told MSNBC that the United States does not “gain anything by acting like bullies.” “It seemed to me it was just JD Vance saying, ‘Hey, look what I can do, Dad.'”
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