396
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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.


🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 180 points 2 weeks ago

Musk's donations to the Trump campaign taking center stage.

[-] psmgx@lemmy.world 74 points 2 weeks ago

I think it's Musk's backers, the Russians who helped fund the twitter acquisition, who are really taking center stage.

Lots of talk about Europe and NATO means they're pushing hard for those talking points.

[-] CooperRedArmyDog@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago

it was the saudi's not russians who backed the twitter accusation

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

"the twitter accusation"?

Did google translate barf on ya? Anyway, you're both right: https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/2a00ce74-6d58-4f8e-bc2c-1bb820ee4705.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_10

Plus those wiley Canadian banks and some douchebag named "Larry Ellison"

[-] Philosofuel@futurology.today 7 points 2 weeks ago

It's just such a weird turn of events that the Saudies and Russians finance the platform that is touted as the true free speech platform (especially by republicans) - to further undermine the US and other democracies.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] FelixCress@lemmy.world 130 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.

The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.

😂😂😂

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 27 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

"I'm not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives, but I’m going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives!"

Hate and Ignorance: The American Way™

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 14 points 2 weeks ago

WOAH there, slow down a bit.

He would never go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives.

He will send OTHER people, no point in getting his shoes dirty by actually going there.

It's an American tradition.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 98 points 2 weeks ago

It's an amazing thing to say you can abandon a military Alliance because a campaign donor ask you to.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 91 points 2 weeks ago

“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.

[-] billiam0202@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago

“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.

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 weeks ago

He "served" in the PR office.

Trying to manipulate public opinion and distort facts has been his entire career.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 79 points 2 weeks ago

The fact checking in this article is perfect lol

“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?” Vance asked. “It’s insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech. I think we can do both. But we’ve got to say American power comes with certain strings attached. One of those is respect free speech, especially in our European allies.”

Musk has been accused of banning several journalists since taking over Twitter, now X.

“I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.”

The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] dustyData@lemmy.world 66 points 2 weeks ago

The gall of saying, that entirely different culture that's been around for longer than our country, they should have our same values, right after calling them backwoods countries. The extreme narcissist egoism is palpable and disgusting.

[-] dhork@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

He didn't call the Europeans "backwoods countries". He called those other places that. He specifically says that European countries should be more like us, for all the ~~white~~ right reasons....

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 65 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[-] randon31415@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago

JD: But Germany banned the Nazi symbol! One of the few free speech things I care about!

[-] tissek@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago

Europe's free speech is far more free than the US

But not Europes FREEZEPEACH(tm)! And freezepeach is all that matters

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[-] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 61 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

The fact that he's so rich because of government contracts is infuriating

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago

This is why Europe must take control of its own defense. Europe doesn't want to be a mere vassal of the US for precisely this reason.

[-] Oisteink@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

Also parts of nato are not part of eu. Like the the UK.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

And Canada. Also, some EU states are not in NATO.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

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.

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 weeks ago

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] phar@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago

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?

[-] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 36 points 2 weeks ago

Lol, soon he'll ask NATO military communication to use Twitter

what the fuck is the link between a shit platform and military alliance

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Jumi@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

If Trump becomes president we should embargo the US like Russia since he's Putins lapdog

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 weeks ago

Ah yes, the law of equivalent exchange. Force a private company to adhere to your laws? No defensive military pact for you.

[-] x00za@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 weeks ago

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?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago

He must have shouted that quote so that the interviewer could hear him with his head so far up Elon's ass

[-] frezik@midwest.social 15 points 2 weeks ago

Almost like they're looking for an excuse to hang NATO out to dry.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 14 points 2 weeks ago

One of the most frustrating things about the trump trash is the push to drive the us out of europe. Because america can only swing its dick for so long until we’re not welcome, especially if there’s a general european war with russia and the we sat it out.

[-] normalexit@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] vga@sopuli.xyz 12 points 2 weeks ago

I didn't know we need to regulate Elon Musk's platforms. Now I do!

[-] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 12 points 2 weeks ago

This man is a hazard to global safety and security.

[-] Kichae@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 weeks ago

Is this guy Trump's VP pick because he's the only person he could find that talks like Trump? The guy's a rotting word salad machine

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

NATO membership benefits US interests in so many ways, it’s ridiculous how quickly the Republicans have become a total party of quislings

[-] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Any excuse is good enough for Jorkin De Peanus to pull out of NATO.

[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Sad loser thinks saying even dumber things will surely get people to like him this time!

[-] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

EU can straight up send Elon on a one way ticket to space and I hope the US does nothing

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 8 points 2 weeks ago

See. stuff like this is how you get the threat to democracy "rhetoric"

[-] Ulrich_the_Old@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

fuck the republican party and especially fuck elon musk.

[-] MNByChoice@midwest.social 7 points 2 weeks ago

NATO and EU overlap, but are different.

[-] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

That’s a bold move, Cotton, taking on the MIC, let’s see how this works out.

[-] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 6 points 2 weeks ago

We don't need the USA anymore

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
396 points (97.4% liked)

News

23062 readers
4306 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS