Shorouk Express
Vance railed against establishment politics, urged Europe to curb migration and compared EU leaders to Soviet commissars because they had criticized far-right leaders. The tongue-lashing cemented fears among Europe’s security elites that the United States was diverging from the transatlantic status quo at a rapid pace, and there was little they could do to stop it.
“This is a new United States and it’s clear the old one Europe’s been used to for decades is gone,” said one former senior U.S. diplomat. “It could be this is the one wake-up call that actually wakes Europe up.”
POLITICO spoke to 14 conference attendees at the forum, several of whom were granted anonymity to discuss their reactions to Vance’s speech candidly. Many reacted with a mixture of shock and anger.
From inside an overflow room — the main conference hall was jam-packed — attendees laughed sardonically when Vance mentioned “shared values.” Not once, but twice, people in the room said “that was some weird shit” — quoting George W. Bush’s reaction to Trump’s first inauguration speech in 2017.
That went for the professional diplomats, too. “This is all so insane and worrying,” said a German official.
“I was aghast,” said a former House Democratic staffer attending the conference. “It’s not Russia influencing your elections, you are? He was blaming the victim.”
