I dont know how many subs the Plague Chronicle has now, but somehow it has contributed in no small way to the global shift in paradigms, perceptions and otherwise. I very clearly remember doom scrolling through the comment section of the FT, despairing, till someone shared a link... and from there, never missed a post, and now you've gotten the attention of a head of state. Take a bow eugyppius, despite it being not even intermission, and never ever change
That crowd are the most dangerous people in the world, and I don’t say that lightly. What is probably giving Americans pause, is that if they really do leave the continent, it will almost certainly wind up in various factional conflict and eventually an intra European war which they may have to come back to stabilize AGAIN. Somehow having the US around as the bully at least keeps Europe from destroying itself. Then again, its managed to find a workaround as far as I can tell, so my guess is its a lost cause!
Yes, there was a reason the whole world thought the disarming of Europe was a good idea. What the whole world didn't count on was Europe relying on the United States to defend it and then developing a delusional view of its moral superiority because of its supposed peaceable nature--preaching its greatness to the world all the while it became more and more totalitarian and demanded more and more control over its own citizens.
The US military presence in Germany (and the UK British Army On the Rhine) post-war and although reduced was and is there to keep the Russians out and the Germans in. Consider: Crimean War, Napoleonic Wars, Franco-Prussian War, WWI, WWII, Balkans War (which people tend to forget) - Continental Europe has been at war on average every 70 years for the last two to three centuries. Another war is due.
Same. I discovered eugyppius through Alex Berenson or Matt Taibbi - I forget which, while Substack was in its infancy. Sharing personal experiences, after spending lonely nights wandering silent city streets wondering what had just happened, was cathartic. Better yet, eugyppius' humorous take on the official scammery that accompanied all of it provided a counterbalance to my vaccinated, mask-wearing friends and colleagues. That this column has now expanded into politics, and become part of the leading edge of a worldwide movement, makes me proud.
I discovered Eugyppius through El Gato Malo, bad cattitude on Substack. So interesting and exciting that JD engaged. And sorry that the ultra maga faction of Trump supporters went after eugyppius instead of the elites. We US Trump supporters are a big tent that do not necessarily agree on all issues.
We agree on the important issues. Seeing Trump, Vance, RFK, Jr., Tulsi, and Elon all on the same team is reassuring. Trump hijacked the GOP and has now engaged the smartest, most idealistic Democrats to help make it great again.
Taking advantage of the influence of Eugyppius and Plague Chronicles (and reposting an earlier thought):
Hey @WhiteHouse.gov, hey @State.gov, How come the transcript of VP Vance's speech has STILL not been posted on the White House or State Department websites?
How come high-quality German, French, Spanish and Polish TRANSLATIONS of the Vance speech were not distributed SIMULTANEOUSLY so as to reach actual European citizens (very few of whom regularly read English sources)? And of course Chinese and Russian for broader international consumption?
Is it reasonable for the U.S. to entrust the translating and broadcasting of its messaging to the discretion and good will of adversarial "allies"?
Or are these naive questions? Was the speech intended merely as a flash in the pan for public consumption, to be forgotten after a few news cycles? Is this all kayfabe?
Wow you are so right to point out that there is a major gap in their comms strategy. My parents live in Spain where all the legacy media is pro-EU, pro-NATO, pro-establishment basically, and everything the Trump Administration does keeps getting trashed.
Having official, high-quality translations released (or even better, subtitled videos or at least clips) would go such a long way to open up direct channels with an international public.
QUOTE: Having official, high-quality translations released (or even better, SUBTITLED VIDEOS or at least clips) would go such a long way to open up direct channels with an international public.
CRUCIAL POINT: Only SUBTITLED videos are able to preserve at least a shred of the speaker's authentic utterances.
The fetid fetish for talking over original sound tracks ("dubbing¨) inevitably opens the door to sloppiness and "creative" translating. This is precisely why "news" reporting in many countries relies heavily on voice-overs rather than providing subtitles for interviews.
Few people who have not personally undertaken translations in a professional context realize how UNRELIABLE and error-prone the process of language translation is even IN THE BEST CASE, i.e. a seasoned, intelligent translator with in-depth familiarity of ALL the languages involved AND OF THE SUBJECT MATTER, and a willingness to provide a "TRUE AND CORRECT" translation of the original, warts and all.
I take his comments at face value, that he was telling Europe it has become the very thing thousands of Americans fought and died on the Normandy beaches and in the fields and streets to save them from - and not expect American lives and treasure to be spent again to save them unless they reform.
Playing to the US audience? No Trump and Vance already have their support in the bank, so let’s not second guess the genuine concern Trump and his team have for the disaster that is Europe. What Trump endured to represent the US people was genuine concern not for personal fame, glory and wealth - he already had that.
The two possibilities aren't mutually exclusive. The Trump administration surely regards the European political establishment as an extension of the American progressive-left that he displaced. I think a lot of foreign speeches work like this – providing implicit positioning in terms of domestic politics, while ostensibly addressing foreign matters. European politicians do this all the time, like Robert Habeck going to US as vice chancellor and talking primarily about carbon emissions for his base at home.
I think any politician speaking overseas has an eye on his domestic audience, but I think he was putting a marker down that the "special relationship" the US has with Europe is on life support. One thing Trump hates worse than anything is when a relationship is not equal or seems to benefit the other side excessively. That's how he sees Europe, both in NATO/defense or trade. Things are going to change to even things out one way or the other. This means, get ready to handle your own defense and get hammered for what many Americans perceive as unfair trade practices.
And, I think, extra hammering (in some way) until Europe (this includes importantly France) gives appropriate power to the right, eg, the anti-migrant parties.
It’s coming, when Trump wants to take it up.
And I think Trump will insist Europe provide forces and money to protect the freedom of Ukraine.
Habeck and those like him have never had a problem with criticizing the US if our views don’t comport with their sense of what is proper. Seems a bit harder for them to accept any criticism of their own views and actions. They’re also kind of making Vance’s point when they protest that his comments are “unacceptable.”
Sometimes blunt statements are what it takes to cut through the web of political doublespeak. Let the chips fall where they may. At least everyone knows exactly where everyone stands and then people can make informed decisions.
These people were blindsided that Vance would actually point out the elephant in the room. They were embarrassed, used to having their own way and dishing the BS but not used to being called out. If Habeck wants to complain, the first question for him would be, did he make IMMEDIATE EFFORT to prevent that German pensioner from having to go to prison for criticism of Habeck in social media? (Exercising his free speech in calling Habeck an idiot.) I’m 99% certain the answer is no.
> The Trump administration surely regards the European political establishment as an extension of the American progressive-left that he displaced.
I mean, they would have to be absolute idiots to not understand that, and I don't think they are. It's not exactly a secret that the reason our proggies slaver for us to be "more like Europe" is because it's far to the left of us.
Having now looked at the Twitter thread, I do think the intent of that speech was *primarily* aimed at people not at that conference. Yes, both us over here in America, but also to the ordinary European people. It certainly flew right past the people *at* the conference that he actually said the words to. But there is a value in the US saying to the peoples of Europe that we haven't forgotten our roots, and that it doesn't make you an international pariah to support AfD or whoever.
Now, I'm probably a lot less methodical than your average German, but if I were not the sort of person who would already *be* voting for AfD, that speech might tip me over the line. I dunno. It's hard for me to know, as I've only been to Europe a few times. Maybe America is viewed as such complete outliers that being told that "we" don't think the positions of the populist parties are out of bounds would actually push people away from them. But I'd like to think that *we* aren't such a pariah to them.
I think the accumulated idiocy of the ruling center-left parties in Germany (and to a lesser degree, France) is very obvious.
It needs but a gentle blow to turn over this house of cards. The people KNOW it is not sustainable. Not the energy, not the economic, not the migrant policies.
"I hope Vance had no illusions his words would soften the firewall against the AfD, because if anything they have had the opposite effect. As I noted, the CDU responded to his words with offended condemnation."
Vance's words were aimed at those currently oppressed by German "democracy." By giving them new hope that they now have a firm ally, he has intensified the domestic pressure on those in power. Hardening those in power into making blustering villains of themselves was just a beneficial side-effect.
"...Vance's words were aimed at those currently oppressed by German "democracy."
Ah, like the Soviet dissident - - I forget exactly which one, Natan Sharansky perhaps -- who heard rumors of Reagan's "evil empire" speech and thought, "Whoa, we aren't totally forgotten after all".
Agree, but as has been shown in the past, that house of cards can be sustained for longer periods of time than we might othwerwise suspect, and perhaps can outlast the political capital that must be spent to finally cause the house to fall. As I said in another response, it's quite a gamble by both sides. If the AfD garners higher than 25% of the vote on Sunday, we will know who won the gamble.
This, actually, is exactly right. I happen to have extensive contacts with typical, conservative CDU voters in Germany. From what I'm gathering, this speech has done exactly this for them.
I used to think that too. Now I realize that truth is universal and that situational ethics are largely a myth. What you find to be true, when based upon factual data is replicable. Others will come to the same conclusions when the light is shined upon veracity. Attitudes in Europe about the VP speech will ultimately come down to choices of honesty and truth versus narrative creation and quest for power. How wise will politicians be? When will they see the writing on the wall and pivot for the needs of their people? Blackrock Mertz is far more intelligent than the others running for the chancellory but he lacks the bravery even if he possesses the instinct and understanding. He would still prefer to be safely wielded as a tool than strike out on his own and grab a momentous place in history, turning Germany for the better.
I think you might be discounting how quickly things can change.
Prior to the election none of these polling questions were above 38%.
Look at them now:
69% favor govt recognizing only two sexes
66% favor deporting illegals
60% favor expanding O&G production
63% favor declaring emergency at southern border
71% favor an exhaustive audit of all things government.
I can not explain how incredible those numbers are given the division in our country. It's simply unheard of even before Trump. Percentages this high in the US simply don’t happen without a major event.
These statistics are certainly positive news, but not evidence of an irreversible victory. (Someone elsewhere on the Interwebs drew an analogy of Trump having landed at Normandy, but still on the beach; going forward to terra firma or being pushed backward into the sea were both real possibilities.)
But as Stanley Milgram discovered, when push comes to shove, only one-third of a society has a moral core of sufficient strength to stand up and rebel against an authority figure; those above that number are fluid. (At the end of the day, the crowd chose Barabbas.)
No way was Vance using this opportunity to speak to US audiences. He has many, better opportunities to reach US audiences. This was his very valuable and important time to speak to Europe.
Agreed. It was a warning shot across the bow, getting his point across but without jumping up and down, burning buildings, or mostly peaceful protests. No need for, “How dare you, How dare you!” or throwing tomato soup at a priceless Matisse.
He was speaking to the chorus in the US but mainly telling European citizens that it’s ok to question authority when you sense they are not operating on your behalf. This was the basic cause of elite freakout in the room. The US audience is already onboard and is cheering these ideas.
Hopefully some will see that message. I’m afraid though that those who don’t see it will only criticize Vance’s speech as being impolite to our European friends. Perhaps though, some will recognize that we have similar problems here and must stand for truth and transparency so we don’t careen further down the same path Europe seems intent on following.
The US has a well established rep for being mavericks. Willingness to take risks and experiment is our birthright. We shape culture by edginess, not in teaching proper table manners. We produce the “cool” inventions and style people emulate. This is also embraced by youth everywhere by contrast with stale fuddy duddies with their schoolmarm demands for censorship, suppression of thought, and compliance culture. Therefore, though European elites may consider Vance to be rude, they and their constituents know that being direct is baked into the cake. Vance knows this too and harnesses the implicit forgiveness and power of US (western) hegemony to strike while the iron is hot.
Absolutely no doubt about it. Compare the numbers for that poll now and pre-Trump. Compare the popularity of DEI and "gender-affirming" mutilations now and pre-Trump. The difference in each number does not represent people who have changed their principles -- it represents people who have no principles and will eagerly adopt the most popular of whatever is available. And that swing number controls the direction of the country.
The USA experiment was partially founded on the premise that "We are not Europe".
Thomas Jefferson expressed his concerns about the potential for corruption in large cities similar to Europe. He stated, "When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." This quote reflects his belief that the American republic should avoid the pitfalls of European urbanization and maintain its virtue,
Many of the founding fathers beliefs were used to structure our country's foundation, but this one is particularly prescient.
We see this in how the liberal population centers embraced mask mandates and medical Jim Crow here in the US; the "greatest city in the world" was perfectly happy to demand a shot card before allowing anyone to sit down for a meal in an eatery.
Those ideas and decisions were still fluid at the time. Remember, they were observing the French Revolution and subsequent “democracy.” Hamilton wanted a monarchal formal of government.
Yes. At the time, but my point is that what Jefferson feared has come to pass and is one of the worst threats to our Republic: Democracy itself, where the numbers concentrated in the cities overwhelm the wishes of the minority.
We see it in many of the geographically large states where the urbanites Lord over the rurals without even knowing the issues.
The European Union is a bureaucratic empire that has colonized European national states, subjected them to extractive taxes and regulations, coerced them with economic warfare, replaced their populations, subjected them to military occupation and subordination, and bought off or bribed their national elites. They are a hostile military and economic superstructure designed to subjugate the national peoples of Europe. Until this is clear, all else is folly.
I would say rather he sees it in reverse…the American progressive-left is an extension of the European political establishment whose socialism, contempt for the ‘masses’, dirigiste approach, and sense of entitlement worthy of a grandee from Aragon, has been the ideal for American academics and progs ever since Woodrow Wilson’s days as a professor…. It was one thing when Europe had economic and military power, even as European veered further left during and after the Cold War, but now Europe (with the exception of the Poles, the Baltics, and the Scandinavians (including the Finns for this purpose) is a shadow of itself…Britain and France look like The Camp of the Saints was a how to book…and Enoch Powell is looking like a prophet….
You're right that it can be both. From my U.S. bias, I tilt toward Mr. Bowman's view. American presidents in their final term in office are different from those in their first term. The boldness factor is sky high compared with what we saw from Trump in 2017. That said, I agree with you that this only helps Vance domestically when he runs for president in 2028 - he'll be happy to defend his speech on any debate stage against either a primary opponent or a Democrat in a general election. What opponent wants to try to argue that it is more important to be deferential to European sensibilities than to defend freedom of speech?
I also took the comments at face value. He is saying, "we see what you people have been doing over here and we (the new regime) don't like it. Do whatever you want, but don't be surprised if we take our shit and go home. And here are some 10% across the board tariffs on our way out the door"
He referred to European Commissioners as European Commissars, I thought at first it was a slip of the tongue or an unfamiliarity with nomenclature, but when I replayed the clip he started to say Commissioners but changed it to Commissars. So quite deliberate; he knew what he was saying. It seems not to have been widely picked up.
Commissar - the head of any of the major governmental divisions of the USSR: an official in any communist government whose duties include political indoctrination, detection of political deviation, etc.
The creators of Monty Python could not have made this stuff up in The EU, although they came close in their "It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them!" sketch.
Its really going to be funny when all these gleaming heads figure out that the world is one massive crime scene.
Our entire system of governance/politics, across the world, has not suffered any consequences for so long that they've become total imbeciles - they're totally unaware of it.
These people are the product of an empire in decline, that they caused:
Weak, corrupt, venal, not particularly intelligent - and did i mention corrupt?
Just a Cabal of Caligula's without the charisma - or a Nexus of Nero's without the musical talent.
He threw the grenade into the elite circle to put them on notice but just as importantly to be clarion call for the people.
Because of the incestuous nature with the relationship between the left and the misleadia the people are not hearing the truth. How many people in the EU actually know the truth about all the incidents E has been pointing out for four years? Not many i suspect. Vance and Elon indeed threw one grenade into the elites but they're going to give the people crates of grenades to launch at the elites.
Our administration can't do much without the support of the people. This wasn't as much a message to AfD and the rest of the populist movement, rather it's aimed at moderates; only they can break the inertia and lead to a critical mass. Once that happens it's the end of 40 years of rule by elite.
Do they really care about European decline or do they sense the enormous continent is simply easier to grift from and control when the “peasants” are weak? aka the New Feudalism. HRC’s role was to “oversee thd managed decline of the United States.” Obviously the Trump admin does not ascribe to this philosophy. There may be a war in play by globalist leeches operating on both sides of the pond, woke-Atlanticism being their weapon of choice, and those recognized seeking a course correction.
Is HRC or Victoria “Cookies” Nuland sinister? Some say yes based upon what they are willing to do for their cause. Take note that European Commissioners followed along with them for decades. Have you heard the expression, “To make an omelette you have to break some eggs”? This was used to excuse 500K Iraqi civilians (acceptable losses) in the quest of Madeline Albright to capture the region. That’s pretty sinister. This mindset has either lurked or dominated in US gov including the last administration. Opportunistically seeking to carve up Russia and take the resources, a stated goal since 1992 is sinister, especially when the ultimate cost are lives. Support Ukraine for as long as it takes now includes sending 18 year olds. They rest of the men are largely gone. All for the sake of US proxy war against Russia. That to me is sinister. To paraphrase Lindsay Graham: “We want Ukrainian natural resources, and this war is a bargain since no US soldiers are doing the fighting or the dying.” Meanwhile, Habeck, Ursula, Schultz decided UKR was the hill to destroy their economies for. Also sinister IMHO.
"Its really going to be funny when all these gleaming heads figure out that the world is one massive crime scene."
And, it's not very funny that in Canada, many sheep are thinking Biden and de Dems got blindsided by unimaginable skullduggery and that how dare Trump and his Merry Band badmouth all those that fought and supported BLM, CoronaPrank, shitting on Venezuela, Kidnapping for the purpose of extortion (Meng Wanzhou - Huawei) Climate Fuckery and Project Ukraine, or in Canada, "Slava Ukrani". Even still... they bleat in support.
The other sport Canuckistanis engage in other than hockey in a big way is Virtue Signalling.
I wonder if there is even much significance to the question whether Vance was speaking to Americans or Europeans.
The content of the message to Americans is "We hear you, expressing your disgust at how our so-called allies have become the opposite of what the West used to stand for, and just as we have done with every other issue that you voted us into office to address, we will follow through with this as well, and end the enablement of tyranny with your tax dollars." If that's the message to Americans, it is inherently a message to Europeans as well; and the question of who he had in mind when he uttered the words seems rather moot to me.
What effect his words will have is, of course, another matter. All we can say with certainty at this point, I believe, is that the fat is in the fire.
Remember the famous though albeit flowery Reagan Speech, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall!”
Who was he speaking to? Basically everyone. He was signaling his vision and leadership to both Americans and Europeans alike. The least of all was Moscow but they were in there too. Kennedy had international focus as well. This is not the first time we’ve “schooled” the kids.
There is a fraction of the US audience that has no love for Trump or Vance and is now quite explicit about the need for censorship to suppress their supporters, and a larger fraction that is sympathetic to these views. Vance could have been referring to the latter as his "American friends" that need to hear the message.
No that long ago Vance made a comment about UK being "the first Islamic country with a nuclear weapon". Dismissed as a joke but imo him/Trump are genuinely worried. Optimistically speaking UK has cc 20-30 years left until it is completely taken over by Islamists. It could be a bit longer for the rest of Europe but I feel the current US administration is really not happy about having to face such a threat in not so distant future. Vance will be long out of the office by then, Trump won't even be alive, but if you believe these guys really love their children/grandchildren and their country, which I think they genuinely do, I wouldn't discount that this is what is driving them regarding Europe's direction of travel.
Listen to this genuinely shocking podcast by Louise Perry, who is one of the most interesting writers and podcasters in Britain today. She interviews David Betz, a professor of war studies at King’s College, London. The topic: “The Coming Civil War In Britain.” Betz’s academic specialty is the way societies tear themselves apart, and put themselves back together. I strongly urge you to give it a listen, even if you aren’t British, because the conditions Prof. Betz talks about are present in most Western countries. I’m going to summarize his main points:
Martin Armstrong’s supercomputer says 2024 was the last US presidential election. By 2032 the country will be split into regions according to values, beliefs, and ideology. Time will tell.
Let me offer my opinion as an American and try to put multiple things into context. In a seemingly unrelated, but highly related move, Trump nominated Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Rubio is the son of Cuban refugees from Castro's Cuba and is fluent in Spanish. He has huge credibility in Latin America because of this. His first trip after his confirmation was to Panama.
Related to Rubio's appointment is renewed rumblings about reasserting the 200 year old Monroe Doctrine, which states that the U.S. alone has rights to influence the Western Hemisphere. As part of his trip to the country, Rubio seems to have secured an agreement from the Panamanian government to disengage from China's Belt and Road program. This has the Chinese quite upset.
Further, I do not know if Rubio has even been to Europe yet.
Migration is THE issue in the U.S. Vance was not exaggerating when he called it the most pressing issue the West faces. The chief route followed by migrants to enter the U.S. goes through Panama.
More and more, people in the U.S. are growing weary of what goes on in Europe, particularly in Ukraine. They are also weary of intractable issues in the Middle East. That is why Trump's comments on Gaza got such a poor response.
My view is that Vance was telling European leaders that while the U.S. will not imminently disengage from them, if they keep going down the path they're on that will certainly happen. If I could encapsulate Vance's message in one sentence it would be this; "Europe, you have been warned."
Trump likes to do deals and will deal with any willing partner, but Vance has standards, as do more and more Americans. Europeans may not have noticed this, but I consider the Munich speech to be the first true campaign speech of the 2028 cycle by Vance. He did very well. I would go as far as to say that he sounded Lincolnesque. Unless something odd happens, Vance will be elected in 2028. The democrats are in complete disarray. They are led by a gerontocracy and have no good young minds to turn to.
If European leaders don't pull over in the next four years, I can see them being locked out of an increasingly fortress America. I don't want that to happen. Europe is full of brilliant, good people, such as yourself, Eugyppius, and it pains me to see you governed by such a bunch of retards.
I would add however, that Democrats ARE led by a decrepit group of outright self-enriching criminals, but those young minds you speak of are equally decrepit in that they have been destroyed by the progressive education system. The democrat party is toast.
Actually, the Middle East Palestinian problem should be dumped squarely where it belongs: in the Middle East. The Palestinians are problems to everyone, and that's why Gaza's immediate neighbors Egypt and Jordan don't want a single Palestinian immigrant in their countries. No other Arab countries want them because they ALL acknowledge that Palestinians bring nothing but trouble. It's funny how no one mentions this. Why should the U.S. or for that matter, any Western country have to solve the problem? Many of the Arab states are rolling in money and they could easily participate in rebuilding Gaza. Financing it all, too.
If we can hope for anything after the last 8 or 9 years, it will be the assumption of every American citizen that our government is lying to us until proven otherwise.
It's been a long time coming, and I must say the field has been carefully fertilized for it to happen.
In your spare time, make a list of the really, really popular TV shows and movies in which the US (or analogous) government was the big bad villain never to be trusted. Start with the obvious champeen, X Files; run down the list through Person of Interest, House of Cards, Utopia, Hunger Games, Firefly/Serenity, Stranger Things...
We are under no illusions about out the trustworthiness of our governments. We've only been waiting for the go-code. And now it's here.
To the European leaders who took comfort in the fact that at least Vance did not announce troop reductions: Those will come AFTER Trump procures a peace deal in Ukraine. He's not bluffing. If the Europeans refuse to take more responsibility for their own security, he will force them to.
Aww, poor European establishment. Of course you liked it better with Mommy Biden, who let you use the toy steering wheel in the back seat. But now daddy is driving the car. He took it away, and it makes you feel bad - and embarrassed, because all your friends saw. He is asking you very nicely to put away all your authoritarian practices and to stop bullying and excluding one fifth of your electorate.
“It’s just none of your business. Mind your own business, there are enough problems in the USA.”(Habeck) Mr. Habeck would do well to consider carefully what he wishes for because that is exactly what Mr. Vance is saying. Personally, I don’t want to see my hard-earned, begrudgingly-given tax money frittered funding European tyranny, working against Americans’ interests. Many of my fellow Americans may feel the same, Mr. Habeck’s sense of entitlement notwithstanding.
I am most interested in hearing what “regular” Europeans think of JD’s speech.
Time away from the socials to focus on the book - how’s that going? 😉
This regular European thought the speech was stunning and wished every UK citizen could hear/read it in its entirety and feel as uplifted as I do. Home truths indeed.
I have no idea if I'd count as a regular European but I loved the speech. I'm loving everything this US administration is doing. They're just so right about what needs to be done, so dynamic and energetic. A part of me wishes now I'd been successful in migrating to the US many years ago, even though it would have been to California and that would have been truly crazy making in the interim.
The question is really, who does Europe have that could rise to this challenge and become peer leaders with men like Trump, Musk and Vance? The UK has Farage, whose party has taken off like a rocket in recent weeks, and he has started gathering some talent around him. Germany has Weidel, although it's unclear to me if she's really made of the right stuff to lead strongly. France has nobody, AFAICT. Le Pen is a leftist who simply dislikes immigration. Austria has a right wing government right now, but all these places except the UK are highly constrained by the EU and not willing to leave.
Been there. The Christening video is an impressive allegory for persistence in the belief that doing your bad policy harder, repeatedly, will ultimately work and result in a good outcome, damage to the institutions of democracy notwithstanding.
I read somewhere on LinkedIn yesterday: it would be novel to have a European politician capable of delivering a speech with the eloquence and conviction that JD Vance did in Munich (irrespective of message/ content). Maybe another indicator that we have too many technocrats in the house.
Vance is a technocrat in waiting and isn't to be trusted.
He's an opportunistic errand boy of the sleaziest order, strategically placed to serve his paymasters, specifically Peter Thiel. His Munich moment is part of the incoming administration's spectacle of b.s.
I've heard him likened to Kennedy this week. That's laughable. Vance is as compromised by financial forces as hostile to basic freedom as the European puppets he dramatically excoriated. It's a show.
I disliked Vance back in 2016 when I read his memoir Hillbilly Elligy. I thought it was a betrayal of his own people, the Appalachian mountain folks, and I fundamentally distrust those who embarrass and delegitimize their flesh and blood in exchange for personal advancement. But I have not seen any sign of this since the East Palestine disaster. He stood alone speaking up for that very same, forgotten and mistreated people when it gained him no apparent political points and only derisive scorn in the media as a hysteric.
In fact, you can draw a straight line from his viral speech by a polluted creek in East Palestine to his sensational, perhaps historical, speech astride that equally polluted swamp of a conference in Munich. It's the same Vance, eloquently speaking up for the forgotten, whether Appalachian folks in East Palestine or ethnic German folks in Europe.
Is Vance doing that for our sake, his American electorate? Perhaps, but maybe he's doing this because, Er kann nicht anders. It's just what he and his fellow Americans to do: Stand up to a bully and defend the defenceless. And just maybe he and Trump are both having the time of their lives getting to do it.
Kind of my point ... Standard part of the up-and-coming pol package.
This American tradition of painting pols as litterati goes back at least to "Profiles in Courage" published in JFK's name in the late 1950s. "Profiles," ghost-written by Theodore Sorensen (as everyone who was anyone KNEW at the time), even garnered a Pulitzer.
Well, my oh my, this is perhaps the first time I've disagreed with you, E. Do you really think both Elon and Vance would both be saying the same thing within a month of each other if there wasn't a plan?
That grenade he launched wasn't for the elites; it was a clarion call to the people. The Trump administration knows the "dam" is weakening, and once it's breached it's over for the elites. It's just the first step. Pent up energy can reshape the topography both on nature and in the political ecosystem. It's about ready to explode....and they are starting to sense it. So the protestations, CYAs and cover ups must become more overt, absurd and desperate
We have witnessed something rather remarkable here; how fast the zeitgeist can change when you simply replace nonsense with common sense.
I will also say the administration is basically viewing the entire world as one big crime scene. We are finding EU involvement in the grift that's being exposed in a 24/7 live stream. The tentacles are wide and deep and are hidden by the distance of the Atlantic Ocean, the allied intelligence agencies and NGO cutouts.
EU corruption will necessarily be exposed as DOGE reveals more. I would guess they already know several avenues. There are so many threads to pull that it's certain many lead back to the old world.
This is just the opening act. It's a scouting mission to draw them out with their own words, leaving them defenseless and being boxed into defending the indefensible:
corruption, policies that work against the people, waste and incompetency.
For the record:
1. Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder looks like the biggest prick ever.
2. Pistorius has no shame. He basically said that Vance's speech on free speech is unacceptable speech. This is an example of drawing them out.
This is not the last you'll hear. It is planned. Two things can be true at once; our direct interests AND our interests for the German people. Because without the people of the EU it would not be possible for us to be relieved of the yoke set upon us because of our previous policies with the EU since WW2...but also the yoke that the US has put on The EU as a result of the same geopolitical policies after WW2.
Just imagine had it been Kamala Harris speaking at the Munich conference. Three days later, we'd all still be trying to figure out what the heck she meant to say. <shudder>
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that their view of Kamala Harris wasn't all that different from ours. Maybe somewhat more favorable because their media is (even) more completely controlled than ours.
It’s absolutely been a crime scene, for a long time!!! See USAID!!!! Also, see the history of US reorg of Europe, specially Germany after WW2. I’m not sure US overlords were ever well intentioned when it came to harnessing their vassals in Europe to best advantage. I will started the obvious this group knows and understands, just in case it is somehow necessary. Speaking of Europe, EU, and the European people are not truly interchangeable concepts though we do so frequently in our colloquialism. When I speak of overlords and vassals it is not to deprecate the native citizenry.
But times have changed and the interests of the American citizens is aligned with that of the EU citizens.
The majority of EU citizens are just unaware of it at the moment.
But they will be after watching what happens in the US.
You can only live outside of reality for so long before it slaps them upside the head. Nobody sane person is going to be able to hide from the truth...and it's coming out in endless waves battering our overlords beach heads.
Habeck’s an asshole. “What Vance said yesterday is none of his business.”
It’s 100% America’s business, if America is subsidizing Germany’s welfare state, its renewable energy program, and its tough talk against Russia. America is completely within its right to demand that Germany act like a democratic country, and not a bunch of authoritarians.
I doubt that words are very effective, but forcing European countries to fund more of NATO might.
I really hope Vance’s speech has the effect of advancing truth in Europe - that uncontrolled migration has been a disaster, and that NetZero is unviable.
On the latter, if Norway refuses to continues to be the electrical generation backup for Germany and the UK, NetZero IS dead. They have purposely eroded their internal firm capacity in service of the CO2 & anti-nuclear Gods.
And Norway is tiring of causing their own power costs to rise as a result of Germany’s and Great Britain’s decisions.
During Dunkelflaute neither country can keep their lights on without imports.
It shall be interesting to see what Norway does. Chaos will ensue if they decide to stop being the backup to NetZero ambitions.
I've noted that J D Vance's speech was generally - in the UK as well as in Germany - reported through the International, USAID-affiliated MSM as soundbites on which the various politicians could show their 'respectable' thoughts, condemning it. AFAIK, only 'alt media' and later 'Die Welt' (paywalled) produced the full text.
It looks to me as if both UK and German mainstream politicians already know that the votes on Sunday in Germany won't change a thing, regardless of how many will vote for the AfD in the end. Thus, bar the shouting, they can get on with business 'as usual'.
It's very interesting, though, that Welt – which has tacking slightly to the right of CDU leadership since probably Magdeburg – has written several pieces cautiously endorsing much of what Vance said, and also as you noted they provided the full speech in German translation.
Yes, 'Welt' has very carefully been shifting away from the Red-Green mantra in recent months. I think this might be due not least to the fierce comment posts on relevant reports, together with an even fiercer positive attitude for certain Welt columnists, with clear threats of subscriptions going to be cancelled should said columnists be sacrificed for the Merz-Scholz-Habeck 'continuity politics'.
We'll see ... one week to go ... sadly, I'm not looking forward to a positive outcome
I admit: I'm now only scanning the front pages of the UK MSM, omitting tor had what these 'editors' have been saying for years, with different phrases. That' sadly, now also applies to the Speccie ... sad, isn't it ...
"Reported as soundbites" is perfectly normal for these outlets. I can remember ages ago first noticing it with Reagan's very brief letter announcing his Alzheimer's diagnosis. Why in the world would you need to excerpt something so brief and concise? Yet our morning paper did.
A great article. As a U.S. citizen, I'm proud of that speech. The real rubber will hit the road with honest transparency and disclosure of all the decades of terrible things we, the U.S. have done. That will be the true test, if we out and own up to all of that. Germany idiotically shut down it's nuclear plants, but we blew up Nordstream; we funded the Wuhan lab; we undermined the elections in Ukraine, etc. ad infinitum. Europe's been wearing it's ass for a hat for a long time, but so have we. Honesty and transparency. Maybe this speech marks the first step in the right direction.
While you complain about American Gladiator Bros cheering on the speech...remember this:
Americans are eternal optimists who believe in the impossible (well, not the libtard Americans, but whatever). And it is contagious. Even to Europeans who try their hardest to be dour and pessimistic. I've even heard this from numerous business owners, reflecting on why they hire Americans for top positions.
Yes, Vance's brilliant speech was inspiring to the base. It's one of the best political speeches I've ever heard, right up there with Kennedy's 'we choose to go to the moon not because it's easy but because it's hard.'
But important from a European perspective--it is backed by military and economic power. Even after Trump first warned European leaders 9 years ago that they needed to spend more on defense-- they'd still rather build windmills than have the courage to protect their people from foreign invaders. Until that changes, they will bow down to their security provider, even while sneering at him.
It's funny...I've been reading European Internet Gladiators say that exact thing (time for American troops to go home). Somehow they fail to realize that they'd then need to put down their lattes and pick up a weapon.
I dont know how many subs the Plague Chronicle has now, but somehow it has contributed in no small way to the global shift in paradigms, perceptions and otherwise. I very clearly remember doom scrolling through the comment section of the FT, despairing, till someone shared a link... and from there, never missed a post, and now you've gotten the attention of a head of state. Take a bow eugyppius, despite it being not even intermission, and never ever change
Did you notice the crowd at the conference was lacking anything remotely close to diversity?
Seems like that's only for the peasants.
That crowd are the most dangerous people in the world, and I don’t say that lightly. What is probably giving Americans pause, is that if they really do leave the continent, it will almost certainly wind up in various factional conflict and eventually an intra European war which they may have to come back to stabilize AGAIN. Somehow having the US around as the bully at least keeps Europe from destroying itself. Then again, its managed to find a workaround as far as I can tell, so my guess is its a lost cause!
Yes, there was a reason the whole world thought the disarming of Europe was a good idea. What the whole world didn't count on was Europe relying on the United States to defend it and then developing a delusional view of its moral superiority because of its supposed peaceable nature--preaching its greatness to the world all the while it became more and more totalitarian and demanded more and more control over its own citizens.
Yes. Arrogance, incompetency, ignorance and greed is a witches brew
add a high dose of deliberate multi-decade subversion by globalist power-elite the likes of David Rockefeller, and you get what we see now.
Yup. A perfectly run shit-show by the Turd Reich
'Turd Reich' ...
rotflmao
The US military presence in Germany (and the UK British Army On the Rhine) post-war and although reduced was and is there to keep the Russians out and the Germans in. Consider: Crimean War, Napoleonic Wars, Franco-Prussian War, WWI, WWII, Balkans War (which people tend to forget) - Continental Europe has been at war on average every 70 years for the last two to three centuries. Another war is due.
YES!
The PC caught my eye when Eugyppius asked for personal experiences with the C-19 fiasco.
He is what brought my attention to the Substack model of blogging.
At the time, I thought that I and a few of my friends were the only ones to realize just what a scam Covid was.
Thanks E.
Same. I discovered eugyppius through Alex Berenson or Matt Taibbi - I forget which, while Substack was in its infancy. Sharing personal experiences, after spending lonely nights wandering silent city streets wondering what had just happened, was cathartic. Better yet, eugyppius' humorous take on the official scammery that accompanied all of it provided a counterbalance to my vaccinated, mask-wearing friends and colleagues. That this column has now expanded into politics, and become part of the leading edge of a worldwide movement, makes me proud.
I discovered Eugyppius through El Gato Malo, bad cattitude on Substack. So interesting and exciting that JD engaged. And sorry that the ultra maga faction of Trump supporters went after eugyppius instead of the elites. We US Trump supporters are a big tent that do not necessarily agree on all issues.
We agree on the important issues. Seeing Trump, Vance, RFK, Jr., Tulsi, and Elon all on the same team is reassuring. Trump hijacked the GOP and has now engaged the smartest, most idealistic Democrats to help make it great again.
"I was there before he was cool"
Taking advantage of the influence of Eugyppius and Plague Chronicles (and reposting an earlier thought):
Hey @WhiteHouse.gov, hey @State.gov, How come the transcript of VP Vance's speech has STILL not been posted on the White House or State Department websites?
How come high-quality German, French, Spanish and Polish TRANSLATIONS of the Vance speech were not distributed SIMULTANEOUSLY so as to reach actual European citizens (very few of whom regularly read English sources)? And of course Chinese and Russian for broader international consumption?
Is it reasonable for the U.S. to entrust the translating and broadcasting of its messaging to the discretion and good will of adversarial "allies"?
Or are these naive questions? Was the speech intended merely as a flash in the pan for public consumption, to be forgotten after a few news cycles? Is this all kayfabe?
Wow you are so right to point out that there is a major gap in their comms strategy. My parents live in Spain where all the legacy media is pro-EU, pro-NATO, pro-establishment basically, and everything the Trump Administration does keeps getting trashed.
Having official, high-quality translations released (or even better, subtitled videos or at least clips) would go such a long way to open up direct channels with an international public.
QUOTE: Having official, high-quality translations released (or even better, SUBTITLED VIDEOS or at least clips) would go such a long way to open up direct channels with an international public.
CRUCIAL POINT: Only SUBTITLED videos are able to preserve at least a shred of the speaker's authentic utterances.
The fetid fetish for talking over original sound tracks ("dubbing¨) inevitably opens the door to sloppiness and "creative" translating. This is precisely why "news" reporting in many countries relies heavily on voice-overs rather than providing subtitles for interviews.
Few people who have not personally undertaken translations in a professional context realize how UNRELIABLE and error-prone the process of language translation is even IN THE BEST CASE, i.e. a seasoned, intelligent translator with in-depth familiarity of ALL the languages involved AND OF THE SUBJECT MATTER, and a willingness to provide a "TRUE AND CORRECT" translation of the original, warts and all.
Check this! Fresh from the weekend after Munich Conference. Like they’re trying to Emphasize Vance’s message!!!
Turd Reich, now a feature in Germany. No “Far Right” parties required,‼️ WOW
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-bMzFDpfDwc
I take his comments at face value, that he was telling Europe it has become the very thing thousands of Americans fought and died on the Normandy beaches and in the fields and streets to save them from - and not expect American lives and treasure to be spent again to save them unless they reform.
Playing to the US audience? No Trump and Vance already have their support in the bank, so let’s not second guess the genuine concern Trump and his team have for the disaster that is Europe. What Trump endured to represent the US people was genuine concern not for personal fame, glory and wealth - he already had that.
The two possibilities aren't mutually exclusive. The Trump administration surely regards the European political establishment as an extension of the American progressive-left that he displaced. I think a lot of foreign speeches work like this – providing implicit positioning in terms of domestic politics, while ostensibly addressing foreign matters. European politicians do this all the time, like Robert Habeck going to US as vice chancellor and talking primarily about carbon emissions for his base at home.
I think any politician speaking overseas has an eye on his domestic audience, but I think he was putting a marker down that the "special relationship" the US has with Europe is on life support. One thing Trump hates worse than anything is when a relationship is not equal or seems to benefit the other side excessively. That's how he sees Europe, both in NATO/defense or trade. Things are going to change to even things out one way or the other. This means, get ready to handle your own defense and get hammered for what many Americans perceive as unfair trade practices.
And, I think, extra hammering (in some way) until Europe (this includes importantly France) gives appropriate power to the right, eg, the anti-migrant parties.
It’s coming, when Trump wants to take it up.
And I think Trump will insist Europe provide forces and money to protect the freedom of Ukraine.
Habeck and those like him have never had a problem with criticizing the US if our views don’t comport with their sense of what is proper. Seems a bit harder for them to accept any criticism of their own views and actions. They’re also kind of making Vance’s point when they protest that his comments are “unacceptable.”
Sometimes blunt statements are what it takes to cut through the web of political doublespeak. Let the chips fall where they may. At least everyone knows exactly where everyone stands and then people can make informed decisions.
These people were blindsided that Vance would actually point out the elephant in the room. They were embarrassed, used to having their own way and dishing the BS but not used to being called out. If Habeck wants to complain, the first question for him would be, did he make IMMEDIATE EFFORT to prevent that German pensioner from having to go to prison for criticism of Habeck in social media? (Exercising his free speech in calling Habeck an idiot.) I’m 99% certain the answer is no.
Habeck's 'It's just none of your business' are the sounds a teenager makes when caught buying internet porn with his parents' credit card.
> The Trump administration surely regards the European political establishment as an extension of the American progressive-left that he displaced.
I mean, they would have to be absolute idiots to not understand that, and I don't think they are. It's not exactly a secret that the reason our proggies slaver for us to be "more like Europe" is because it's far to the left of us.
Having now looked at the Twitter thread, I do think the intent of that speech was *primarily* aimed at people not at that conference. Yes, both us over here in America, but also to the ordinary European people. It certainly flew right past the people *at* the conference that he actually said the words to. But there is a value in the US saying to the peoples of Europe that we haven't forgotten our roots, and that it doesn't make you an international pariah to support AfD or whoever.
Now, I'm probably a lot less methodical than your average German, but if I were not the sort of person who would already *be* voting for AfD, that speech might tip me over the line. I dunno. It's hard for me to know, as I've only been to Europe a few times. Maybe America is viewed as such complete outliers that being told that "we" don't think the positions of the populist parties are out of bounds would actually push people away from them. But I'd like to think that *we* aren't such a pariah to them.
We shall see shortly, I suppose.
I think the accumulated idiocy of the ruling center-left parties in Germany (and to a lesser degree, France) is very obvious.
It needs but a gentle blow to turn over this house of cards. The people KNOW it is not sustainable. Not the energy, not the economic, not the migrant policies.
This, above, was my reaction to:
"I hope Vance had no illusions his words would soften the firewall against the AfD, because if anything they have had the opposite effect. As I noted, the CDU responded to his words with offended condemnation."
Vance's words were aimed at those currently oppressed by German "democracy." By giving them new hope that they now have a firm ally, he has intensified the domestic pressure on those in power. Hardening those in power into making blustering villains of themselves was just a beneficial side-effect.
"...Vance's words were aimed at those currently oppressed by German "democracy."
Ah, like the Soviet dissident - - I forget exactly which one, Natan Sharansky perhaps -- who heard rumors of Reagan's "evil empire" speech and thought, "Whoa, we aren't totally forgotten after all".
Agree, but as has been shown in the past, that house of cards can be sustained for longer periods of time than we might othwerwise suspect, and perhaps can outlast the political capital that must be spent to finally cause the house to fall. As I said in another response, it's quite a gamble by both sides. If the AfD garners higher than 25% of the vote on Sunday, we will know who won the gamble.
This, actually, is exactly right. I happen to have extensive contacts with typical, conservative CDU voters in Germany. From what I'm gathering, this speech has done exactly this for them.
Oh. And now I see that I have strongly echoed Gato with this comment. Heh.
Apparently I just can't stand to wait and read everything before I start talking. 🤣
I used to think that too. Now I realize that truth is universal and that situational ethics are largely a myth. What you find to be true, when based upon factual data is replicable. Others will come to the same conclusions when the light is shined upon veracity. Attitudes in Europe about the VP speech will ultimately come down to choices of honesty and truth versus narrative creation and quest for power. How wise will politicians be? When will they see the writing on the wall and pivot for the needs of their people? Blackrock Mertz is far more intelligent than the others running for the chancellory but he lacks the bravery even if he possesses the instinct and understanding. He would still prefer to be safely wielded as a tool than strike out on his own and grab a momentous place in history, turning Germany for the better.
I think you might be discounting how quickly things can change.
Prior to the election none of these polling questions were above 38%.
Look at them now:
69% favor govt recognizing only two sexes
66% favor deporting illegals
60% favor expanding O&G production
63% favor declaring emergency at southern border
71% favor an exhaustive audit of all things government.
I can not explain how incredible those numbers are given the division in our country. It's simply unheard of even before Trump. Percentages this high in the US simply don’t happen without a major event.
A good example of how the Overton window is a Thing.
These statistics are certainly positive news, but not evidence of an irreversible victory. (Someone elsewhere on the Interwebs drew an analogy of Trump having landed at Normandy, but still on the beach; going forward to terra firma or being pushed backward into the sea were both real possibilities.)
No victory is irreversible in politics, but the stats may be indicative of a tide shift. I'll take that for now.
To be clear, I am grateful for this news as well.
But as Stanley Milgram discovered, when push comes to shove, only one-third of a society has a moral core of sufficient strength to stand up and rebel against an authority figure; those above that number are fluid. (At the end of the day, the crowd chose Barabbas.)
I agree with that
No way was Vance using this opportunity to speak to US audiences. He has many, better opportunities to reach US audiences. This was his very valuable and important time to speak to Europe.
Agreed. It was a warning shot across the bow, getting his point across but without jumping up and down, burning buildings, or mostly peaceful protests. No need for, “How dare you, How dare you!” or throwing tomato soup at a priceless Matisse.
Boom. exactly
He was speaking to the chorus in the US but mainly telling European citizens that it’s ok to question authority when you sense they are not operating on your behalf. This was the basic cause of elite freakout in the room. The US audience is already onboard and is cheering these ideas.
Maybe a warning to the home audience - this is what the US was becoming and Trump saved you?
Hopefully some will see that message. I’m afraid though that those who don’t see it will only criticize Vance’s speech as being impolite to our European friends. Perhaps though, some will recognize that we have similar problems here and must stand for truth and transparency so we don’t careen further down the same path Europe seems intent on following.
It is impolite to point out the tree branch your “friend” is stumbling on and even worse to point out the cliff they’ll hurtle over when they do.
The US has a well established rep for being mavericks. Willingness to take risks and experiment is our birthright. We shape culture by edginess, not in teaching proper table manners. We produce the “cool” inventions and style people emulate. This is also embraced by youth everywhere by contrast with stale fuddy duddies with their schoolmarm demands for censorship, suppression of thought, and compliance culture. Therefore, though European elites may consider Vance to be rude, they and their constituents know that being direct is baked into the cake. Vance knows this too and harnesses the implicit forgiveness and power of US (western) hegemony to strike while the iron is hot.
Absolutely no doubt about it. Compare the numbers for that poll now and pre-Trump. Compare the popularity of DEI and "gender-affirming" mutilations now and pre-Trump. The difference in each number does not represent people who have changed their principles -- it represents people who have no principles and will eagerly adopt the most popular of whatever is available. And that swing number controls the direction of the country.
The USA experiment was partially founded on the premise that "We are not Europe".
Thomas Jefferson expressed his concerns about the potential for corruption in large cities similar to Europe. He stated, "When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." This quote reflects his belief that the American republic should avoid the pitfalls of European urbanization and maintain its virtue,
Many of the founding fathers beliefs were used to structure our country's foundation, but this one is particularly prescient.
We see this in how the liberal population centers embraced mask mandates and medical Jim Crow here in the US; the "greatest city in the world" was perfectly happy to demand a shot card before allowing anyone to sit down for a meal in an eatery.
Those ideas and decisions were still fluid at the time. Remember, they were observing the French Revolution and subsequent “democracy.” Hamilton wanted a monarchal formal of government.
Yes. At the time, but my point is that what Jefferson feared has come to pass and is one of the worst threats to our Republic: Democracy itself, where the numbers concentrated in the cities overwhelm the wishes of the minority.
We see it in many of the geographically large states where the urbanites Lord over the rurals without even knowing the issues.
The European Union is a bureaucratic empire that has colonized European national states, subjected them to extractive taxes and regulations, coerced them with economic warfare, replaced their populations, subjected them to military occupation and subordination, and bought off or bribed their national elites. They are a hostile military and economic superstructure designed to subjugate the national peoples of Europe. Until this is clear, all else is folly.
I would say rather he sees it in reverse…the American progressive-left is an extension of the European political establishment whose socialism, contempt for the ‘masses’, dirigiste approach, and sense of entitlement worthy of a grandee from Aragon, has been the ideal for American academics and progs ever since Woodrow Wilson’s days as a professor…. It was one thing when Europe had economic and military power, even as European veered further left during and after the Cold War, but now Europe (with the exception of the Poles, the Baltics, and the Scandinavians (including the Finns for this purpose) is a shadow of itself…Britain and France look like The Camp of the Saints was a how to book…and Enoch Powell is looking like a prophet….
You're right that it can be both. From my U.S. bias, I tilt toward Mr. Bowman's view. American presidents in their final term in office are different from those in their first term. The boldness factor is sky high compared with what we saw from Trump in 2017. That said, I agree with you that this only helps Vance domestically when he runs for president in 2028 - he'll be happy to defend his speech on any debate stage against either a primary opponent or a Democrat in a general election. What opponent wants to try to argue that it is more important to be deferential to European sensibilities than to defend freedom of speech?
I also took the comments at face value. He is saying, "we see what you people have been doing over here and we (the new regime) don't like it. Do whatever you want, but don't be surprised if we take our shit and go home. And here are some 10% across the board tariffs on our way out the door"
He referred to European Commissioners as European Commissars, I thought at first it was a slip of the tongue or an unfamiliarity with nomenclature, but when I replayed the clip he started to say Commissioners but changed it to Commissars. So quite deliberate; he knew what he was saying. It seems not to have been widely picked up.
Commissar - the head of any of the major governmental divisions of the USSR: an official in any communist government whose duties include political indoctrination, detection of political deviation, etc.
The creators of Monty Python could not have made this stuff up in The EU, although they came close in their "It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them!" sketch.
Its really going to be funny when all these gleaming heads figure out that the world is one massive crime scene.
Our entire system of governance/politics, across the world, has not suffered any consequences for so long that they've become total imbeciles - they're totally unaware of it.
These people are the product of an empire in decline, that they caused:
Weak, corrupt, venal, not particularly intelligent - and did i mention corrupt?
Just a Cabal of Caligula's without the charisma - or a Nexus of Nero's without the musical talent.
He threw the grenade into the elite circle to put them on notice but just as importantly to be clarion call for the people.
Because of the incestuous nature with the relationship between the left and the misleadia the people are not hearing the truth. How many people in the EU actually know the truth about all the incidents E has been pointing out for four years? Not many i suspect. Vance and Elon indeed threw one grenade into the elites but they're going to give the people crates of grenades to launch at the elites.
Our administration can't do much without the support of the people. This wasn't as much a message to AfD and the rest of the populist movement, rather it's aimed at moderates; only they can break the inertia and lead to a critical mass. Once that happens it's the end of 40 years of rule by elite.
It's the moderates--both American & European--who are in control and need to realize (as American voters did) that they have muscles to flex.
When you come right down to it, Trump is a moderate. He doesn't bend "far right" at all, no matter what the corporate media claim.
Moderate = common sense!
PS: I thought of Monty Python, too!
Thats it
"misleadia"
This is brilliant.
Do they really care about European decline or do they sense the enormous continent is simply easier to grift from and control when the “peasants” are weak? aka the New Feudalism. HRC’s role was to “oversee thd managed decline of the United States.” Obviously the Trump admin does not ascribe to this philosophy. There may be a war in play by globalist leeches operating on both sides of the pond, woke-Atlanticism being their weapon of choice, and those recognized seeking a course correction.
I think they care to the extent that it helps their agenda....but i don't think it's a sinister agenda
Is HRC or Victoria “Cookies” Nuland sinister? Some say yes based upon what they are willing to do for their cause. Take note that European Commissioners followed along with them for decades. Have you heard the expression, “To make an omelette you have to break some eggs”? This was used to excuse 500K Iraqi civilians (acceptable losses) in the quest of Madeline Albright to capture the region. That’s pretty sinister. This mindset has either lurked or dominated in US gov including the last administration. Opportunistically seeking to carve up Russia and take the resources, a stated goal since 1992 is sinister, especially when the ultimate cost are lives. Support Ukraine for as long as it takes now includes sending 18 year olds. They rest of the men are largely gone. All for the sake of US proxy war against Russia. That to me is sinister. To paraphrase Lindsay Graham: “We want Ukrainian natural resources, and this war is a bargain since no US soldiers are doing the fighting or the dying.” Meanwhile, Habeck, Ursula, Schultz decided UKR was the hill to destroy their economies for. Also sinister IMHO.
"Its really going to be funny when all these gleaming heads figure out that the world is one massive crime scene."
And, it's not very funny that in Canada, many sheep are thinking Biden and de Dems got blindsided by unimaginable skullduggery and that how dare Trump and his Merry Band badmouth all those that fought and supported BLM, CoronaPrank, shitting on Venezuela, Kidnapping for the purpose of extortion (Meng Wanzhou - Huawei) Climate Fuckery and Project Ukraine, or in Canada, "Slava Ukrani". Even still... they bleat in support.
The other sport Canuckistanis engage in other than hockey in a big way is Virtue Signalling.
Perfectly stated!
I wonder if there is even much significance to the question whether Vance was speaking to Americans or Europeans.
The content of the message to Americans is "We hear you, expressing your disgust at how our so-called allies have become the opposite of what the West used to stand for, and just as we have done with every other issue that you voted us into office to address, we will follow through with this as well, and end the enablement of tyranny with your tax dollars." If that's the message to Americans, it is inherently a message to Europeans as well; and the question of who he had in mind when he uttered the words seems rather moot to me.
What effect his words will have is, of course, another matter. All we can say with certainty at this point, I believe, is that the fat is in the fire.
He was not playing to a US audience. Most Americans do not know or care about what he said to the EU.
Most low information voters will never hear of it, so you're right about that.
Remember the famous though albeit flowery Reagan Speech, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall!”
Who was he speaking to? Basically everyone. He was signaling his vision and leadership to both Americans and Europeans alike. The least of all was Moscow but they were in there too. Kennedy had international focus as well. This is not the first time we’ve “schooled” the kids.
There is a fraction of the US audience that has no love for Trump or Vance and is now quite explicit about the need for censorship to suppress their supporters, and a larger fraction that is sympathetic to these views. Vance could have been referring to the latter as his "American friends" that need to hear the message.
Two or three things can be true at once. No either-or always necessary for an excellent speech writer.
Well it's just a big security risk for the US to have allies that are against free speech.
That goes nowhere good.
I'm glad to see the Trump administration sees that.
It has to be stopped now or never.
No that long ago Vance made a comment about UK being "the first Islamic country with a nuclear weapon". Dismissed as a joke but imo him/Trump are genuinely worried. Optimistically speaking UK has cc 20-30 years left until it is completely taken over by Islamists. It could be a bit longer for the rest of Europe but I feel the current US administration is really not happy about having to face such a threat in not so distant future. Vance will be long out of the office by then, Trump won't even be alive, but if you believe these guys really love their children/grandchildren and their country, which I think they genuinely do, I wouldn't discount that this is what is driving them regarding Europe's direction of travel.
Thank you for putting this so eloquently. Families are so important to society.
Excellent post, thank you.
Sadly London has already been taken over by Islamists.
London is rich but the rest of England is poor.
There will doubtless be a reckoning.
I think/hope we're waking up. Never forget what we're capable of...
Interesting times......
A civil war is more likely to quota
Civil War In Britain?
Listen to this genuinely shocking podcast by Louise Perry, who is one of the most interesting writers and podcasters in Britain today. She interviews David Betz, a professor of war studies at King’s College, London. The topic: “The Coming Civil War In Britain.” Betz’s academic specialty is the way societies tear themselves apart, and put themselves back together. I strongly urge you to give it a listen, even if you aren’t British, because the conditions Prof. Betz talks about are present in most Western countries. I’m going to summarize his main points:
Section 2
https://open.substack.com/pub/roddreher/p/jd-vance-in-munich-a-lesson-to-elites?r=8ahwm&utm_medium=ios
Martin Armstrong’s supercomputer says 2024 was the last US presidential election. By 2032 the country will be split into regions according to values, beliefs, and ideology. Time will tell.
Let me offer my opinion as an American and try to put multiple things into context. In a seemingly unrelated, but highly related move, Trump nominated Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Rubio is the son of Cuban refugees from Castro's Cuba and is fluent in Spanish. He has huge credibility in Latin America because of this. His first trip after his confirmation was to Panama.
Related to Rubio's appointment is renewed rumblings about reasserting the 200 year old Monroe Doctrine, which states that the U.S. alone has rights to influence the Western Hemisphere. As part of his trip to the country, Rubio seems to have secured an agreement from the Panamanian government to disengage from China's Belt and Road program. This has the Chinese quite upset.
Further, I do not know if Rubio has even been to Europe yet.
Migration is THE issue in the U.S. Vance was not exaggerating when he called it the most pressing issue the West faces. The chief route followed by migrants to enter the U.S. goes through Panama.
More and more, people in the U.S. are growing weary of what goes on in Europe, particularly in Ukraine. They are also weary of intractable issues in the Middle East. That is why Trump's comments on Gaza got such a poor response.
My view is that Vance was telling European leaders that while the U.S. will not imminently disengage from them, if they keep going down the path they're on that will certainly happen. If I could encapsulate Vance's message in one sentence it would be this; "Europe, you have been warned."
Trump likes to do deals and will deal with any willing partner, but Vance has standards, as do more and more Americans. Europeans may not have noticed this, but I consider the Munich speech to be the first true campaign speech of the 2028 cycle by Vance. He did very well. I would go as far as to say that he sounded Lincolnesque. Unless something odd happens, Vance will be elected in 2028. The democrats are in complete disarray. They are led by a gerontocracy and have no good young minds to turn to.
If European leaders don't pull over in the next four years, I can see them being locked out of an increasingly fortress America. I don't want that to happen. Europe is full of brilliant, good people, such as yourself, Eugyppius, and it pains me to see you governed by such a bunch of retards.
Well said.
I would add however, that Democrats ARE led by a decrepit group of outright self-enriching criminals, but those young minds you speak of are equally decrepit in that they have been destroyed by the progressive education system. The democrat party is toast.
> The chief route followed by migrants to enter the U.S. goes through Panama.
Yeah, I noticed a long time ago that Panama would make an excellent chokepoint for stifling illegal immigration to the US.
Rubio has also been at the Munich Security Conference with Vance, so yeah he was in Europe
Rubio is now on a Middle East trip, yesterday he was with Netanyahu.
Actually, the Middle East Palestinian problem should be dumped squarely where it belongs: in the Middle East. The Palestinians are problems to everyone, and that's why Gaza's immediate neighbors Egypt and Jordan don't want a single Palestinian immigrant in their countries. No other Arab countries want them because they ALL acknowledge that Palestinians bring nothing but trouble. It's funny how no one mentions this. Why should the U.S. or for that matter, any Western country have to solve the problem? Many of the Arab states are rolling in money and they could easily participate in rebuilding Gaza. Financing it all, too.
I agree. "we see what you're doing here and we don't like it. you've been publicly warned."
“Never Forget” 😂😂😂
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FfJv9QYrlwg
Monroe Doctrine cuts both ways. Most people don’t know that. It is likewise a self-instruction for America to steer clear of foreign entanglements.
It's a shame we never seem to practice that part...
We can always go back to John Qunicy Adams. In his speech to Congress in 1821, he had this to say about America. I like the last sentence best.
"Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.
But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.
She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Adams said it. Jefferson said it. Washington said it.
And every time US leaders have ignored it, citizens get very obstreperous.
Some of the citizens do.
If we can hope for anything after the last 8 or 9 years, it will be the assumption of every American citizen that our government is lying to us until proven otherwise.
It's been a long time coming, and I must say the field has been carefully fertilized for it to happen.
In your spare time, make a list of the really, really popular TV shows and movies in which the US (or analogous) government was the big bad villain never to be trusted. Start with the obvious champeen, X Files; run down the list through Person of Interest, House of Cards, Utopia, Hunger Games, Firefly/Serenity, Stranger Things...
We are under no illusions about out the trustworthiness of our governments. We've only been waiting for the go-code. And now it's here.
To the European leaders who took comfort in the fact that at least Vance did not announce troop reductions: Those will come AFTER Trump procures a peace deal in Ukraine. He's not bluffing. If the Europeans refuse to take more responsibility for their own security, he will force them to.
Aww, poor European establishment. Of course you liked it better with Mommy Biden, who let you use the toy steering wheel in the back seat. But now daddy is driving the car. He took it away, and it makes you feel bad - and embarrassed, because all your friends saw. He is asking you very nicely to put away all your authoritarian practices and to stop bullying and excluding one fifth of your electorate.
But I thought Biden was using the toy steering wheel in the back seat. For 4 years, we didn't really know exactly who was driving.
And counting.
In my happy dreams, Trump has already assigned someone to find out... and they do.
DON'T MAKE ME STOP THIS CAR!
“It’s just none of your business. Mind your own business, there are enough problems in the USA.”(Habeck) Mr. Habeck would do well to consider carefully what he wishes for because that is exactly what Mr. Vance is saying. Personally, I don’t want to see my hard-earned, begrudgingly-given tax money frittered funding European tyranny, working against Americans’ interests. Many of my fellow Americans may feel the same, Mr. Habeck’s sense of entitlement notwithstanding.
I am most interested in hearing what “regular” Europeans think of JD’s speech.
Time away from the socials to focus on the book - how’s that going? 😉
This regular European thought the speech was stunning and wished every UK citizen could hear/read it in its entirety and feel as uplifted as I do. Home truths indeed.
I have no idea if I'd count as a regular European but I loved the speech. I'm loving everything this US administration is doing. They're just so right about what needs to be done, so dynamic and energetic. A part of me wishes now I'd been successful in migrating to the US many years ago, even though it would have been to California and that would have been truly crazy making in the interim.
The question is really, who does Europe have that could rise to this challenge and become peer leaders with men like Trump, Musk and Vance? The UK has Farage, whose party has taken off like a rocket in recent weeks, and he has started gathering some talent around him. Germany has Weidel, although it's unclear to me if she's really made of the right stuff to lead strongly. France has nobody, AFAICT. Le Pen is a leftist who simply dislikes immigration. Austria has a right wing government right now, but all these places except the UK are highly constrained by the EU and not willing to leave.
Have you considered that the reason Vance and Elon have been over there is precisely for the reason you point out?:
To find and provide an invitation to leader(s) capable of doing exactly what you wish for.
Would recommend Gato Malo's Substack post "Teutonic Tragedy."
Been there. The Christening video is an impressive allegory for persistence in the belief that doing your bad policy harder, repeatedly, will ultimately work and result in a good outcome, damage to the institutions of democracy notwithstanding.
I read somewhere on LinkedIn yesterday: it would be novel to have a European politician capable of delivering a speech with the eloquence and conviction that JD Vance did in Munich (irrespective of message/ content). Maybe another indicator that we have too many technocrats in the house.
Vance is a technocrat in waiting and isn't to be trusted.
He's an opportunistic errand boy of the sleaziest order, strategically placed to serve his paymasters, specifically Peter Thiel. His Munich moment is part of the incoming administration's spectacle of b.s.
I've heard him likened to Kennedy this week. That's laughable. Vance is as compromised by financial forces as hostile to basic freedom as the European puppets he dramatically excoriated. It's a show.
As Clint Eastwood mumbled in one of his movies, "Opinions vary".
I disliked Vance back in 2016 when I read his memoir Hillbilly Elligy. I thought it was a betrayal of his own people, the Appalachian mountain folks, and I fundamentally distrust those who embarrass and delegitimize their flesh and blood in exchange for personal advancement. But I have not seen any sign of this since the East Palestine disaster. He stood alone speaking up for that very same, forgotten and mistreated people when it gained him no apparent political points and only derisive scorn in the media as a hysteric.
In fact, you can draw a straight line from his viral speech by a polluted creek in East Palestine to his sensational, perhaps historical, speech astride that equally polluted swamp of a conference in Munich. It's the same Vance, eloquently speaking up for the forgotten, whether Appalachian folks in East Palestine or ethnic German folks in Europe.
Is Vance doing that for our sake, his American electorate? Perhaps, but maybe he's doing this because, Er kann nicht anders. It's just what he and his fellow Americans to do: Stand up to a bully and defend the defenceless. And just maybe he and Trump are both having the time of their lives getting to do it.
QUOTE: "I disliked Vance back in 2016 when I read his memoir Hillbilly Elegy."
Wasn't his memoir called "Dreams from My Father"?
No, that was Obama's ghost written "memoir."
QUOTE: "... ghost written 'memoir' "
Kind of my point ... Standard part of the up-and-coming pol package.
This American tradition of painting pols as litterati goes back at least to "Profiles in Courage" published in JFK's name in the late 1950s. "Profiles," ghost-written by Theodore Sorensen (as everyone who was anyone KNEW at the time), even garnered a Pulitzer.
Well, you've convinced me! lol.
Usha Vance just happened to clerk for JOHN ROBERTS.
It would be considered “Verboten!”
Well, my oh my, this is perhaps the first time I've disagreed with you, E. Do you really think both Elon and Vance would both be saying the same thing within a month of each other if there wasn't a plan?
That grenade he launched wasn't for the elites; it was a clarion call to the people. The Trump administration knows the "dam" is weakening, and once it's breached it's over for the elites. It's just the first step. Pent up energy can reshape the topography both on nature and in the political ecosystem. It's about ready to explode....and they are starting to sense it. So the protestations, CYAs and cover ups must become more overt, absurd and desperate
We have witnessed something rather remarkable here; how fast the zeitgeist can change when you simply replace nonsense with common sense.
I will also say the administration is basically viewing the entire world as one big crime scene. We are finding EU involvement in the grift that's being exposed in a 24/7 live stream. The tentacles are wide and deep and are hidden by the distance of the Atlantic Ocean, the allied intelligence agencies and NGO cutouts.
EU corruption will necessarily be exposed as DOGE reveals more. I would guess they already know several avenues. There are so many threads to pull that it's certain many lead back to the old world.
This is just the opening act. It's a scouting mission to draw them out with their own words, leaving them defenseless and being boxed into defending the indefensible:
corruption, policies that work against the people, waste and incompetency.
For the record:
1. Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder looks like the biggest prick ever.
2. Pistorius has no shame. He basically said that Vance's speech on free speech is unacceptable speech. This is an example of drawing them out.
This is not the last you'll hear. It is planned. Two things can be true at once; our direct interests AND our interests for the German people. Because without the people of the EU it would not be possible for us to be relieved of the yoke set upon us because of our previous policies with the EU since WW2...but also the yoke that the US has put on The EU as a result of the same geopolitical policies after WW2.
> 2. Pistorius has no shame. He basically said that Vance's speech on free speech is unacceptable speech. This is an example of drawing them out.
Vance afterwards: "I mean, I didn't expect you to make my point for me quite so perfectly, but thank you anyway."
I know he's smooth and has big cojones.
It's one of the most consequential speeches ever given in my lifetime.
What a badass VP we have. The days of milquetoast VPs is done!
Absolutely perfect balance/complement to Trump
Just imagine had it been Kamala Harris speaking at the Munich conference. Three days later, we'd all still be trying to figure out what the heck she meant to say. <shudder>
Well at we would've known that we can be unburdend by what has been.
C'mon Username, of course Kamala would've done a better job. Kamala always plans ahead.
Dont you remember the election?!
She told us she had a plan. She said her plan indeed was a plan. Her plan is such a plan, it is a plan. Kamala's plan is a plan that she has
😀 😁 😆 🤣
If we even got to see anything more than the rehearsed soundbite.
I'm kind of curious about what Europeans (not the elite) thought of Kamala Harris.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that their view of Kamala Harris wasn't all that different from ours. Maybe somewhat more favorable because their media is (even) more completely controlled than ours.
"The days of milquetoast VPs is done!"
The passage of time can be indeed significant.
It was an absolutely amazing speech. I was alive for Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbechev” but yeah. This one could end up in competition.
He said “unacceptable,” not “untrue.” Embarrassed much?
It’s absolutely been a crime scene, for a long time!!! See USAID!!!! Also, see the history of US reorg of Europe, specially Germany after WW2. I’m not sure US overlords were ever well intentioned when it came to harnessing their vassals in Europe to best advantage. I will started the obvious this group knows and understands, just in case it is somehow necessary. Speaking of Europe, EU, and the European people are not truly interchangeable concepts though we do so frequently in our colloquialism. When I speak of overlords and vassals it is not to deprecate the native citizenry.
I agree. I don't think they were.
But times have changed and the interests of the American citizens is aligned with that of the EU citizens.
The majority of EU citizens are just unaware of it at the moment.
But they will be after watching what happens in the US.
You can only live outside of reality for so long before it slaps them upside the head. Nobody sane person is going to be able to hide from the truth...and it's coming out in endless waves battering our overlords beach heads.
You mean they may somehow know that even with fancy cosmetic surgery, a boy cannot become a girl?
Habeck’s an asshole. “What Vance said yesterday is none of his business.”
It’s 100% America’s business, if America is subsidizing Germany’s welfare state, its renewable energy program, and its tough talk against Russia. America is completely within its right to demand that Germany act like a democratic country, and not a bunch of authoritarians.
I doubt that words are very effective, but forcing European countries to fund more of NATO might.
Yeah, it was... a really shockingly excellent speech.
I really hope Vance’s speech has the effect of advancing truth in Europe - that uncontrolled migration has been a disaster, and that NetZero is unviable.
On the latter, if Norway refuses to continues to be the electrical generation backup for Germany and the UK, NetZero IS dead. They have purposely eroded their internal firm capacity in service of the CO2 & anti-nuclear Gods.
And Norway is tiring of causing their own power costs to rise as a result of Germany’s and Great Britain’s decisions.
During Dunkelflaute neither country can keep their lights on without imports.
It shall be interesting to see what Norway does. Chaos will ensue if they decide to stop being the backup to NetZero ambitions.
They will then suffer the inevitable pendulum swing by their populations against their ineptitude.
I've noted that J D Vance's speech was generally - in the UK as well as in Germany - reported through the International, USAID-affiliated MSM as soundbites on which the various politicians could show their 'respectable' thoughts, condemning it. AFAIK, only 'alt media' and later 'Die Welt' (paywalled) produced the full text.
It looks to me as if both UK and German mainstream politicians already know that the votes on Sunday in Germany won't change a thing, regardless of how many will vote for the AfD in the end. Thus, bar the shouting, they can get on with business 'as usual'.
'Tis as depressing as is the weather ...
It's very interesting, though, that Welt – which has tacking slightly to the right of CDU leadership since probably Magdeburg – has written several pieces cautiously endorsing much of what Vance said, and also as you noted they provided the full speech in German translation.
Yes, 'Welt' has very carefully been shifting away from the Red-Green mantra in recent months. I think this might be due not least to the fierce comment posts on relevant reports, together with an even fiercer positive attitude for certain Welt columnists, with clear threats of subscriptions going to be cancelled should said columnists be sacrificed for the Merz-Scholz-Habeck 'continuity politics'.
We'll see ... one week to go ... sadly, I'm not looking forward to a positive outcome
No, the conservative British press did print it. Spectator, full transcript:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/jd-vance-what-i-worry-about-is-the-threat-from-within/
Telegraph, full transcript:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/02/14/jd-vance-munich-security-conference-speech-in-full/
Thanks for the links - they truly escaped my notice since I've more or less given up on what the UK media 'produce'.
Ironically, Eugy used the Spectator's transcript to write this article.
I admit: I'm now only scanning the front pages of the UK MSM, omitting tor had what these 'editors' have been saying for years, with different phrases. That' sadly, now also applies to the Speccie ... sad, isn't it ...
"Reported as soundbites" is perfectly normal for these outlets. I can remember ages ago first noticing it with Reagan's very brief letter announcing his Alzheimer's diagnosis. Why in the world would you need to excerpt something so brief and concise? Yet our morning paper did.
A great article. As a U.S. citizen, I'm proud of that speech. The real rubber will hit the road with honest transparency and disclosure of all the decades of terrible things we, the U.S. have done. That will be the true test, if we out and own up to all of that. Germany idiotically shut down it's nuclear plants, but we blew up Nordstream; we funded the Wuhan lab; we undermined the elections in Ukraine, etc. ad infinitum. Europe's been wearing it's ass for a hat for a long time, but so have we. Honesty and transparency. Maybe this speech marks the first step in the right direction.
So true!!!!
While you complain about American Gladiator Bros cheering on the speech...remember this:
Americans are eternal optimists who believe in the impossible (well, not the libtard Americans, but whatever). And it is contagious. Even to Europeans who try their hardest to be dour and pessimistic. I've even heard this from numerous business owners, reflecting on why they hire Americans for top positions.
Yes, Vance's brilliant speech was inspiring to the base. It's one of the best political speeches I've ever heard, right up there with Kennedy's 'we choose to go to the moon not because it's easy but because it's hard.'
But important from a European perspective--it is backed by military and economic power. Even after Trump first warned European leaders 9 years ago that they needed to spend more on defense-- they'd still rather build windmills than have the courage to protect their people from foreign invaders. Until that changes, they will bow down to their security provider, even while sneering at him.
It is time for change. Let's Fucking Go.
You left off the word "home" in that last sentence.
It's funny...I've been reading European Internet Gladiators say that exact thing (time for American troops to go home). Somehow they fail to realize that they'd then need to put down their lattes and pick up a weapon.
I believe Vance said “in the interests of comity” not “comedy”. I always appreciate your informed and perceptive takes.
thanks, it is the spectator transcript, not my own, but I will correct.
Either might work, given the context. The room sure needed lightening up.
I think they were experiencing a collective “potty emergency” as they sat.
'The Chancellor added: “We ourselves decide how our democracy will progress.”'
Yeah, but who's "we"? That's the question and the point.
The "we" is the totalitarian concensus.