JD Vance has suggested that American support for NATO should be predicated on the European Union not regulating Elon Musk and his X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

The Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio senator claimed in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan that a top EU official had threatened to arrest the billionaire if he allowed former President Donald Trumpback on X.

“The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said, ‘We’re going to arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,’ who, by the way, is the likely next president of the United States,” Vance said in the interview published last week.

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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          24 days ago

          Only problem here is that Trump is famous for not paying his debts.

          He doesn’t play bureaucracy games; he just stops spending money in certain areas and lets the bureaucrats scramble to make it OK.

          In other words, I see the US stopping all engagement with NATO and a EU/US tariff war in the future — IF he can pull it off in four years.

          • Dasus@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            But see here the users are the product. And the users come from Europe. Which has certain regulations. Unless they abide, then they don’t get all that sweet product.

            What they don’t understand is that European bureaucracy doesn’t play politics.

          • Dragomus@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            Frankly if the US starts playing the petulant child I can see the EU make their own version of NATO and keep the us-tantrum version as a side hustle for them to ignore at will. The new version might be smaller in scope, but places/bases far beyond the EU borders would not matter much anymore.

            Also, the whole NATO treaty is linked to cable and transmission espionage … If NATO breaks apart, no more spy data going to the US …

            When push comes to shove and Trump flings tariffs at the EU it’ll be because he already tanked the US economy with tariffs on “chaina” and needs a new scapegoat. And he hopes new tariffs on a different target will keep the finances afloat, refusing to see his tariffs hurt his own companies not other countries.

            Perhaps part of the US wakes up when things they buy now suddenly will cost double or triple the amount in 3 years time.

            On the other hand, the excuse will be a perpetual state of war aggainst ever differing enemies and that will make it easier to swallow the doubled consumer prices.

            Perhaps he’ll join his master Putin in attacking the ever evil EU.

  • Bruncvik@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    Didn’t the European commission recently declare that Twitter had become too irrelevant to regulate?

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Because nothing says freedom, and for the common human, like threatening to leave a defense pact over a private corporation. Fuck these guys to the fucken core. I am fucken over corporations having such power. I’m about willing to send us back to the stone age just to wipe their wealth. Fuck it. We can all go down if you want to be an eternal cunt to the rest of humanity.

  • solomon42069@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Threatening Europe so the apartheid inheritance child can get richer. The new lows from the new government start now!

  • oakey66@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    This is how you get new alliances around the world against the US. This could spiral very quickly.

    • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      23 days ago

      The 3rd amendment shields us from housing military without our consent. But does anything prevent us from willingly housing foreign troops?

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Well, “JD” “Vance” had better remember to always do what donvict wants him to do, otherwise, he’ll get the Pence treatment.

  • BossDj@lemm.ee
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    24 days ago

    They’re literally going to point to anything the EU does and say “Oh! Gotta pull out of NATO now!” They’ll even make up shit that EU didn’t do (probably like this fake ass threat letter) as excuse.

    They intend to get out if they can, unless they get unilateral control, in order to strengthen Russia.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      At this point the EU should just fucking seize all US assets within their borders, expel the US from NATO, and ramp up military investment. Trumps presence is only a noose around the EU.

      • BossDj@lemm.ee
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        23 days ago

        They should tell Trump that if he tries to fuck around, they’ll all immediately start trading oil in Euros. Maybe just do that anyway as a fuck you.

  • Eiri@lemmy.ca
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    24 days ago

    Oh god. I was so focused on Trump I forgot this dimwit came with him as a package deal.

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    21 days ago

    DO IT!

    Just look at the TPP. The US tried to write the rules and the rest of the partners said, “No.” The US said, “Screw you guys, we’re going home!” and stormed off in a snit assuming the deal would fall apart without them but it didn’t and it ended up being better without the US imperialist bullshit. Then, US farmers realized that they were getting fucked because the US wasn’t part of the deal ([1], [2], [3]) and the US came back demanding to be let in and the US imperialist bullshit restored to the agreement. Once again the partnerd said, “No”.

    Let’s let the US leave whatever they want to leave, renegotiate everything without them, then only let them return under the new terms. The world will be a much better place in the end.

    EDIT: Trump ordered the US to withdraw from the TPP because the partners wouldn’t be bullied into accepting one-sided andi-competitive, anti-consumer protections for US industry and a dispute resolution process that favoured the US but that the US would ignore when it lost.