Vice President JD Vance tried to defend Elon Musk’s interference within the federal authorities by making a poorly acquired joke on the Munich Safety Convention in Munich, Germany, on Friday.
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“I say this with all humor, if American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk,” Vance stated.
He then paused for laughter. However there was solely useless silence.
Except for Vance’s horrible comedic abilities, the 2 conditions aren’t remotely comparable.
Musk is by far the wealthiest individual on the planet. He owns one of many largest social media networks, has earned billions from authorities contracts, bankrolled the presidential marketing campaign of the present president, and frequently amplifies antisemites, racists, and misogynists.
Local weather activist Greta Thunberg in 2023
Thunberg is an environmentalist and activist trying to cease the local weather disaster. She began her protests when she was in her teenage years, and he or she’s now 22. She has pushed for a discount in dangerous carbon gases, whereas Musk makes autos which can be repeatedly recalled for questions of safety.
Musk is the pinnacle of a staff dismantling key parts of the U.S. authorities—whereas making a living from that very same authorities.
Thunberg has repeatedly cited peer-reviewed scientific analysis about local weather change, which President Donald Trump has claimed is merely a “hoax” from China. By comparability, Trump, Musk, and Vance are continuously providing up simply checked falsehoods in lieu of a coherent argument.
The unhealthy joke wasn’t the one Vance fumble in Europe.
Whereas protecting for Musk on his journey, Vance boosted far-right extremists in Germany, assembly with the chief of Different for Germany, or AFD—a celebration the nation’s home intelligence service considers so excessive that it warrants surveillance. The get together is well-known for its antisemitism, ethno-nationalism, and use of Nazi slogans.
Not solely did Vance meet with the chief of AfD, he additionally publicly argued it’s an eligible political companion.
“I can tell you plainly: There can be no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions, and the conscience that guide your very own people,” he stated in his speech on the Munich Safety Convention.
Elon Musk speaks by way of video at AfD’s election marketing campaign launch in Halle, Germany, on Jan. 25, 2025.
“[W]e don’t have to agree with everything or anything that people say. But when political leaders represent an important constituency, it is incumbent upon us to at least participate in dialogue with them,” he added.
Germany’s different political events have fashioned a consensus to not work with AfD.
“I don’t think it is right for foreigners, including those from friendly foreign countries, to interfere so intensively in an election campaign in the middle of an election period,” a spokesperson for the German authorities stated in response to Vance’s remarks.
Unsurprisingly, Musk has additionally made latest overtures to AfD, which shares his and Vance’s opposition to immigrants. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote in a submit on X.
Through the latest presidential marketing campaign, Vance earned a repute for being “weird.” Regardless of protests from Republicans, his conduct as vice chairman is just boosting that notion.
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