Europe Confronts Reality That Vance’s Hostility Is More Than Just a Show

Vi bringer denne artikel på engelsk som led i vores samarbejde med The Wall Street Journal. Vice president has taken an aggressive stance, sparking fears for the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Kevin Dietsch/AFP/Ritzau Scanpix

European leaders had hoped that Vice President J.D. Vance ’s antagonism was a political show to build domestic support. Now, after Vance expressed disdain for Europe in a private text chat about Yemen attack details, officials are coming to terms with a vocal vice president whose antipathy for Europe appears to run deep.

»I just hate bailing Europe out again,« he said regarding planned U.S. strikes against Houthi rebels, in an exchange published by the Atlantic magazine. He told fellow administration officials that the U.S. was »making a mistake« by hitting the Houthis, whose attacks on Red Sea shipping have scrambled global shipping routes.