JD Vance’s Tough Love for Europe Risks Alienating Allies

In an interview with UnHerd’s Sohrab Ahmari, Vice President JD Vance recast his naked hostility toward Europe as a species of tough love. “It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” he said. Europe must learn to stand up on its own.

As “America First” foreign policy prescriptions go, this is an odd one. I, a notoriously perfidious RINO squish, would be happy if Europe’s foreign policy preferences are subject to an American veto in perpetuity. After all, the only reason why conservatives spent decades advocating for a Europe that invests more in its own security was so that it could be a more capable steward of our shared strategic objectives — goals the United States would, as NATO’s prima inter pares, define.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.

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In an interview with UnHerd’s Sohrab Ahmari, Vice President JD Vance recast his naked hostility toward Europe as a species of tough love. “It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” he said. Europe must learn to stand up on its own.

As “America First” foreign policy prescriptions go, this is an odd one. I, a notoriously perfidious RINO squish, would be happy if Europe’s foreign policy preferences are subject to an American veto in perpetuity. After all, the only reason why conservatives spent decades advocating for a Europe that invests more in its own security was so that it could be a more capable steward of our shared strategic objectives — goals the United States would, as NATO’s prima inter pares, define.

About the Author

Noah Rothman

Noah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. His third book, Blood and Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence, was published by Hachette in May 2026.