Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) took a hawkish tone toward Iran in an interview following the news that he had been selected as former President Trump’s running mate for the November election.
“The most important part of the Trump doctrine of foreign policy is you don’t commit America’s troops unless you really have to, but when you do, you punch and you punch hard,” Vance told Fox News’s Sean Hannity at the Republican National Convention on Monday.
“A lot of people recognize that we need to do something with Iran but not these weak little bombing runs,” Vance said, apparently referring to President Biden’s airstrikes against Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.
“If you’re going to punch the Iranians, you punch them hard, and that’s what [Trump] did when he took out Soleimani,” he said, referring to the 2020 assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
Vance claimed the assassination “brought peace” to the region, but the incident brought the US and Iran to the brink of a full-blown war. Iran responded by firing a volley of missiles at a US base in Iraq, which caused traumatic brain injuries but didn’t kill any Americans. Two months later, in March 2020, a rocket attack in Iraq the US blamed on Iranian-allied Shia militias killed two US troops and one British soldier.
Vance accused Biden of “doing nothing” about Iran. “You have the infrastructure there, sitting there, to weaken Iran, to strengthen our ally Israel. Joe Biden’s done nothing with it, Donald Trump would reinvigorate it,” he said.
Discussing Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, Vance claimed Biden was not helping Israel even though the president has provided huge amounts of military aid and significant political support. “Joe Biden has done nothing to help our ally Israel. Joe Biden has made it harder and harder for Israel to win that war. He has prolonged the war to take out Hamas,” Vance said. He has previously said Biden was “micromanaging” Israel’s military operations in Gaza, signaling he favors giving the Israelis whatever they want.
Vance discussed other foreign policy issues, including the conflict in Ukraine. He has been a leading critic of the proxy war since he joined the Senate in 2022, and he told Hannity that he believes Trump will be able to negotiate a deal with Russia and Ukraine to “bring this thing to a rapid close.”
The Ohio senator said ending the war in Ukraine would allow the US to focus on “the real issue, which is China.” Vance described China as the “biggest threat” facing the US, which aligns with the view of the Pentagon.
Vance is a typical retardiQAn…!
Wow … and here I was hoping for some kind of Jacksonian populist isolationist … no such luck, eh?
You took the words right out of my mouth. Here's his atavistic ancestry on full display, like he'd never left dogpatch for New Haven. A perfect fit with Trump. Surely this has got to be the absolute bottom.
Isolationist.. what does that mean? Normally it is used to mean not belligerent, not starting aggressive wars, militarily or economically, not topple governments, orchestrate regime change, set up coups, meddle in national affairs of other countries. Or in other words understood to be an entirely negative thing.
Not doing all of those things, but trade and engage constructively with other nations is not isolationist, you don't isolate. Instead it is neutral. You mind your own business and leave others do theirs.
Yes, I'm all for peace and trade with all, entangling alliances with none …
Non-interference is a better term than isolationist; but both are better than the mil-ind-banking empire we have been embarked on.
Vance just made the best argument I've heard yet for voting for Biden, if his name is still on the ballot by then to do so. Now that's an achievement. The Dems should perhaps put nothing in their ads but Vance's thirst for blood and fondness for calling Trump Hitler.
This is your DAILY reminder that we had No new Wars during the 4 years of the Trump presidency. Then we had the rigged 2020 Covid election and all hell broke loose. Humiliation in Afghanistan, disaster in Ukraine, genocide in Gaza. We need Trump back.
The USA and the world needs more than just the same old madness of US foreign policy under either Republican or Democrat. Trump isn't the answer nor is Biden. Trump was happy to continue US involvement in the Middle East just as Obama and George W Bush. He almost started a massive war with Iran.
Biden is a bigger disaster no doubt but both are bad choices. The world needs better than both those men. That's the hard cold reality of it all.
Evolve now. Write in Nobody for every federal elected office.
Better would be "None Of These Candidates."
And that would accomplish what? It is a binary race. Pick who you thinks is best and vote for him or pick the person who think is the worst and vote against him. Don't waste your vote by writing nobody.
It's a "binary race", Timothy, because the Establishment (both R and D) thrives on promoting the misconception that voting for a 3rd party candidate, or an intentional spoil ballot, is "a waste of your vote".
Voting one's conscience is always the best option. The "lesser of two evils" trope just has one voting for an evil.
being a first-past-the-post, winner take all electoral system leads to 2 parties, almost as a political law. countries with lotsa political parties are usually proportional representation coupled with a parliamentary system. in US winning 49% of the vote just means u get 0% of the power, not 49% of the electoral seats. a switch wld require cooperation of the two parties & guess what they would do to such efforts!
The fact is that it is a binary race. You can have a voice in who is the next President or not. That is your choice. Choosing a third party or a stupid write in vote is the same as not voting. Again, it is your right not to vote or waste your vote.
You have it exactly backward.
The next time the outcome of a presidential election is determined by a single vote will be the first time. The sole, entire, and complete value of a single vote is messaging. And a single vote increment added to a major party ballot line carries far less messaging signal than that same increment added to a minor party ballot line.
It could be a step toward creating a new form of real democracy. Of course the elite will continue to do everything possible to direct the course toward more of the same only faster. Even so; when the people can see they are the only way forward with new ideas, there is a chance to avoid extinction brought on by upper class wars, pollution and climate collapse.
A better democracy would entail abandonment of archaic First Past The Post voting and adoption of Single Transferrable Voting.
"Don't waste your vote by writing nobody."
The preceding was a paid political advertisement on behalf of the civic religion.
"Biden is a bigger disaster no doubt "
That's s matter of opinion. I think Trump is the greater disaster.
Seems like the question is, are we talking FOREIGN policy disaster, or DOMESTIC policy disaster?
Ukraine and Gaza conclusively prove Biden is a foreign-policy disaster.
Social divisiveness and plans for Project 2025 overwhelmingly demonstrate that Trump was, and absolutely will be, the unquestioned winner as domestic-policy disaster.
Most Americans want both to drop out of the race.
And this is your DAILY reminder. Trump escalated every war that was going on when he took office. He also lessened the rules of engagement in those wars, as well as drone strikes, to make killing easier. He also bombed Somalia more than W and Obama combined. Do I need to mention the sanctions again? And speaking of the humiliation in Afghanistan, those 10 innocents Biden wasted for revenge for the dead marines was done under Trumps rules of engagement. Otherwise, those people wouldn't have been turned into pink mist. You're as delusional as Vance.
We rarely agree, but you are right on this guy.
The election of 2020 was not rigged. Resign your membership from the flat earth society and accept reality.
81 million votes
Hey, let's not get in the way of a pro-Genocide idiot and a pro-Trump idiot haplessly flailing away at each other like a couple'a Kansas City f****ts (to quote 'Blazing Saddles')
Right. And the mass murder of 20,000 Palestinian children and babies in Gaza by the IDF is “self-defense”.
What does what is happening in Gaza has anything to do with the 2020 election? None. Zero. A very poor attempt at deflection. Your statement that the 2020 election was rigged is wrong.
You’re WRONG about the holocaust in Gaza and you’re WRONG about the rigged 2020 election.
Again. What the H does the war in Gaza has to do with 2020 election? Nothing. If you believe in the rigged election theory of 2020, I have a used, but still in good shape bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
LOL. Distort much?
There have been no new wars involving US under Biden either.
Trump was hip deep in the slaughter in Yemen.
The US isn’t involved in Ukraine and Gaza dingbat?
Dingbat.
Eat it tRumpsucker.
“Starting a new war” implies US troops in combat.
Your statement is either stupid, ignorant, and both.
I vote both.
Yo, T. Paine. Major Burns just agreed with me on something, about you. That means your credibility is in the sh*tter.
We need Trump imprisoned.
Did you organize your Thomas Crooks fan club yet?
There’s no need for lawlessness, except for the fact that Trump has massively corrupted the judiciary.
MAGATS suck ass!
That's fine – if Trump wins (and stays out of jail by doing so) he'll follow Project 2025 and completely replace DoJ officials with his chosen sycophants.
Unfavorable corruption gone !
Trump is a convicted felon. He belongs in the Big House, not the White House, MAGAT.
Go Fuck yourself MAGAT.
Yo, T. Paine. Timothy Burns commented that you're delusional. If a pro-genocide wingnut like HIM calls you out…well son, y'all f**ked up.
I called him delusional. And I stand by what I said. Wanting Trump over Biden doesn't make him delusional but wanting Trump does.
You did, but you aren't terminally afflicted by HUB Syndrome (Head Up Bum) like Major Burns is.
When you say it, it's accurate.
When young This Suit BURNS Better can spot an actual idiot…well, that's where Warren "Abbreviations Confuse Me" Paine won the Intellectual Clown Race.
Business as usual. Trump will have the same foreign policy.
Then it's imperative to vote independent or third party…!
"That ain't gonna happen."
There is only one party. AIPAC owns it.
I've voted third party for the better part of thirty years, but until someone joins me it ain't working.
"Then it's imperative to vote independent or third party…!"
My impression of the putative independents, and third party candidates, is that they are eagerly awaiting the chance to be just as bad as the duopoly.
Vote for Nobody!
Who is interested in protecting your rights? Nobody!
Who is committed to furthering your interests? Nobody!
Vote for Nobody!
You don't have a crystal ball. But we definitely know we'll have the same foreign policy if we KEEP the current Biden regime in power.
You don't have to have a crystal ball, a rear view mirror will do.
What's more difficult to say is which way is going to be worse. But I'd wager probably both.
Trump didn’t have a Russian invasion of Ukraine nor a genocide in Gaza like we have with the democtats.
Trump did lay the groundwork for that.
Continuing the policies under Obama, who continued the policies under George W. Bush, who continued the policies under Clinton, who broke Baker's promise, vis a vis Nato expansion and encirclement of Russia.
If you believe that Trump would do anything other than Biden to facilitate genocide in Gaza or stop continuing it I can't tell you how much I'd like for you to be right. But there is no hope whatsoever of that happening. Expect it to get worse.
As Michael Malice says: "We can't vote our way out of this."
Punch Iran hard. Punch the entire world hard. Nuke everybody. Just get it over with. Make America Safe Again. Make it the only surviving country in the world. Just checking if my message is muscular enough, how many of you will vote for me? (Sarcasm)
You got my vote …
Es muy macho. MUY macho !
Just days ago, post assassination attempt US politicians were crowing about how wrong political violence is… I guess the nuance is that political violence is only wrong if it is directed internally. External political violence against foreigners is just fine.
GMTA
Good article.
The real translation is "political violence against members of the ruling class has no place in America."
A shallow discourse even for such neocons and exactly the kind of hubris that will contribute to larger conflicts embroiling the region.
The Ohio senator said ending the war in Ukraine would allow the US to focus on “the real issue, which is China.” Vance described China as the “biggest threat” facing the US, which aligns with the view of the Pentagon.
I actually thought he was somewhat anti-war. Silly me.
Me too … he didn't seem so crazy when appearing on Carlson's show. Is he auditioning, and whom for?
Please do NOT vote for these War Mongers, not the Reps or Dems. None of the major Candidates, or Parties, want PEACE! There is nothing hopeful about working hard, paying taxes to support WARS. We have a decaying infrastructure, decayed Education System, an unhealthy, Health System, massive homeless and drug addicts, yet all we hear is WAR, WAR and more WAR. We are broke, more wars means more taxes and nothing left for improving the lives of Americans in America.
I see Biden at 32.5%, 33.5% for Trump and Nobody in the lead at 34%.
Constitution writing becomes a fad. Evolution accelerates to match the accelerating expansion of Cosmos.
Write in Nobody for every elected federal position. Ride a human wave of qualitative cultural growth.
Well, the White House just announced that Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be isolating in Delaware.
I expect that this is the end of the presidential campaign for him. The only question is whether he’s meeting with advisors in Delaware before dropping out, or whether COVID-19 is going to turn out to be the US equivalent of the Russian “accidental fall from a window.”
I had just saw something, before this happened, where he said he wouldn't drop out unless the doctors tell him he has to.
His doctors are going to suddenly diagnose him with Parkinson's. He will "reluctantly" step down for a "younger" candidate.
At this point it is hard to see what the "Democrats" could do to replace Biden with someone more palatable. Maybe they could persuade George Clooney to come to save their day? Maybe Robert the Niro could play the part?
Or could Covid be a blessing in disguise? Would it serve them to use lingering effects of Covid to explain away the inevitable progression of braindecay further down the road and perhaps use it retroactively as well.
Indeed. NOGAS (No One Gives A Sh*t) about COVID any more, so the White House may as well said that Biden "had the vapours" or was afflicted with miasma.
Trump thinks that he can negotiate a deal quickly to bring an end to Ukraine war. That is trump like. 8 years ago he claimed that Mexico would pay to build his wall.
That's the only good thing about him. Cutting off Ukraine will force negotiations.
Or complete defeat of Ukraine. Why Russia negotiate? Without NATO weapons, Russia can simply overrun Ukraine and install a new government.
Under Trump's plan Russia has to negotiate, or he said he would give Ukraine everything they need weapon wise. And he'd cut Ukraine off if Zelensky didn't negotiate. I see nothing better on the horizon with Biden. Or anything close. And regardless, Russia doesn't want all of Ukraine and Putin has no plans on conquering the whole of Europe. Stop listening to the bullshit.
The criterion for Trump's VP pick was:
Most fawning and obsequious public kisser of Trump's ass.
Vance won.
Yes, but did he have to kiss Israel's ass too?
Which part of "Republican Senator" doesn't require such displays of fealty?
Not a fan of DJT, but last pass through he didn't start any wars.
Nor he defend USA bases in Iraq from attack by Iran.
Demonstrate that the IRI has attacked US bases in Iraq. Before, or after you demonstrate why there are (still) US bases in Iraq.
Oh, and the "well they support / fund entirely separate group X, Y, Z" argument only sets precedent for the USA being at war with the Russian Federation in Ukraine because THERE the Ukrainian mudwaffe troops are 'only' supported & funded by the USA.
I warn you in advance so you don't blunder into a Special Pleading fallacy.
"Demonstrate that the IRI has attacked US bases in Iraq" Google newsfeeds from January 8, 2020. How does one not know about this event?
Can you provide a link to the best source you have on this ? Would like to give it a read. Am at work so cannot spend much time on mobile.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2020/jan/08/iran-releases-footage-of-missile-attack-on-us-airbases-in-iraq-video
Excellent, thank you. That is valid evidence supporting the claim. I am comfortable expressing confidence that the IRI did directly attack US bases(s) in Iraq, confirming Timothy's claim.
Therefore, yes, I may join in surprise that both antikinetic systems (like the Gulf War 1's infallible P.A.T.R.I.O.T. missile system) failed to defend the base(s); and that the USA, constantly ginning up dubious reasons for war against the IRI didn't/couldn't/wouldn't use an actual verifiable casus belli.
Be like if the Russian Federation DID, as an escalatory counter-measure, use a nuclear device against a Baltic NATO ally and NATO and the USA said, "Nah, not enough to invoke Article V or a full retalitory launch as per established doctrines. Timing's not great for us, anyways."
“I may join in surprise that both antikinetic systems (like the Gulf War 1’s infallible P.A.T.R.I.O.T. missile system) failed to defend the base[s]”
Supposedly there were not Patriot batteries at either of the two bases attack, although there was a show of installing them afterward.
Israel thinks that response was bad. They phoned Trump.He obliged and did not bring the troops back .
And neither has Biden started any wars.
Not you too? How was US belligerence, worldwide, under Trump? The no new wars claim would be great if it meant the US had acted differently under Trump. They didn't.
Fair point, but the alternative was Clinton of that pair what is the correct choice if war is your issue? I supported Clinton but I couldn’t honestly say even at the time that she was the more peaceable of the two..
But I'm only talking about Trump's presidency. I don't base it on what Biden has done or what the wicked witch would have done.
The choice at the time was trump or clinton. I can’t honestly say clinton would have been less problematic as regards wars. This time round I favor Biden trump is going to give the israelis all they need to finish the job. A genocide committed in full public view.
The choice at the time was Trump or Clinton or Johnson or Stein or McMullin or Castle or La Riva or one of several others, depending on what state you were in.
doesn't Vance think what Peter Thiel tells him to think? The only conviction that he seems to really have is he doesn't' like LGBT. Which is a little odd as his master is G
Vance is a dangerous psychopath.
Sen. Vance, Vance Refrigeration, sounds to be the perfect idiot for Trump's VP position. Inane rhetoric, unsubstantiated claims, dumbs**t ideas.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Or the boss' subordinates.
All the morons who think Trump is better because "he didn't start a new war during his term" – he just prosecuted the old ones – are just that: morons.
Vance is another US "hack" politician who gets his talking points from AIPAC. It is sad that our entire political class is unable to think for themselves, and only adhere to the guidance of Israel who is a liars haven at this point.
So…… the debate in Washington DC isn't about NOT attacking another country, nor is it about NOT intervening in another country's internal affairs….. It's about WHICH countries to do it in.
It was punched hard. It punched back.
So go to war, or not? Trump already decided once to back off going all the way, and refused to allow the big strike to go in. I think that will remain his answer. Not because he is good or bad, but just because we already saw what he'd do when he did it once before.
As if there is boxing match….! Punching hard to deplete your energy results in your knock-out…!
Sen. Vance, Vance Refrigeration, seems to think he's Tyson.
And to quote O'Reilly from HBO's 'Oz', "Yeah, you fight like Tyson. CICELY Tyson."
I cannot name even one federal elected US official with whom I agree on what comprises contemporaneous reality, what US foreign policy ought to be, or who and/or what represents the greatest threats to ongoing human civilization. We're suffering one of the most traditionally acknowledged human catastrophes in all of history: Our overextended empire is rapidly collapsing on every imaginable scale. The real question is whether it becomes a military singularity that annihilates human kind or dissolves into the dirt from whence it arose.
What I mean to say is every single powerful person I read or listen to sounds totally insane and utterly oblivious to the consequences of their proposals. I've had lots of nightmares with higher production value and more likely suspension of disbelief than this mess.
"What I mean to say is every single powerful person I read or listen to sounds totally insane and utterly oblivious to the consequences of their proposals." That is a classic statement made by a person out of touch with life. Not everyone but you can be wrong.
I listen to and read lots of people devoted to shared, consistent and honest, perception of actual reality; none of them are powerful, but I'd guess all of them are probably significantly in "touch with life" compared with me. Dire circumstances of actual reality necessitate its denial in exchange for a share of establishment power. The narrative control machinery of supposed democracy is being replaced with narrative censorship, universal surveillance, and the elimination of civil rights. Do you perceive Dr Jill Stein to be powerful or to have access to it? While I agree with nearly everything she's said, I don't see her as powerful. We just live in roughly the same reality together, she being highly accomplished and known, me being irrelevant.
Anyone proudly saying Democrats are working to solve the problems of global warming while simultaneously increasing US gas/petroleum output beyond all previous levels and pushing world war everywhere always, is not living in our shared and honest reality.
Timmy 'Major' Burns is a pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian zealot. Everything filters through that dirty rag of an ideology before he hits 'Comment'.
And you are pro-Palestinian and Anti-Israel. All your comments are based on that ideology. No doubt a big fan of Oct 7.
I am pro-Palestinian.
I am anti-Zionism.
I am anti-(Apartheid State of Israel.)
I am anti-genocide.
I am anti-racism, in ALL of racism's forms.
I am pro-Human.
I am pro-Peace.
I am pro-Freedom.
All these stances inform my world-view (in addition to being 'soft atheist' by that seldom comes up in secular issues)
By these honest statements of fact about me, it immediately follows that, while the killings of Oct 7th and harms done are violations of my above tenets, Oct 7th's primary use is to display to the world that the Apartheid State of Israel is precisely what it lies and says it isn't.
You speak from personal experience.
And when I said that everyone leader in the USA is wrong?
Sorry, say again ? "…everyone leader…" might be a typoe ?
Palimpsestuous was not saying that everyone else is wrong, merely members of the political class.
For the record, I agree with Palimpsestuous.
Somebody need to be! And it's not Iran.