In his recent UnHerd interview, Vice President JD Vance offered a stunningly candid critique of American foreign policy — and an even more revealing glimpse into his administration’s worldview. His remarks, which place blame on European allies for not stopping the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and suggest the United States should step back from its global leadership role, go far beyond conventional isolationism. They mirror, almost word for word, the long-running narratives pushed by the Kremlin.
This isn’t just a case of a U.S. leader “playing into Russia’s hand” through inexperience or naivety. Vance is openly using Russia’s playbook. The idea that Europe should untangle itself from American influence, the framing of the U.S. as an overbearing, self-interested imperial power, the suggestion that America’s global commitments are burdens rather than stabilizers — these are all central tenets of Moscow’s foreign policy propaganda. Now, they’re being amplified from the office of the U.S. Vice President.
It’s difficult to overstate how dangerous this shift is. American global leadership — imperfect as it has been — has anchored the modern world order, helping to prevent the kind of unchecked aggression we’ve seen from regimes like Vladimir Putin’s. The U.S. role wasn’t just about power, it was about principles: a commitment to peace, cooperation, human rights, and democracy. Vance’s remarks signal an abandonment of that vision, one that invites chaos rather than stability.
Worse still, his comments suggest an administration not just disengaged from its allies, but one openly undermining them, dismantling the very trust and unity that kept authoritarians in check for generations. If American leadership is surrendered, the vacuum will not remain empty. Powers like Russia and China will fill it — gleefully and ruthlessly.
This isn’t sound strategic thinking. It’s a reckless retreat dressed up as realism. And it reveals something deeper about Vance himself: a lack of moral anchor and a willingness to trade enduring principles for a narrow, shortsighted agenda rooted in grievance and cynicism.
Leadership has never been about short-term deals or transactional thinking. It’s about responsibility — the responsibility that comes with power, and the duty to stand for something larger than self-interest. Walking away from the world isn’t strength; it’s abdication. And history shows that when America steps back, the world doesn’t become safer, it becomes more dangerous.
JD Vance isn’t just abandoning America’s leadership — he’s helping authoritarians rewrite the rules. If the U.S. wants to remain a force for stability, peace, and freedom, it needs leaders willing to defend that role, not dismantle it. The world doesn’t need less American leadership. It needs more — and it needs it rooted in courage, not fear.
