Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Image source, EPA

Vice-president JD Vance travelled to Munich to speak with foreign leaders at the security conference, but his remarks today also seemed directed at an American audience.

“We know very well in America that you cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail, whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home, or a journalist trying to report the news,” he said.

“Nor can you win one by disregarding your basic electorate on questions like: who gets to be a part of our shared society?”

The European leaders may have viewed the young vice-president as lecturing them on their actions and attitudes, but Vance’s domestic message was clear. Trump has condemned the various criminal charges against him in the past two years as a “political prosecution” aimed at stopping him from returning to power. He has also accused the Biden administration of investigating Christians who object to diversity lessons in public schools.

And he has condemned the government for working with social media companies to remove content labelled as disinformation or misleading. All these are topics that have roiled American politics over the past four years – and in Vance’s view are why Trump, and not the Democrats, received a mandate in last year’s presidential election.

The question of “who gets to be part of our shared society” also ties directly to a theme Vance has repeatedly touched on in his short political career – including his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last July, where he said the American nation isn’t an “idea” or a set of principles, it is a people bound by a shared history and a common homeland.

Vance may not be in America right now, but once again he’s delivering a message about what it means to be an American.