Vice President JD Vance made the ‘some random country’ comment while speaking to Fox News and it has left a bitter taste in the mouths of Brits across social media – with some branding him ‘ignorant’
JD Vance calls UK ‘some random country that hasn’t fought war in 30 years’
Outraged Brits have hit back at US Vice President JD Vance for seemingly dismissing the UK as “some random country” that hasn’t fought a war in decades.
JD Vance blurted out the astonishing comment while speaking to Fox News, seemingly referencing plans to send British and French troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force. He said: “If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine.
“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” However Vance has since sensationally backtracked on his words, claiming he wasn’t talking about the UK or France – the only countries to have offered to send troops to Ukraine.
He wrote on X: “”This is absurdly dishonest. I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.” He added: “But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”
The initial insult did not go down well with the British public as they rushed to social media platforms to slam Vance. On Reddit, where more than 1,000 people made their thoughts clear, one user noted: “Christ, we literally fought in America’s two biggest wars in that time period. For them,” while another mocked Vance’s insistence that Volodymyr Zelensky should say ‘thank you’ during the infamous White House bust-up last Friday. “Maybe he should say thank you,” they wrote.
One person warned of a lesson to be taken from Vance’s words. “There is a lesson here, the US is no longer a friend to the UK. I think it will be a long time before we can trust them again. Which makes it all the more tragic we decided to soil our relationship with Europe,” they said.
Elsewhere, hundreds echoed similar feelings on the Mirror’s X page. “He didn’t notice the British armed forces there in the Iraq War where he was briefly a military journalist? What was he writing? The agony aunt column?,” wrote one person.
Another questioned: “How many of our soldiers have been lost in wars the US started?” And someone else seethed: “I’m sure the families of the soldiers killed in action would be happy to meet him to put him right!!!”
However, one added: “Vance is not wrong at all! The Brits piggyback on the US and goes for a show of force in their military adventures. Afghanistan & Iraq the US Mil had to get the UK troops out from “difficult situations”.”
On the Mirror’s Facebook page, with thousands of responses, one person wrote: “I knew this guy was weird but not at this level,” as another defended our country, writing: “Leave the Brits alone!” Others labelled him a “dangerous man”, “so out of touch with the world” and an “eloquent mouthy ignoramus!!”
Another added: “I think he desperately needs to do some much needed research before he opens his mouth!!” Since 1980, the UK has been involved in several military interventions, some of which have been alongside the US.
After Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the UK played a supporting role to the US in a fierce bombing campaign against Iraq the following year. This Anglo-American airstrike campaign continued for a decade after the Gulf War, lasting until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The British military has also been deployed many times to counter threats to allied nations from neighbouring countries, for example in Kuwait in 1994 to deter a potential threat from Saddam Hussein in Iraq.