If US can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg, Europe can survive few months of Musk: Vance

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday (February 14), US Vice President JD Vance defended billionaire Elon Musk amid his ongoing spat with European leaders.

Vance scolded European leaders for criticising Musk for ‘interfering’ in domestic politics, jokingly drawing a parallel between the X boss’s actions and those of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

“If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk,” said Vance.

“I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns, or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy,” the VP added.

‘Expressing opinion is not interference’

Vance further stated that mere expressing opinions can’t be dubbed as interference in elections.

“And speaking up and expressing opinions isn’t election interference, even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential,” he continued.

Musk’s interest in European politics

Even as Musk has emerged as a top ally of US President Donald Trump in his second term, it has not stopped him from taking a keen interest in European politics.

Musk, the world’s richest and arguably the most influential person, has openly thrown his weight behind far-right parties in Europe, such as AfD in Germany and Reform UK.

Musk even went after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling for new elections and suggesting America should “liberate” Britain. Starmer later fired back at Musk and accused him of “spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible.” Germany also reacted by saying Musk’s actions amounted to meddling the country’s elections.

Greta Thunberg, on the other hand, rose to prominence because of her climate activism during the first term of President Trump.

Thunberg, who would often visit international forums and UN platforms, also drew criticism from Trump on several occasions.

Ahead of the presidential elections in 2024, Thunberg had called Trump “way more dangerous” option among the candidates.

“There is no doubt that one of the candidates Trump is way more dangerous than the other,” she said.

(With inputs from agencies)