This is the context in which we must consider a little address from JD.
Vance is currently in Germany to give a speech at the Munich Security Conference and, ahead of the address, he told the Wall Street Journal that he will urge German lawmakers to work with the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). AfD is considered a neo-Nazi party and takes a hardline anti-immigration stance. Shadow president Elon Musk recently addressed the group, telling them “There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that” and said it was the only party that could “save Europe.” (Musk gave those comments the same week he made an Inauguration Day hand gesture that looked like a Nazi salute and was embraced by white supremacists.) An AfD delegation even attended Trump’s inauguration.
AfD holds a few seats in the German Parliament, but the mainstream parties have an unofficial ban on working with them, referred to as a firewall. As Politico Europe explained, “Germany’s constitution, which is designed to prevent a repeat of Nazi rule, allows for bans on political parties that attempt to use democratic means to subvert democracy…But the bar for banning a party is high.” Hence, unofficial ban. Vance previewed that he would tell lawmakers in his speech to end the firewall, which is interesting timing given that German elections are next week!
Well, during his speech, Vance essentially said Germany was being undemocratic in not working with the neo-Nazis. “What no democracy—American, German, or European—will survive, is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief, are invalid and unworthy of even being considered,” he said. “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls.”
Afterward, Vance met with the head of AfD, Alice Weidel, becoming the most senior U.S. official ever to do so.
It’s a lot, especially given Vance—an adult convert to Catholicism—has been running around claiming that a Catholic theological concept supports his administration’s harsh immigration crackdown. Vance said on Twitter that “ordo amoris” means “you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” No, it doesn’t. A Jesuit priest explained that “Jesus’s fundamental message is that *everyone* is your neighbor.”
Pope Francis was not having it either. He wrote in a letter to U.S. bishops Tuesday, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.” And then he proceeded to subtweet Vance: “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’…meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Get his ass, Francis, and god help us all.
Trump-related barf:
- Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon said in a confirmation hearing that she was “not quite certain” schools could teach Black history courses due to a Trump executive order. [Media Matters]
- Speaking of Linda! The Department of Justice dropped a criminal probe into whether her husband Vince McMahon illegally covered up allegations of sexual misconduct. [The Daily Beast]
- Trump’s mugshot is hanging in a gold frame just outside the Oval Office. Extremely on brand. [ABC News]
- The National Park Service deleted all references to transgender people from its website for the Stonewall National Monument. The monument commemorates the 1969 protest at Stonewall Inn, which was led by trans women of color, period. [The Guardian]
- Huh! Trump ordered the Justice Department to stop prosecuting American companies accused of bribing foreign government officials under a law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. [New York Times]
- Donald J. Trump: “We made the presidency hot.” [CNN/Bluesky]
- The CEO of Ford said Trump’s policies to enact tariffs and end subsidies for electric vehicles would raise costs and likely lead to layoffs. [New York Times]
Non-Trump barf:
- Congressional Republicans, haters of federal spending, are open to such spending to study whether vaccines cause autism (they don’t). [NOTUS]
- Casey DeSantis, the fascist Disney princess and wife of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), is exploring her own run for governor in 2026. [NBC News]
- Some Democratic lawmakers are mad about the “do something” phone calls they’re getting from constituents at the urging of Indivisible and MoveOn. Actually do something and they’ll stop! [Axios]
- When asked to respond to the DOJ moving to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that voters will render a judgment in the mayoral election this year. How’d that work out with Trump? [Spectrum News]
- A group of investors including Elon Musk offered to buy plagiarism and water-guzzling machine OpenAI for $97.4 billion. CEO Sam Altman responded online, “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” [Deadline]
- Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on CNN that “we can’t trust the government anymore,” before being reminded on-air that she is now literally the government. [HuffPost]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!
