OXON HILL, Md.—American foreign policy should promote our national interests, but the president’s progressive politics isn’t allowing that to happen, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said Thursday at The Heritage Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Leadership Summit.  

Vance said though the greatest threat facing America is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, President Joe Biden is sending U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine. 

“Right now, you know that Joe Biden is not sending weapons to Taiwan, weapons that we promised the Taiwanese, because we’re sending those weapons to Ukraine or elsewhere,” Vance said.

“The thing that we need to prevent more than anything is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” the senator continued. “It would be catastrophic for this country. It would decimate our entire economy. It would throw this country into a Great Depression.”

Though Vance said he admires the brave people of Ukraine, he said America should remove troops and resources from Ukraine.

“Let’s not mistake the courage of Ukrainian troops on the ground with the fact that they have the most corrupt leadership and corrupt government in Europe and maybe the most corrupt leadership anywhere in the world,” Vance explained. 

America should learn from the Iraq War that those who drive American foreign policy often do not know what they’re doing, but they suffer no consequences, Vance said. He said neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and David Frum who advocated for wars without proposing ways to win them must be held accountable. 

“We need to make sure that the people who have made catastrophic mistakes at the very least have to apologize for it before they advocate for the next catastrophic mistake for the next generation,” he said. 

We cannot continue forcing American values and moral slogans abroad, Vance said. 

“Iraq was all about freedom, liberty, and democracy, bringing the American way of life to Iraq, and yet what we actually got out of it was Iran becoming even more powerful than they were four years ago,” he said. 

Vance mentioned a left-wing U.S. ambassador to the conservative nation of Ghana putting the transgender flag on the American embassy. He said when China goes to a country, they add airports, bridges, roads, and hospitals, while America lectures the citizens on progressive politics. 

“Let’s get progressive politics out of our foreign policy,” he continued. 

Vance stated it was time to bring American manufacturing home so we are not dependent on China. 

“It’s time to manufacture our weapons in the United States,” the Ohioan said. “And it’s time to send a message to the world that America is the arsenal of democracy, but we cannot do that unless you get out and stop the focus on Ukraine.”

We must not give up on the American culture or economy, he said. 

“If we build things here, though; if we have the self confidence and the will to say we are all Americans, we believe in the American past and, more importantly, in the American future; we will win the battle in the future, and that’s what this is all about,” Vance implored. “Don’t give up on the very things that make us who we are.”

Vance encouraged the audience not to give way to despair: “Our hope in this country is not that everything has been going perfectly in the last 10 years, because it hasn’t,” he said. “We have the best republic in the world. We have the best constitution in the world. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s not despair. Instead, let’s fight for this country.”

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