US Vice President J.D. Vance, notoriously known for his openly anti-European position, once again illustrated an egocentric worldview and a radical political position, performing against the attacks on the Houthis. In particular, because it could be a breakthrough for Europe, which depends on the Suez Canal for trade.
It is interesting to investigate how such a radical and cynical worldview was formed in a person who today holds the second-ranking position in the American establishment and is quite possibly preparing to climb to the top of the powerful US Olympus?
Worldview evolution of JD Vance
The worldview transformation of JD Vance is a vivid example of a radical restructuring of the personality for the future political role. Just 10 years ago, he was a typical product of liberal America: a Marine Corps veteran, a Harvard Law School graduate, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist. His book Hillbilly Elegy (2016) made it to the top precisely because Vance presented himself as a secular commentator on the decline of the working class.
But it was only a prologue. The real JD Vance appeared not in the book, but on the stage of the National Conservatism Conference – a congress of the new right in the USA, where they discuss the “restoration of the Christian order”, “the civilizational degeneration of Europe” and “the nation as a moral form”.
The key moment came in 2019, when Vance officially became a Catholic, which was not only a personal spiritual choice, but also an act of involvement in the new elite that forms the ideological framework of American national conservatism. And Vance’s guide to this system was a Briton James Orr, “personal philosopher” vice president of the United States, associate professor at Cambridge, who is rapidly becoming a key figure among national conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic.
Orr is not just an intellectual, he is one of the architects of a transnational conservative network linked to billionaire Peter Thiel, Israeli ideologue Yoram Hazoni and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Orr has gathered traditionalist thinkers around him and is connected to a tech billionaire by Peter Thiel, that is, has the financial support of Silicon Valley.
Since 2019, Vance has changed his tone dramatically. The politician, who in 2016 called Trump “the collapse of democracy”, in 2022 becomes his ally and is elected a senator with the direct financial support of Thiel. That’s how Vance got into the “higher league” not just as a politician, but as a future vice president and spokesman for a new ideology.
In the year 2023, the Vance family: JD, his wife Asha, the children, and even Asha’s parents – are vacationing at Orr Manor in Cambridge. These are not just friendly visits, this is a visit of trust to the ideological leader. In public statements, Vance begins to quote Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Newman – terminology that means nothing to the average voter, but signals to NatCon attendees that he belongs to the chosen caste.
In January of this year, Vance enters into a public dispute on the X social network with Rory Stewart, ex-deputy of the British Tories, and in the discussion about immigration appeals to the concept of Ordo Amoris – “order of love” from the theology of Augustine in the interpretation of Thomas Aquinas. For a politician who used to talk about the economy and jobs, this is a dramatic change in rhetoric.
The Role of Religion in Vance’s Political Rhetoric
There has been a quiet but radical revolution in JD Vance’s rhetoric. And now it forms a new ethic of American politics. Religion for Vance is not a private matter and not a Sunday ritual. It is an ideological and intellectual weapon that gives the right to punish, exclude, and form a new political order not on the basis of law, but on the basis of theology. This is a systemic construct that created the basis for his positions on migration, foreign policy, and even the economy.
“The order of love” is not just a hierarchy of emotions, it is a political principle that Vance proposes as the basis of public administration: we should love our own people more than others; his people more than others, his state – above all. This is not rhetoric, but a justification of why America should abandon migration liberalism, reduce its military presence in the world, why it should not help Europe or Ukraine. It is synchronized with ideas by James Orr. Vance is from him took over categorical division into “morally ours” and “morally foreign”.
Vance scaled this approach to the entire public space. He no longer appeals to the Constitution or human rights. His rhetoric is messianic. Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference, he makes clear: We must restore Christian ethics as the foundation of the American order. This is no longer conservatism. This is theological realism, an ideology in which secular law must be subordinated to spiritual authority. And this explains why Vance not only does not support sanctions against Iran, strikes against the Houthis, or military aid to Ukraine – he considers these “mistakes that contradict the order of natural love”, that is, direct sins against the national interest.
His rhetoric is a clear reflection of Orr’s thought: “Europe wants to love everyone, but is unable to love its own.” Vance is transformed into a political formula: if the state does not put its people first, it loses its legitimacy. If the state believes that its love should be “universal”, it turns into an empire without roots. That is why Vance says: America must close in on itself, restore internal moral order and stop being a “global messiah”.
And this is not marginal rhetoric, but the position of the vice president of the United States. This is the voice of a person who can become the head of state at any moment. It is a voice shaping a new foreign policy course that has a clear theological architecture in which political strategy becomes religious precept.
How James Orr became an influential figure in American politics
It is interesting to investigate how the British philosopher of religion and associate professor at Cambridge University became a key figure influencing the formation of the ideology of modern American national conservatism. James Orr’s path to influence in American politics can be traced through several main channels.
He joins international events dedicated to national conservatism. In particular, in April of last year, he performed at the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels with the speech “NatCons: The True Europhiles”. Later, in July, he was closing conference in Washington with the speech “The National Conservative Vocation”.
In the media space, Orr discusses issues of conservatism, the role of religion in society, and criticizes modern liberalism. Yes, viral pond his speech “Faith, Family, Flag, Freedom” at a conference in London in May 2023.
As head of the British branch of the Edmund Burke Foundation, Orr helps the spread of conservative ideas and the formation of intellectual connections between conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic.
Peter Thiel’s role in this network of influence
People concerned with this issue consider Peter Thiel to be the main architect of the new right-wing revenge in the States. He is creating not just a political movement, but an ideology that should change the essence of American power.
Thiel is not just a Silicon Valley billionaire. He is a strategist who invests in a worldview. Through his foundations, conferences and political projects, he finances the formation of a new elite – religious, nationalist, anti-European. And James Orr is one of the main bearers of this philosophy.
In 2022, Thiel poured $15 million into JD Vance’s campaign – his personal political project. Vance won the election to the Senate, and in 2025 he became the vice president of the United States. This is a natural result of the strategy, not an accident.
In 2019, Vance met a professor from Cambridge who whole lectures on religious conservatism, anti-globalism and the “moral degradation of Europe”. Orr became a spiritual and worldview guide for the future vice president of the United States. It was Orr who influenced Vance’s conversion to Catholicism.
Orr is an informal ideologue. He’s not in politics, but his voice comes out of Vance’s mouth. Orr headed the British branch of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a Thiel-funded think tank. It is through this fund and conferences that they select “their” philosophers, media, and politicians who are ready divide ideas of Christian nationalism, a strong state, anti-globalism, criticism of the EU as a “civilization corpse”.
So, Orr, Vance and Thiel are a powerful trinity, in which Thiel provides resources – money, platforms, political channels, Orr forms a worldview through Catholic theology, traditionalist philosophy, moral rhetoric, Vance implements ideas legislatively, through the Trump administration.
…This is not just a campaign. This is a change in the course of civilization. And liberal Europe is the main ideological enemy of this construction.
Tetyana Viktorova
