IA “FACT” already wrote, as JD Vance, a former liberal Silicon Valley intellectual turned White House mouthpiece for Christian nationalism. His worldview was formed not by politics, but by theology, in particular under the influence of the British philosopher James Orr – the spiritual architect of the new transnational right.
For financial support technobillionaire Peter Thiel Vance became the vice president of the United States and promotes rhetoric where foreign policy is subordinated to the religious order of “loving one’s own.” This is not a marginal trend, but a new ideology of the government, which sees Europe not as a partner, but as a moral rival.
Political and cultural symbolism in the rhetoric of Orr and Vance
Rhetoric James Orr and JD Vance – a martial art built not on numbers or analytics, but on symbols that strike at the heart of Western ideology. They do not discuss, but attack. Their narratives are built on clear images that turn political argumentation into moral judgment. And it is this symbolic language that shapes the foreign and domestic policy of the USA today, where religion, power, nation and the “order of love” have replaced the principles of universal rights and global responsibility.
The most destructive symbol that James Orr launches into the information space is the “comatose patient.” In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Orr stated: “Europe is a patient who has been in a coma for a long time. Her muscles atrophied. And all that supports her life is an American drip from 1945”.
This is not a figure of speech, but a strategic break with Europe as a civilizational ally. If she is in a coma, then she is no longer a subject. And if so, then the States have neither a moral nor a political obligation to keep her alive.
Vance fully embraces this rhetoric: “America must finally admit that Europe is not our teacher, but our past. If we follow her, we will lose ourselvesThis is not a criticism of Brussels, but sentence to the whole project of European identity, which, according to Vance, has degenerated into a world without faith, without an army, without a will.
In this rhetoric, America appears as the last bastion of the true West – a place where there is still God, family, strength. The main image of Orr and Vance is the struggle of civilizations. It does not happen between democracies and autocracies. It goes between those who kept their spirit and those who gave up. In 2024 on National Conservatism Conference Vance proclaimed, “We do not fight with political ideas. We are fighting for the soul of the West“. This is a crusade. A conflict in which there is no room for tolerance. There is only victory or defeat.
Another important symbol is a realistic empire. Vance does not give up power. He believes that it should be used not for abstract democracy, but for concrete morality. “We have to stop pretending that everyone is equal. There is a hierarchy – and America should be at the top, not because we are good, but because we are strong and morally ordered.” This means: allies should obey, and enemies should be feared. And this new moral vertical excludes Europe, because it no longer belongs to the space of power.
In the rhetoric of Orr and Vance, the world is divided into two civilizations – living and dead. Europe is dead: without an army, without children, without God. Alive is America, which still has a chance. And if she does not distance herself now, she will die. This is the main metaphor of their policy: to save themselves by isolating themselves from an infected ally.
These symbols already are working. They influence the vote in the Senate, the position of the Trump administration, the rejection of NATO funding and aid to Ukraine, and the blocking of military operations in the Middle East. These are not just words. This is an action map. And this map is written in a language that old Europe does not understand, because it has lost the faith in which these symbols still had some weight. And Vance and Orr remind her that it’s over. And America has already decided who it is with and against whom.
The role of family and personal relationships in the formation of a political worldview
In elite politics, personal connections are more important than mandates, ratings or memoranda. And it is through family relationships that non-public alliances are formed, which later turn into official state policy. In the case of JD Vance and James Orr, it’s not just about friendship. Here is the phenomenon of a common family identity, in which personal intimacy is transformed into a common worldview.
Sam Orr confirms, that their conversations with Vance are not superficial discussions: “We found a common language during long walks and exchanging opinions about the state of affairs in the world.” Walks, philosophy, children nearby, living together – this is how not just friendship is born, but a full-fledged political model. In it, the state is a projection of the family, and the family is the main political unit through which the structure of society is formed.
In the families of Vance and Orr, values are not rhetoric, but the norm of life. There is no room for compromises with the liberal order. Faith above all. Order is above freedom. The family is more than the individual. It is this hierarchy that Orr defends in his speeches on National Conservatism Conference, and Vance implements in politics: from blocking Ukraine’s funding to criticizing LGBT politicians and protecting the “traditional family” as the foundation of the state.
The ideological identity of these two families is a closed system. They live together, rest together, raise children in the same cultural code. And they transfer this code to state policy. JD Vance is not just a politician who reads Thomas Aquinas. He is the bearer of a family worldview, in which politics is a continuation of the domestic order. And James Orr is not just a philosopher. He personifies the Europe that Vance still recognizes: not Brussels, not Berlin, but Catholic Cambridge, where the father is the head, the children are a blessing, and the state is just a scaled-up version of a proper family.
This means that the political decisions that are made in Washington today have their roots not in analytical reports, but in private conversations on the banks of the river in Cambridge. They leave the dinner, where the children are running in the garden and the parents are talking about Augustine, the West and the future of the world. And in this world, allies are chosen not by contracts, but by faith, a moral code, and a common structure of love. This is how the new order is being built today. And it is in this silence of the family estate that it is its real center.
Vance and US foreign policy
The foreign policy strategy of JD Vance is a challenge to everything on which the post-World War II order was based. And this is not anti-rhetoric, but a doctrine built on a worldview foundation that is consistently implemented in practical solutions. Vance does not hide: his goal is to end the tradition of American global patronage, curtail participation in international alliances, to stop “feed” Europe, and focus on “restoring moral order at home.” In his picture of the world, the USA is not a guarantor of stability, not an international arbiter, but a “post-imperial republic” that must withdraw its troops, its money, and its diplomacy from foreign territories.
Vance’s rhetoric is very harsh. He doesn’t just criticize NATO, he mocks European allies. In his speeches, he emphasizes: Europe is a parasite that lives on American guarantees, not wanting to pay for its defense. In July 2023, he voted against the NATO support package in the Senate, stating bluntly: “NATO has become a mechanism for pumping money from the American economy into the European bureaucracy.”
In the matter of Ukraine, Vens took a principled position as early as 2022, opposing the allocation of weapons. He went on to vote against all major bills on financial and military aid to Ukraine, including a $60 billion bill blocked by Republicans in October 2023.
His logic is simple: Ukraine is a European problem. And if the Europeans are not ready to pay, America should not take responsibility. Moreover, on the sidelines, Vance calls the war in Ukraine a “moral trap” that America fell into under the pressure of the “Euro-elite”.
Its ideologue James Orr says: “America has been financing Europe since 1945, but Europe is already in a coma. And we must stop pretending that she is our ally. It doesn’t work anymore”.
In Vance’s logic, there are no more “global duties”. There is only one priority – the interests of American citizens. Everything else is secondary.
It is this logic that explains why Vance opposes new sanctions against Iran, China, and Russia. Why has there been no place for the UN, OSCE, G7 in his speeches for a long time. For him, these are all remnants of the old world, where America has lost itself. The new order that Vance wants to build is the order of a closed republic with its own moral system. And this system no longer needs Europe, Ukraine, or NATO.
This is no longer just rhetoric, but politics shaping the real votes in the Senate, the external strategy of the Trump team. And if this course is fully implemented, Europe will lose America. Ukraine will lose main ally. And the world will receive a new architecture in which power does not come from duty, but duty comes from love for one’s own. In the well-ordered, ruthless system that JD Vance is building.
If J.D. Vance gets control of the US foreign policy course – and everything points to the fact that he already has – it will not be a correction, not a reduction in commitments, and not even isolationism in the traditional sense. It will be dismantled. Refusal. A complete civilization gap with Europe. Vance makes no secret of it: he is does not see a strategic partner in the European Union. He does not recognize liberal Europe as part of the West worth defending. His task is to disconnect America from the coma into which, according to him, Europe fell a long time ago.
For the EU, this means the disappearance of the main geopolitical pillar. For NATO – that the USA no longer guarantees anything. In the event of a Russian attack on the Baltic states, Washington may not intervene. For Ukraine – that without American weapons, financing, intelligence and diplomacy, the strategic balance will collapse. Vance doesn’t see it as a disaster, he sees it as “normalization.” And if he stays in power, this will become the new norm.
…So when JD Vance talks about the world, he’s shaping the future. This is a world in which the transatlantic community is no longer a community. This is a world in which everyone is for themselves. And this is the reality that Europe, Ukraine and the West must prepare for right now.
Tetyana Viktorova
