Munich learns the Cold War is over

The vice presidency of the United States is often thought to be one of the most thankless jobs in politics. The only real duty for its occupant is to break ties in the United States Senate, which rarely occurs. The first vice president, John Adams, infamously remarked that the vice presidency is “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”

Thus, when current vice president JD Vance addressed the Munich Security Conference last week and delivered a stinging rebuke of Western Europe’s adherence to democratic values, it was an unusually charged and provocative speech for the holder of an office that has traditionally been relegated to the sidelines of, well, everything.