VP Vance: “U.S. and Europe Are on the Same Civilizational Team — Completely Ridiculous to Think Otherwise”; Black Smoke from Sistine Chapel

VP JD Vance delivered a philosophical defense of the transatlantic alliance at the Munich Security Conference in May 2025: “I do still very much think that the United States and Europe are on the same team. European civilization and American civilization are very much linked. It’s completely ridiculous to think you could drive a firm wedge between us.” He acknowledged the evolution: “The president and I believe it means more European burden sharing on defense. The security posture of the last 20 years is not adequate for the next 20.” He called for rethinking “big questions together.” Meanwhile, black smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling no new pope had been elected in the first round of conclave voting — a tradition dating to 1276.

”Same Civilizational Team”

Vance addressed the criticism that the administration’s foreign policy was purely transactional.

“Sometimes I’ve been criticized as a hyper-realist,” Vance said. “That I think of foreign policy purely in terms of transactional values — what does America get out of it, what do the rest of the world get out of it — and that we focus so purely on the transactional value that we ignore sometimes the humanitarian or the moral side.”

He rejected the characterization for Europe specifically: “At least with Europe, that’s actually not a full encapsulation of my views. Because I think that European civilization and American civilization, European culture and American culture, are very much linked, and they’re always going to be linked.”

He stated his conviction: “And I think it’s completely ridiculous to think that you’re ever going to be able to drive a firm wedge between the United States and Europe.”

He acknowledged disagreements: “That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have disagreements. It doesn’t mean that Europeans won’t criticize the United States or the United States won’t criticize Europe.”

He affirmed the bond: “But I do think fundamentally we have to be and we are on the same civilizational team.”

Vance’s “civilizational team” language was the most expansive articulation of Western solidarity that any Trump administration official had offered. It went beyond the transactional arguments about NATO spending and trade deficits to assert a shared cultural and civilizational identity that transcended any specific policy disagreement.

The speech was notable because Vance had been perceived in European capitals as among the most skeptical of the transatlantic alliance. His earlier comments about Ukraine and European defense spending had generated concern that the Trump administration might fundamentally downgrade the relationship. This speech was a correction — a statement that while the terms of the alliance needed updating, its foundation was permanent.

Defense Burden Sharing

Vance connected the civilizational argument to practical policy demands.

“Obviously there’s a big question about what that means in the 21st century,” Vance said. “The president and I believe that it means a little bit more European burden sharing on the defense side.”

He offered the broader assessment: “All of us, frankly, on both sides of the Atlantic have gotten a little bit too comfortable with the security posture of the last 20 years. And frankly, that security posture is not adequate to meet the challenges of the next 20 years.”

He described the necessary evolution: “There are a lot of ways in which this alliance will evolve and change. The same way that the alliance evolved from 1945 to 1975 and from 1975 to 2005, I do think we’re in one of these phases where we’re going to have to rethink a lot of big questions.”

He stated the method: “I think we should rethink those big questions together. That is a fundamental belief of both me and the president.”

The “next 20 years” framing placed the defense burden-sharing debate in its proper context. The post-Cold War security architecture — in which the United States bore the overwhelming majority of Western defense costs while Europe invested in social programs — had been sustainable when the primary threats were terrorism and regional instability. With the rise of a militarily aggressive China and a revanchist Russia, the architecture needed fundamental revision.

Vance was not threatening to abandon Europe. He was arguing that the alliance needed to be rebalanced to survive. A Europe that spent adequately on its own defense was a stronger partner, not a weaker one. The call for burden sharing was an act of alliance management, not alliance destruction.

The Munich Connection

Vance offered a personal note about his relationship with Europe.

“This is my third time speaking with the Munich Security Conference group,” he said. “The first couple of times were in Munich.”

He recalled his first visit: “I was a United States senator representing Ohio. On that first panel, I was also with David Lammy, who at the time was a lowly member in opposition. And of course now he’s the great foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, and we’ve become good friends.”

He expressed the principle: “I still think that this European alliance is very important. But for it to be important and for us to be real friends, we’ve got to talk about the big questions.”

The Lammy friendship was a symbol of the cross-Atlantic personal relationships that underpinned institutional alliances. Vance and Lammy — representing different parties, different countries, and different political traditions — had built a working relationship that served both nations’ interests. The transatlantic alliance was not just treaties and organizations; it was people who knew and trusted each other.

Black Smoke from the Sistine Chapel

The conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor produced its first signal in May 2025.

At 9 PM Rome time, black smoke rose from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel — the traditional indication that the cardinals had voted but not yet reached the two-thirds majority required to elect a new pope.

The tradition dated to 1276, when the cardinals first used colored smoke to communicate the results of papal elections to the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Black smoke signaled no decision; white smoke would signal the election of a new pontiff.

The conclave — the gathering of cardinal-electors in the sealed Sistine Chapel — was one of the oldest continuous democratic processes in the world. Cell phones flashed in the square below as thousands of faithful captured the moment, the ancient signal visible against the Roman night sky above the Vatican rooftops.

Key Takeaways

• Vance: “European and American civilization are very much linked. It’s ridiculous to think you could drive a wedge between us. We’re on the same civilizational team.”
• On defense: “The security posture of the last 20 years is not adequate for the next 20. More European burden sharing is needed.”
• Vance: “We should rethink big questions together. That is a fundamental belief of both me and the president.”
• Black smoke from the Sistine Chapel: no new pope elected in the first round of conclave voting.
• Vance recalled friendship with UK Foreign Secretary Lammy, built from their first Munich panel together: “We’ve become good friends.”