JD Vance Slammed For Calling U.K. A ‘Random Country That Hasn’t Fought A War In 30 Or 40 Years’ Despite Having Fought In 2 Recent Wars With U.S.

Vice President JD Vance has received criticism on social media after saying that the United Kingdom was a “random country” that had not fought a war in three or four decades. The UK and France are both drawing up a plan with Ukraine to present to the US, which would include a peacekeeping force made up of a currently unspecified “coalition of the willing.”

During a London summit of European leaders on March 2, the country’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a key player in pushing the plan, and French President Emmanuel Macron asserted that “a number of countries have indicated [on Sunday] that they want to be part of the plan that [they] are developing.”

“The UK has prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air together with others,” Starmer added. “Europe must do the heavy lifting, but to support peace in our continent and to succeed, this effort must have strong U.S. backing.”

Last week, Vance clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.

During an interview with Sean Hannity on Monday, Vance rejected the UK prime minister’s suggestion.

Instead, he talked up the unsigned minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, claiming that having American workers in Ukraine would help prevent further Russian encroachments.

“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine,” the vice president declared. “That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

X users soon criticized Vance for his comments about British troops, noting that many of them risked their lives fighting alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On March 4, the British political party, the Liberal Democrats, wrote that Vance “is erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“642 BRITISH TROOPS died fighting alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan,” one user stated. “Vance is a pathetic, disrespectful coward and a terrible politician.”

“Either JD Vance is lying, or he is a noob,” another user wrote. “Regardless, the words he uttered were disrespectful. Britain supported the US with 110,000 troops after 9/11. Almost 700 British soldiers were killed. Nearly 7,000 injured. Did Vance say thank you? No. Behave yourself, Vance. Enough now.”

On Tuesday night, the vice president responded to this criticism in an X post, saying that he said nothing insulting to the UK or France during the interview with Hannity.

“This is absurdly dishonest,” he claimed. “I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years and beyond.”

Vance is no stranger to social media controversies. 

In September 2024, Vance was also slammed on X for saying that professional women are on a “path to misery,” a claim that had been made in an unearthed episode of the podcast Moment of Truth, which was released on September 20, 2021.

During the same month, he was condemned on the platform for circulating a debunked rumor that Haitian immigrants are both abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.