Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has promised that a second Trump administration would only send American troops to war when absolutely necessary. Like Trump, Vance is a staunch critic of US involvement in foreign conflicts.
Vance addressed the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Wisconsin on Wednesday night, officially accepting Trump’s vice presidential nomination. During the half-hour speech, the lawmaker and Marine Corps veteran hammered US President Joe Biden for backing trade deals that “destroyed” American manufacturing jobs and supporting the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“In small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan, in other states across our country, jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war,” he said, as the crowd broke into chants of “Joe must go.”
“Together, we will send our kids to war only when we must,” he continued. “But as President Trump showed with the elimination of ISIS and so much more, when we punch, we’re going to punch hard.”
Trump expressed lukewarm support for the invasion of Iraq in 2002, before speaking out against the war in 2004, a year after it began.
While in office, Trump was the first US president since Jimmy Carter not to involve the US in a new foreign conflict. Although Trump attempted to wind down American involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria with limited success, he authorized cruise missile strikes on Syria, ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, and green-lit the killing of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi by US special forces.
Trump’s role in defeating IS militarily is the subject of debate. The US and its allies had been waging an air campaign against the group since 2014, while the Iraqi military and Kurdish militias engaged IS fighters on the ground. Syrian government forces prevented IS from seizing Damascus, and with Russian and Iranian support eventually pushed the jihadists out of western and southern Syria entirely.
Biden finally ended the US’ combat mission in Iraq in July 2021, and withdrew American forces from Afghanistan a month later.
Vance has argued strongly against continued American funding for Ukraine, and told Fox News earlier this week that he and Trump would “go in there, negotiate with the Russians and Ukrainians and bring this thing to a rapid close, so that America could focus on the real issue, which is China.”
Vance made no mention of Ukraine in Wednesday’s speech, but said that he and Trump would “make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace” and give “no more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer.”
Trump has repeatedly promised to end the Ukraine conflict “in 24 hours” if he defeats Biden in this November’s presidential election. However, Trump did not lobby his congressional allies to block a $61 billion aid package for Kiev in April, and has since said that he would support lending, rather than gifting, money to Ukraine.