One’s politeness becomes most evident when encountering someone they despise. Being polite to friends is easy. JD Vance had dinner last Monday with Macron in Paris and it was charming. Even when Macron asked him if he wanted to say a few words, the vice president elicited a laugh from those present: "Mister President, I'm here for the good company and free wine, but I have to earn my keep today."

In my opinion, the only thing a little excessive in JD Vance's speech was the exaltation of the French nation.
JD Vance has given the Europeans an earful of the kind of things they hate to hear. For starters, he told them that AI is not only good, but very good. And that the U.S. plans to develop AI until it’s coming out of their ears. And that they will get rich from AI, that they will create jobs from AI, and that their citizens will enjoy an AI revolution on a par with the steam engine.
He also told them that our European partners will tap into that same wealth and their citizens will benefit from the AI revolution, as long as they keep their grubby interventionist hands in their pockets. He said it so elegantly and so smilingly that Macron has not even noticed that it was not a suggestion, but a threat.
Most European politicians think that the people are stupid, companies are bad, and that the government is the only one that knows how to do things. They have thought this for years and it is surprising, because reality has taught them a thousand times over that citizens are much smarter than they are, that the government is incapable of doing things right, and that if countries stay afloat it is because businessmen are not as bad as politicians say they are. That's why I loved listening to Vance saying it to all those dirty interventionists looking them straight in the eyes: let the people work in peace and mind your own business!
Somehow I seemed to be hearing the voice of William F. Buckley. "He told us that most of our civic problems were problems brought on or exacer...