this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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If Vice President J.D. Vance hoped to earn respect among international leaders with his speech in Germany last week, it wouldn't work, according to one senior diplomat.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

It would seem as though Vance's grift worked spectacularly well

This is the response he was looking for

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago

Exactly, "backfired" for whom? This is just what Putin ordered.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Where's the grift? I think y'all have overused the word and forgot the meaning.

Grift: "to obtain (money or property) illicitly (as in a confidence game)."

Or is the US somehow scamming the EU for money?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Grift is a word that is interchangeably used with scam or con (as in a confidence game)

The con here is that there is nothing substantive in Vance's speech. It was simply designed to cause a rift between the US and Europe

The goal is to reestablish the Russian Empire in order to help facilitate a global plutocracy

Divide and conquer

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I get all that, but where's the money from the con? Grift is most literally about obtaining money.

[–] BrowseMan 1 points 3 days ago

I'd say extorsion? asking for money in exchange or protection?

[–] paysrenttobirds 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah. If he was hoping for approval from left and center. Big if

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

In what way could this possibly be construed as an attempt to garner approval from left and center?