JD Vance: ‘UK will be the first Islamist nuclear power’

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The running mate of former US President and current candidate, Donald Trump, has described the United Kingdom as a nuclear-armed “Islamist country”, in a move foretelling the worldview of a potential second Trump administration.

On Monday, Trump announced as his running mate in the presidential race this year, 39-year-old JD Vance, a senator for Ohio, further advancing his campaign following the assassination attempt against the Republican candidate over the weekend.

Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington DC yesterday, Vance then recounted a conversation he had with a friend, in which they were discussing which “truly Islamist country” would be the first to gain access to nuclear weapons.

“Maybe it is Iran, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we finally decided that it’s actually the UK – since Labour just took over,” Vance said.

Although Trump’s running mate did not elaborate on those comments, it can be assumed that they resemble the common claim in Western right-wing circles that the UK – amongst much of western and northern Europe – is turning into an ‘Islamist’ nation or being taken over by ‘Islamists’, either due to high immigration statistics, the increasing Muslim population or due to the perceived adoption of Islamic values and ethics at the political or societal level.

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Those claims run in contradiction to various analyses and counter-arguments which assert that high numbers of immigrants or Muslims do not directly result in a foreign conquest, but that a nation-state in Europe – as in any other region – cannot be truly taken over unless the supposed ‘invaders’ succeed in dominating key bodies and industries in the political, economic, and defence sectors.

Numerous organisations and political figures within the UK have since condemned Vance’s remarks, such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which stated that they were “divisive and dangerous”. According to MCB Secretary-General, Zara Mohammed, the comments “serve as a stark reminder of how populist, Islamophobic sentiment is used to garner votes.”

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim to serve in a British cabinet, also called out Vance’s comments as representing “the everyday Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism which is casually thrown around by some of the most powerful in our societies”.

The UK’s deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner – from the ruling Labour Party – addressed the comments on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, saying that she “doesn’t recognise” the characterisation of Britain under a Labour government as “Islamist”.

Treasury Minister, James Murray, also expressed his confusion at Vance’s remarks, telling Sky News that “I genuinely heard that comment, and I don’t know what he was driving at in that comment, to be honest. I mean, in Britain, we’re very proud of our diversity.”

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