J.D. Vance Treads Dangerous Ground with ‘Dual Loyalty’ Accusations

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Bente Birkeland
March 2, 2025
10 minutes read

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty-Images

An attack by Vice President J.D. Vance on immigrants expressing concern about their homeland has drawn criticism from a conservative columnist, who likened it to the “dual loyalty” smear often directed at Jewish Americans regarding their ties to Israel. According to longtime National Review columnist Dan McLaughlin, a lengthy post by the Ohio Republican on X took an uncomfortable turn when Vance recounted an exchange with a Ukrainian-American.

According to Donald Trump’s VP on X: “During my senate campaign in 2022, I met a Ukrainian-American man in NE Ohio. He was very angry about my views on the conflict, and my desire to bring it to a rapid close. ‘You are trying to abandon my country, and I don’t like it.’ “‘Sir,’ I replied, ‘your country is the United States of America, and so is mine.’

I always found it offensive that a new immigrant to our country would be willing to use the power and influence of their new nation to settle the ethnic rivalries of the old.” He then added, “One of the most important parts of assimilation is seeing your country as the USA. It’s part of the bargain: if you’re welcomed into our national family, you ought to look out for the interests of the United States.”

That statement prompted McLaughlin to respond, acknowledging that while Vance makes a fair point about national loyalty, his remarks tread on dangerous historical ground. “But Vance is also playing with some explosive materials here.

jd vance — (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

There’s a long and dolorous history of charges of ‘dual loyalty’ against Americans of varying backgrounds, from pro-Israel Jews to the German and Japanese Americans who were interned during the First and Second World Wars…” he wrote before cautioning, “We should not be feeding that tradition just to have a club handy against those who favor Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.”

During my senate campaign in 2022, I met a Ukrainian-American man in NE Ohio. He was very angry about my views on the conflict, and my desire to bring it to a rapid close.

"You are trying to abandon my country, and I don't like it."

"Sir, I replied, "your country is the…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) February 25, 2025

McLaughlin also highlighted Vance’s personal history as chronicled in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. “Vance values the depth of his family’s roots. He comes from an old and prickly American tradition; he’s even related to the Hatfields of the famous Hatfield–McCoy blood feud. He knows how to cling to the old soil.

But can he not see that people who came here still value their own roots, too?” McLaughlin admonished the vice president. He further criticized Vance’s perspective as incomplete. “If American elites have forgotten that we are a people, that we have a history, that our nation commands loyalty we do not attach to the rest of the world, and that our roots in our own soil (and yes, in our blood) are things that matter — well, then, they ought to listen to the reminders that Vance is wont to offer,” McLaughlin wrote.

“But his vision of America is nonetheless woefully incomplete, and it denies to his fellow Americans the same depth of feeling in their heritage that he himself so prizes.” The exchange underscores ongoing debates over patriotism, heritage, and the complexities of immigrant identity in American politics.