Vice President J.D. Vance Speaks In Moderated Interview During CPAC 2025

CPAC Senior Fellow Mercedes Schlapp moderated an interview with Vice President J.D. Vance for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Feb. 20 to discuss the new presidential administration’s progress over the last 30 days.  

Before the scheduled guests found their places, the audience pledged allegiance to the American flag, singer Natasha Owens performed the national anthem and pastor Joshua Navarrete prayed for God’s protection over the event and first family. Then, CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp and CPAC Senior Fellow Mercedes Schlapp appeared onstage to discuss the event itinerary, which included a surprise appearance from tech titan and Senior Advisor to the President Elon Musk. 

Matt Schlapp proudly announced that international leaders from various countries met at the convention center Feb. 19 for the second annual CPAC International Summit to pass three resolutions “in support of America’s greatest ally, the state of Israel.” He also announced that CPAC board member Gordan Chang spearheaded a resolution “to combat the Chinese regime, the communist regime in China” at the summit from the day before. The CPAC chairman said officials released a resolution against globalism as well. 

After concluding their announcements, Merecedes Schlapp commended the audience for voting in the 2024 presidential election. 

“You all are the reason that President Trump is in the White House today, …  each and every one of you fought hard, stood up, shared this incredible, optimistic message that we need to save America and in essence, save the world,” Mercedes Schlapp said. 

She then transitioned from her message to introduce Vance as the first speaker.  

Vance waved to the audience and thanked them for welcoming him before Mercedes Schlapp began an onstage interview, leading a discussion regarding President Donald Trump’s progress to recap the past 30 days he has spent in office. 

“The President keeps us on a pretty breakneck pace, he always asks what have we done today, what are we going to do tomorrow, what are we going to do next week, because I think he realizes this is a special moment in time,” Vance said.  

Vance emphasized the vitality of Trump’s position on securing the border, drilling for oil within the U.S. and solving the nation’s debt as being key points of action within the president’s second administration. 

“He (Trump) recognizes that we have to really unlock the engine of American growth,” Vance said. “We’ve gotta get back to having a growing economy that creates good jobs and high wages for the American people and a lot of that goes back to drill, baby, drill.”  

The U.S. vice president said the primary method for decreasing the country’s fiscal issues is to utilize America’s energy resources so that farmers can afford energy, which will in turn help prevent farmers from needing to increase the price of their products — all so American citizens do not have to face inflated food prices. 

Mercedes Schlapp then shifted the interview to highlight Vance’s position on the southern border crisis. Vance said violent criminals and cartel members who have trafficked and harmed American citizens must leave the country immediately. He said the president deeply mourns with the victims impacted by these criminals. 

“Our message to the families is, ‘President Trump cares about you, he thinks that it’s disgraceful, what your own government let happen to your children to your grandchildren, and it’s gotta stop,’” Vance said. 

The U.S. vice president then delved into details regarding Trump’s pending “reconciliation package” which has been introduced to Congress. Vance said the goal of this new bill is to improve the nation’s economy by encouraging the use of American energy, fortifying tariffs with other countries and strengthening border security, all of which will aid in furthering the president’s mission. 

“If you get control of the border, Mercedes, you do more to control the fiscal problem, the … financial problems that we have in this country in almost anything,” Vance said. “Get illegal aliens out of our country, make sure American tax dollars go to American people, that is how you solve the fiscal crisis in the United States of America.”  

Next, Vance covered the topic of a speech he gave at the Munich Security Conference, which sparked criticism from European leaders, as Vance insinuated that there are a high number of illegal migrants entering their countries. 

“ … The greatest threat in Europe, and I’d say it is the greatest threat in the United States until about 30 days ago, is that you’ve had the leaders of the West decide that they should send millions and millions of unvetted foreign migrants into their countries …,” Vance said. 

He continued to say that European countries must have “the opportunity to speak up” about issues like increased migration in order to be prosperous and secure. 

Toward the end of the discussion, Vance also emphasized that Trump is a skilled negotiator and is adamantly working to end the war in Ukraine. He professed that Trump “wants to bring lasting peace to Europe” and said that the Russia/Ukraine negotiations are just the beginning efforts that will aim to achieve this goal. 

“Peace is in the interest of Russia, it’s in the interest of Ukraine, it’s in the interest of Europe, but most importantly peace is in the interest of the American people and he’s going to fight for it for the remainder of his administration wherever war breaks out. He’s going to be the president of peace,” Vance said. 

Davis is the Editor-in-Chief for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X.