Vice President JD Vance went nuclear on European leaders in Munich, Germany.
This was one of the best parts:
Vance echoed many of the same thoughts from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth regarding European security.
In other words, Team America: World Police is over. Europe has got to stop relying on America for everything because we need to take care of ourselves before anyone else, mainly because the most dangerous threats come from within.
Vance called out Europe for not practicing what they preach. European Union leaders react with such glee when a country erases an election that didn’t turn out the way the EU wanted.
They scream democracy but strike it down when it doesn’t go their way:
We gather at this conference, of course, to discuss security. And normally we mean threats to our external security. I see many great military leaders gathered here today.But while the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, and we also believe that it’s important, in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.the threat that I worry the most about vis a vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within.The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.Now, I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don’t go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany, too.Now, these cavalier statements are shocking to American ears. For years, we’ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values, everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy.But when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard. And I say ourselves because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. We must do more than talk about democratic values. We must live them.Now, within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. And consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not. And thank God they lost the Cold War.They lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty, the freedom to surprise to make mistakes, to invent, to build. As it turns out, you can’t mandate innovation or creativity, just as you can’t force people what to think, what to feel, or what to believe. And we believe those things are certainly connected.
Let’s talk about censorship. Vance reminded Europe that freedom of speech does not only apply to happy and positive speech.
I think Americans forget that our Founders wrote the First Amendment to protect ALL speech, but especially what most people would find controversial.
I love that Vance slammed the United Kingdom for arresting a man who peacefully protested outside an abortion clinic:
And unfortunately, when I look at Europe today, it’s sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the Cold War’s winners. I looked to Brussels, where EU commission commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they’ve judged to be, quote, hateful content. Or to this very country where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of, quote, combating misogyny on the Internet. A day of action.I looked to Sweden, where two weeks ago the government convicted a Christian activist for participating in Koran burnings that resulted in his friend’s murder. And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden’s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant, and I’m quoting, a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.And perhaps most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons in particular in the crosshairs.A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith Connor, a 51 year old physiotherapist and an army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes.Not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own. After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for. Adam replied simply, “It was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before.”The officers were not moved. Adam was found guilty of breaking the government’s new buffer zones law, which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person’s decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility. He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution.Now, I wish I could say that this was a fluke, a one off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But no, this last October, just a few months ago, the Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law.Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime in Britain and across Europe.Free speech, I fear, is in retreat.
Vance also told Europe that America faced those problems because former President Joe Biden’s administration forced social media companies to shut down so-called misinformation and cowered to our allies.
“There is a new sheriff in town, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square,” said Vance.
You did it to yourselves, Europe, and America cannot help you:
Europe faces many challenges. But the crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making. If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American people who elected me and elected President Trump.You need democratic mandates to accomplish anything of value in the coming years. Have we learned nothing that thin mandates produce unstable results? But there is so much of value that can be accomplished with the kind of democratic mandate that I think will come from being more responsive to the voices of your citizens.If you’re going to enjoy competitive economies, if you’re going to enjoy affordable energy, and secure supply chains then you need mandates to govern because you have to make difficult choices to enjoy all of these things.And, of course, we know that very well in America, you cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail, whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in our own home, or a journalist trying to report the news. Nor can you win one by disregarding your basic electorate on questions like who gets to be a part of our shared society.
Vance brought up illegal immigration and the harm it has caused Europe and America:
And of all the pressings challenges that the nation’s represented here face, I believe there is nothing more urgent, than mass migration. Today, almost one in five people living in this country moved here from abroad. That is, of course, an all time high. It’s a similar number, by the way, in the United States, also. an all time high. The number of immigrants who entered the EU from non-EU countries doubled between 2021 and 2022 alone. And of course, it’s gotten much higher since. And we know this situation, it didn’t materialize in a vacuum. It’s a result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the continent and others across the world over the span of a decade.We saw the horrors wrought by these decisions yesterday in this very city. And, of course, I can’t bring it up again without thinking about the terrible victims who had a beautiful winter day in Munich ruined. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and will remain with them, but why did this happen in the first place?It’s a terrible story, but it’s one we’ve heard way too many times in Europe, and unfortunately, too many times in the United States as well. An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid 20s, already known to police, rams a car into a crowd and shatters a community.How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction? No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions. Of unvetted immigrants.
Vance warned the European leaders of the dangers of ignoring people who have different opinions. Even expressing opinions about another country’s election is not interference:
I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns, or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections, or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy. And speaking up and expressing opinions isn’t election interference, even when people express views outside your own country.And even when those people are very influential, and trust me, I say this with all humor, if American to democracy can survive ten years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.But what German democracy, what no democracy, American, German or European, will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy of even being considered.Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls. You either uphold the principle or you don’t. Europeans, the people have a voice. European leaders have a choice.
You grow when you listen to others, especially those with a different opinion:
And my strong belief is that we do not need to be afraid of the future. You can embrace what your people tell you, even when it’s surprising, even when you don’t agree. And if you do so, you can face the future with certainty and with confidence, knowing that the nation stands behind each of you. And that, to me, is the great magic of democracy. It’s not in these stone buildings or beautiful hotels. It’s not even in the great institutions that we have built together as a shared society.To believe in democracy is to understand that each of our citizens has wisdom and has a voice. And if we refuse to listen to that voice, even our most successful fights will secure very little.As Pope John Paul II, in my view, one of the most extraordinary champions of democracy on this continent or any other, once said, “Do not be afraid. We shouldn’t be afraid of our people, even when they express views that disagree with their leadership.”Thank you all. Good luck to all of you. God bless you.
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