Vice President JD Vance urged European leaders to respect the voices of their people, warning them against the rising “threat from within” that has prompted censorship of so-called hate speech and misinformation.
Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference Friday, where he argued that free speech is “in retreat,” drawing on numerous examples of European countries suppressing citizens’ speech: German police raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist content online, the Swedish government convicting a Christian activist for burning Qurans, and the United Kingdom persecuting pro-life activists for praying in their heads.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-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,” the vice president said.
“For years,” Vance went on, “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’re on the same team, we must do more than talk about democratic values.”
Watch as Vice President J.D. Vance addresses the Munich Security Conference. In his second major speech in Europe this week, Vance is expected to outline America’s priorities toward Europe, with a focus on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Live at 8:15AM ET. https://t.co/Rnorkf2pkc
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Vance dwelt on examples of how European nations have cracked down on “hateful content” or even thought crimes, particularly on the story of Adam Smith Connor, an army veteran who prayed outside an abortion clinic in the United Kingdom on behalf of his unborn son, who his girlfriend aborted years earlier.
“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 two hundred meters of an abortion facility,” Vance explained.
(Photo by THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)
The vice president said that he wished this was a fluke, but said it was not.
“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 or 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 said, “and in the interests of comedy my friends, but also in the interests of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation. Misinformation like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaped from leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.”
Just as President Joe Biden’s administration sought to silence Americans for speaking their minds, Vance said, so President Donald Trump’s administration will do “precisely the opposite.”
“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, agree or disagree,” the vice president said.
Vance specifically slammed the words “misinformation” and “disinformation,” calling on European leaders to tolerate alternative viewpoints and not to punish their lawmakers or fellow countries for sharing views that they do not agree with.
“I believe deeply that there is no security if you’re afraid of the voices, the opinions, and the conscience that guide your very own people,” Vance said. “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.”
Vance argued that the most urgent threat is that of mass migration, calling it a result of a “series of conscious decisions made by politicians” around the world throughout the last decade. He referenced the attack in Munich just this week, in which a driver rammed into a crowd, injuring at least 28 people.
“Why did this happen in the first place?” he questioned. “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. It is the business of democracy to adjudicate these big questions at the ballot box.”
The vice president concluded his remarks by arguing that dismissing the concerns of the people, shutting down elections, or using media to shut down dissent is the “most surefire way to destroy democracy.”
(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
“I say this with all humor,” he added, bringing some levity to his serious remarks: “If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk.”
“Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters,” the vice president told the assembled European politicians. “There’s no room for firewalls. You either uphold the principal or you don’t. Europeans, the people have a voice. European leaders have a choice, 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.”
“If you do so,” he added. “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. … 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.”
Vance concluded by referencing Pope John Paul II, a newly declared saint in the Catholic Church, well known for his resistance to communism.
“As Pope John Paul II, in my view, one of the most extraordinary champions of democracy on this continent or any other one, said, ‘Do not be afraid,’” he said. “We shouldn’t be afraid of our people, even when they express views that disagree with their leadership.”
