Vice President JD Vance appeared in Germany on Friday for the annual Munich Security Conference and didn't hold back against America's ostensible allies. In a blistering speech that drew groans from the crowd, Vance ripped European hypocrisy on democracy and freedom of expression, pleading with them to get their houses in order.
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JD Vance went to the Munich Security Conference and roasted the entire continent of Europe for being petty tyrants and criminalizing freedom of speech, including a British man arrested for praying at an abortion clinic.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 14, 2025
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VANCE: 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 look to Brussels where EU 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 look 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 that supposedly protect freedom of 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 concerning, I look to our very dear friends in the United Kingdom where the backslide away from conscious rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britains 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.
And 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. Now, the officers were not moved, [and] 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.
I've been waiting for an articulate American politician to lay out this case to the faces of the Europeans, and it's so satisfying to finally watch it happen. I've long said that if Britain, Germany, and others were China or Russia, there'd be mass condemnations of what they are doing. Yet, because they exist within their protective bubble of allyship, the Biden administration never uttered a word of condemnation. That's changing with the new sheriff in town, and Vance made that clear.
Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference:
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 14, 2025
"In Washington, there's a new sheriff in town."
"Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite. And I hope that we… pic.twitter.com/XZZZ9on6o1
VANCE: I'm here today not just with an observation but with an offer. Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite and I hope that we can work together on that. In Washington, 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.
Understand that this is like holding kryptonite up to Superman's face. The European coalition has long spit on the idea of freedom of speech, with the EU even threatening to criminally prosecute Elon Musk if he doesn't bend to their demands for censorship. While some will gasp at the claim, there is little difference between what's happening in these countries and what happens in totalitarian nations.
Watching VP Vance speech in overflow room. European audience sardonically laughs when he mentions “shared values” and groans when he begins talking about the “threat from within” Europe.
— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) February 14, 2025
“Such a puppet” a woman in audience quips #MSCPOLITICO #MSC2025 pic.twitter.com/yDlojzti53
VANCE: 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 democracy can survive 10 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 won't survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or even worthy of being considered.
On the topic of immigration, Vance likewise didn't hold back.
JD Vance calls out Europe at the Munich Security Conference Conference for opening the floodgates to mass migration from the Middle East:
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 14, 2025
“No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.”
pic.twitter.com/dPBA3AcogC
VANCE: And of all the pressing challenges that the nations represented here face, I believe there is nothing more urgent than mass migration. Today, almost one and five people living in this country moved here from abroad. That is, of course, an all-time high. It is a similar number in the United States, also an all-time high.
(...)
This situation, it didn't materialize in a vacuum. it's a result of a series of conscious decisions 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 ruined, our thoughts and our 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. But you know what they did vote for? In England, they voted for Brexit, and agree or disagree, they voted for it, and more and more all over Europe, their voting for political leaders who promise to put and end to out-of-control migration.
How did the Europeans take these valid critiques? They groaned, scoffed, and heckled Vance in the overflow room, with one woman calling him "such a puppet."
Watching VP Vance speech in overflow room. European audience sardonically laughs when he mentions “shared values” and groans when he begins talking about the “threat from within” Europe.
— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) February 14, 2025
“Such a puppet” a woman in audience quips #MSCPOLITICO #MSC2025 pic.twitter.com/yDlojzti53
European elites seem content to bring about their total destruction, and that's just fine with most of us. There is a reason right-wing parties are winning power in nations across the continent, with Germany looking to be next. If these arrogant leaders cared one bit about preserving their credibility, they'd change course, but they are so high on their own supply that they simply can't fathom doing that. They truly believe they reside on a higher moral plane, not to be inconvenienced by pesky things like democracy and basic rights.
It is long past time someone told them to their faces how disgusting their behavior is, and Vance doing so was immeasurably necessary. No doubt, many American news rags will cry that we are "harming" our alliances and such nonsense, but the Europeans can't be trusted to hold fair elections and protect freedom of speech, then that crushes our moral authority to demand such from our adversaries.
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