Below is my column in the Hill on the historic defense of free speech by Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich last week. Where John F. Kennedy went to Berlin to declare “Ich bin ein Berliner,” Vance went in Munich to declare a type of “Ich bin ein Amerikanisch.” He spoke of free speech as an American with a power and clarity that is unrivaled in modern times. As expected, he is being attacked by Europeans and many in this country on the left. However, his speech was a tour de force of our core values.
Here is the column:
In “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” J.D. Vance wrote, “I don’t believe in transformative moments, as transformation is harder than a moment.”
Despite that profound point, on Feb. 14, Vance found that transformative moment.
Speaking to European leaders at the Munich Security Conference, he shocked his audience by confronting them over their attacks on free speech in the West.
For the free speech community, it was truly Churchillian — no less than the famous Iron Curtain speech in which Churchill dared the West to confront the existential dangers of communism.
Roughly 80 years after Churchill’s speech, Vance called our allies to account not for the growing threat from countries like Russia or China, but from themselves. To a clearly shocked audience, Vance declared that he was not worried about “external actors” but “the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.”
Vance then pulled back the curtain on the censorship and anti-free-speech policies of the European Union and close allies ranging from the United Kingdom to Sweden. He also chastised one of the most vehemently anti-free speech figures in Europe, Thierry Breton, who led the EU efforts to control speech with draconian measures under the infamous Digital Services Act.
Vance called out the hypocrisy of these nations asking for greater and greater military assistance “in the name of our shared democratic values” even as they eviscerate free speech, the very right that once defined Western Civilization.
The point was crushing.
Before we further commit to the defense of Europe, he argued, we should agree on what we are defending. These European nations are erasing the very distinctions between us and our adversaries.
In my recent book, I discussed many of the examples cited by the vice president. One of the most telling came from Canada last year, when the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau temporarily blocked the citizenship of Russian dissident Maria Kartasheva. The reason was that she had a conviction (after a trial in absentia) in Russia for condemning the Ukrainian war. The Canadian government declared that Kartasheva’s conviction in Russia aligns with a Criminal Code offense relating to false information in Canada.
In other words, her use of free speech could be prosecuted in Canada under its abusive Section 372(1) of the Criminal Code, punishing speech deemed to be “convey[ing] false information with the intent to alarm or injure anyone.”
Vance ran through just a fraction of the parade of horribles, from Britain arresting people for silent prayers near abortion clinics to Sweden prosecuting a religious protester who burned a Koran, with Judge Göran Lundahl insisting that freedom of expression does not constitute a “free pass to do or say anything.” Apparently, it does not include acts once called blasphemy or insulting religion.
Vance also mocked the underlying premise for speech crackdowns to combat “disinformation,” pointing out that these measures constitute a far greater threat to citizens in the West than any external threat. He had the courage to say what has long been verboten on the restriction of speech to combat foreign influence: “if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with.”
In perhaps the greatest single declaration uttered by an American leader since John F. Kennedy in Germany declared “Ich bin ein Berliner,” he added: “If you are 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 that elected me and elected President Trump.”
The reaction of the European diplomats was one of astonishment. Few even offered the usual polite applause. Instead, rows of smug leaders looked straight ahead with the same level of disgust as if Vance were the second coming of the Visogoths threatening the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace.
In a single speech, Vance shattered the hypocrisy of our allies’ calling for a defense of the West while abandoning Western values. They did not like it, and many in the American press joined in dismissing his address.
He was called a “wrecking ball” for bringing up the anti-free speech movement that has swept over Europe. One German official declared “This is all so insane and worrying.” This is a diplomat from a nation that shredded free speech for decades, to the point of arresting people over their ringtones.
Of course, our own anti-free speech voices were in attendance, too. Politico quoted one “former House Democratic staffer” who bravely attacked Vance anonymously: “I was aghast … He was blaming the victim. What the f— was that? I had my mouth open in a room full of people with their mouth open. That was bad.”
No, it was not bad. It was glorious.
After Elon Musk purchased Twitter with the pledge to dismantle the company’s censorship system, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned to the EU, calling on it to use its Digital Service Act to force the censorship of her fellow American citizens. That did not leave many people agape. But Vance’s defense of free speech is considered a breathtaking outrage.
In “Hillbilly Elergy,” Vance explained his lack of faith in transformative moments.
“I’ve seen far too many people awash in a genuine desire to change, only to lose their mettle when they realized just how difficult change actually is,” he wrote.
And there is no “genuine desire to change” in Europe. The appetite for censorship is now insatiable, and free speech is in a free fall.
In the midst of this crackdown, Vance spoke with a quintessentially American voice. It was clear, honest and unafraid. There was no pretense or evasion. It was a speech about who we are as a nation and the values that still define us — and no longer define our allies.
They saw him as a virtual hillbilly, an American hayseed who does not understand transnational values.
For the rest of us, it was a true elegy — part lament and part liberating.
Bravo, Mr. Vice President, Bravo.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Great Speech. I would have added the following: “And several of the EU countries, including those who were at best neutral at worst collaborators in WWII; and now just 80 years after they looked the other way while the Holocaust was in full swing, seem intent on rewarding the advocates of a 21st century version of the the holocaust. So don’t lecture the US on being an authoritarian state!
And anyone who saw the clips of yesterday’s Face the Nation would be reminded of how stupid the hosts of these programs are
True. The professor has written about the media and the Dems jumping the shark. A new shark was jumped yesterday when the CBS anchor lectured Secretary Rubio about how free speech caused the Holocaust.
What’s Trump’s plan to balance the annual budget deficit and reduce longterm debt? Bill Clinton was the last fiscal conservative to balance the budget. Everything else is a distraction from this.
Bill was not a conservative. Balanced budget was forced on him by Gingrich and Bill’s disastrous midterm elections
and it only balanced due to the dot.com bubble which exploded capital gains tax revenue – that phenomenon reversed a few years later.
Also, accounting gimmicks with Social Security helped create the illusion.
Also Im paid to post non-sequiturs so dont take anything I write as meaningful. IM JUST DOING MY JOB!
# yes, gimmicks like fraud
I was unsure of Vance initially as I don’t share some of his personal values; turns out he is the consummate professional and is likely the most inclusive VP we’ve had in many a moon. I am very proud of him, bravo! 👏🏼👏🏼
Just imagine if Kammy had won, and Tim Walz was VP! Can you imagine his speech??? I can! I bet Tim Walz would have given Europe heck, too! For example:
I am so happy to be here today, but Europe has a long way to go! I had to go tinkle a minute ago, and there was Herrs on one door, and Frauleins on the other, but what about people who are neither, or both??? Plus, in the Herrs’ Room, there were no tampon dispensers, and where would I have been if it was my time of the month??? What are those brave people, of all genders, dying in Ukrainia for, if not for tampon dispensers in non-binary bathrooms??? And what is this retreat from Gender-Affirming care that is going on in Europe??? Let me tell you, My President is not having Joy in the morning over that! Either you go back to cutting kids, or we start cutting the NATO budget!!!
That is what I imagine. Anyway, an Irish Poem for the disaster that did not happen:
Walzing Around???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter
Oh, let us just rip off the mask!
For I must take Europe to task!
You’re putting the skids
On castrating kids???
Are the Dark Ages back, I must ask???
Great job on the limerick. Was that intended to scanse with the “Nantucket” variants 😕
WordPress does a very odd job of converting text strings to emoticons…
SqueeckyFromm-Bravo
Great piece. Why is the United States defending Europe anyway? My father and uncle flew missions over Germany in 1944 and I flew in and out of Berlin in 1963, but the Soviet Union ended in 1990 and no longer exists. If Germany and France are so concerned about Russia, they should be defending themselves. NATO should have ended when the USSR collapsed. We have Bill Clinton to thank for keeping it going and turning it into his own whipper. Europe is turning into an anti-freedom system that hates any form of opposition. As for England, we saved their asses. Now they’re trying to dictate to us through people like Hillary Clinton. My ancestors fought for independence from England then they fought against the Federalists who sought to impose a different form of dictatorship by demanding that rights be included in the Constitution, the principal of which is freedom of speech.
Republican icons Ronald Reagan and Dwight D. Eisenhower strongly supported NATO. Eisenhower chose to become a Republican because Democrats didn’t support NATO decades ago.
Russia is now led by the same enemies as before, still practicing imperialism. NATO is vitally necessary today also.
A lot has changed in the last 40-70 years. America is basically bankrupt and Western Europe is no longer free. Indeed it is committing suicide. Under the present circumstances it is reasonable to ask whether we should still do what we have been doing as if nothing has changed since Ike and Reagan.
semcg: You ask, “Why is the United States defending Europe anyway?” Not to be too simplistic, but part of the answer might be: a shared history, a shared culture, a shared political and economic order, and, perhaps above all, the need for both the U.S. and Europe to be able to count on each other in a dangerous world. Alliances are based on mutual self-interest. In short, we and the Europeans share in the ‘values of the west,’ and we need each other to defend those values. As for J.D., I choose to think he was speaking to the Europeans as a friend.
“Vance’s hateful comments about censorship have no place in public discourse and must be censored,” announced German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “We will not tolerate such hateful rhetoric against our censorship regime.”
https://babylonbee.com/news/vance-speech-denouncing-eu-censorship-censored-by-eu?
It’s not to be unexpected that “the appetite for censorship is now insatiable” when those on the far left think free speech existed in Nazi Germany and was the cause of the Holocaust.
https://youtu.be/_H5ihD3a0Wk
Still no comment from Dr. Turley on our own American government banning free speech and chilling the Associated Press. The silence here is deafening Dr.
Banning a reporter from a press conference is not billing free speech. He/she are still free to write whatever they wish.
@Jeff
They can still quite literally write or publish whatever they like, whenever they like, however they’d like; you can spare us Jeff. It’s under the Executive branches’ purview to do what they did. And if you’d like a primer in *compelled* speech, look no further than the modern AP stylebook.
This just isn’t going to work anymore, and no matter how many times the elitist left tell themselves they alone possess political acumen it will not be any more true; in fact, their insularity tends to make it the opposite.
Jeff, if the AP refuses an executive order on principled grounds, I applaud them. That doesn’t mean that they have exceptional rights of press access. In no way is the government suppressing the AP’s rights. The fact that the AP doesn’t recognize presidential authority and provides disinformation is evident. The AP was not banned from writing and saying what they wanted.
We have seen this before, but more directly and oppressively by the Biden administration, which restricted press access and prosecuted journalists along with its illegal and direct involvement on social media platforms.
Why are you suddenly concerned about something that doesn’t violate the First Amendment and was silent before? Is it because Trump didn’t name the gulf Gulf of Jeff?
“Last month SpaceX carried out a test launch of its in-development Starship rocket. Liftoff was achieved, but as the company later announced, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn.” In other words, it exploded.”
Me thinks Musk is treating the U.S. as a test bed. Let’s just break things and see how it goes. Ask the kids in the Hospital in Texas because they contracted a disease they never should have got how they feel about it. How many people will die as a result of disbelieving settled science? Turns out the smartest guy in the room is an idiot and nobody will tell him anything he doesn’t want to hear. Sad, so sad.
There is no such thing as “settled science.”
“There is no such thing as “settled science.””
Exactly. The scientific method is the process of forming a hypothesis and then attempting (under rigorously controlled experimentation) to disprove it. No matter what the outcome, that hypothesis will FOREVER be a legitimate target for additional experimentation, and retain the potential to be proven false. Anything that contradicts that premise is the ANTITHESIS of science.
May free people be forced by a government to undergo any particular medical treatment?
Intelligent people will follow the directions of their qualified doctor whom they trust.
OT
The “threat from within” is the one-party communist state of California that intends to “nationalize” oil refineries and the gas business, and ban gas-powered cars.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Is California government considering oil refinery takeovers? Yes, it is”
“California policymakers are considering state ownership of one or more oil refineries, one item on a list of options presented by the California Energy Commission to ensure steady gas supplies as oil companies pull back from the refinery business in the state.”
– Los Angeles Times
#74. European elegy perhaps.
Civility.
The rise of the 3rd world and they were always the majority among nations.
The Chinese long ago broke human behavior into 32 archetypes and gave those images. This is a house with a rotten roof.
Enjoy presidents day. Dad’s cleaning the garage and mom is preparing the barbecue.
The world isn’t worth living in.
#74. The alternative is worse.
“The world isn’t worth living in.”
Please, don’t let me dissuade you from exploring alternatives.
#74. And we’re earth bound eternally spewed out like those that lived and died behind the iron curtain. Boring, boring , boring… forever boring. Mind numbing boredom
In the parlance of the left, Vance spoke truth to power. Bravo!
# 74. If I hear truth to power one more time..
VP Vance described Europe’s condition as terminal cancer, offering a recovery plan. Europeans, meaning the people, are just realizing their dire state. One can say, albeit falsely, that the USA acted within 4 years, while it’s uncertain if Europe will respond quickly enough to recover.
We can say facetiously, “Don’t worry. Europe will always be there for us when she needs us.” But we should believe Europe looks at the U.S. with that thought. But Vance turned the premise upside down, stating, “If you are 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 that elected me and elected President Trump.”
The words of Vannce resonate with freedom-loving people, but the words need to be heard. Most of the coverage appears negative, but the underlying message is made known to present it. Those who are able to think will understand. The question is, can those people stop it?
Germany is probably the worst offender. At the risk of sounding trite, Vance went into the belly of the beast. Did he slay the dragons? Time will tell, but there is precious little time. Yes, we still believe in free speech and the right of individual freedom.
The Chair of the Munich Security Conference broke down in tears and was unable to finish his speech, say almost everything. The European response to his display of weakness with a standing ovation says it all. Once mighty, Europe has been defeated by feeble men ala Chamberlain. On its own, if it does not fall to Russia, it will fall to Islam.
Bravo. Well said.
I’m so glad you describe yourself, JD, Musk, and trump that way. Thank you for your honesty.
Too bad Vance and his boss don’t practice what they preach. Trump signed an EO giving the DOJ free hand to treat all critics of Israel as criminals. Then he signed another one sanctioning the ICC for doing its job and calling out Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. He signed yet another EO targeting international university students who participate in pro-Palestine activism. So, I guess “free speech” in the US is only as strong as one’s allegiance to Israel. And where was Vance when his boss was stomping all over free speech? Turley’s hagiography of Vance is ridiculous. And we’ve only seen the beginning of the “free speech” repression the Trump-Vance administration will promote over the next four years.
Put down the bong – you are delusional in every claim; i.e. none of what you said is literally true.
It’s too bad that GioCon is ignorant of facts concerning the Middle East. Whenever the name Israel pops up, he gets apoplectic and starts raving without making sense. After being corrected, he quiets down and realizes how foolish he is, so he closes his mouth and enters a fetal position.
Trump signed EOs protecting innocents from the rabid people who push violence and make Jewish university students hide in libraries, fearing for their lives. Antisemites and antisemites for political convenience exist all over. There is no genocide in Gaza; the population is growing. Instead, Hamas pledged genocide against the Jews in their constitution and has been trying to carry out that genocide for the 20 years they ruled over Gaza.
You can continue your rants, which invariably your sickness forces upon you, or you can try and study a bit. Did you notice how the Biden administration funded Hamas’ killing and provided 300 million dollars for cement? Can you guess what that cement was used for?
Awesome push piece, Turls. In it you manage to celebrate the Russian disinformation campaign that’s ruined the country, completely disrespect people like my family who fought in Europe and the Pacific over two wars to protect against fascism to the degree they could, and to kiss jd vance’s ass in an attempt to align with future R power after the Russians realize trump has already given them everything he’s capable of giving and it’s well past time for some nerve agent dispersal at Mar a Lago….
But hey, you and your magat morons will love what you just said, so there’s that.
I would also use Anonymous as my moniker if I wrote such inanity devoid of substance. Your accusations are about as substantive as I want I flushed down the toilet this morning. Just remember who invited Putin to make an minor invasion into Ukraine and who approved Nord Stream II.
Hold up… did you want what you flushed back? Your verbal incoherence is confusing. Thanks for chipping in with it though, magat. Clearly Turley rewards you for your participation in lieu of intelligence on any level.
Alan K
Well put. HE IS TEDIOUS
Speaking in Munich on Friday, Vance called on Germany to drop its decades-long taboo of having the far right in government, insisting there was “no room for firewalls”.
I’m sorry, I know enough about history that I do not want to return to 1938 Germany. No, Fascists are despicable and should be no where near centers of power. And yes, trump and JD are showing fascist tendencies This did not end well for Germany, it will not end well for the U.S.
Anderson told WSJ, “I feel so stupid, guilty, regretful — embarrassed is a huge one. I am absolutely embarrassed that I voted for Trump.”
#74. Yeah, me, too. I love MS 13 and fentanyl.
Hey, it looks like we have an enemy within too, and it is trying to bankrupt us. Just study the counts in each age range and think about it a bit. We’re going to need more prison cells.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1891350795452654076
If our politicians can’t take USD2T out of our budget this Spring they are worthless.
#74. This can’t be true. Death field false? So there’s a bunch of people in other nations receiving ss?
Clearly there are errors in the database. Probably some terrible rules and procedures for maintenance. It’s probably a big mess. I think we need to see the database filtered for outgoing payments
Fish, you posted before me, but I wanted to let you know something similar happened in NYC decades ago when analogs were being used. The person went to the head of the department and advised the easy adding some language to the discs so money wouldn’t illegally be paid out to the dead and collected by thieves. The expert, a system design engineer, was on loan and transferred to a new job the next day. About a year or so later, those running the department were arrested.
There likely are errors, but such a problem should never exist and opens the gates for fraud.
#74. That’s amazing…money is actually paid out? I guess the family inherited the ss for 300 years? It’s a gag…