One has to question: When will Vice President JD Vance denounce his own administration?
Recently, Vance, who describes himself as a foreign policy “realist” and dismisses the notion of categorizing nations as “good” or “bad,” generated significant attention at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. He stirred controversy not by promoting a detached, realpolitik foreign policy but by delivering a stern, moralizing speech concerning, among other topics, the lack of liberalism among our allies regarding free expression. “In Britain, and throughout Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” he stated with a sense of sorrow rather than anger.
In an effort to appear unbiased, he even admitted that America is not without its flaws. “And, in the spirit of camaraderie, my friends, but also for the sake of accuracy, I will acknowledge that sometimes the loudest advocates for censorship have emerged not from Europe but from my own nation, where the previous administration intimidated social media platforms to suppress so-called misinformation,” he remarked.
The underlying suggestion was that his administration would be a staunch proponent and protector of the liberal principle of free speech.
While I align with several of Vance’s criticisms regarding our allies and the Biden administration, it struck me as peculiar that someone who advocates for less judgment regarding the internal matters of oppressive governments chose to deliver a scolding lecture to our democratic partners. It’s important to note that just because he was misguided in his choice of venue doesn’t mean all his statements lacked validity.
What holds more significance is the appearance that he may not have meant a single word of it.
On Friday, President Trump, Vance’s superior, addressed the staff at the Department of Justice. A considerable portion of his speech focused on rehashing his grievances about previous investigations into his actions.
The president showcased the rhetorical flair and analytical precision he is known for, labeling various former officials as “scum” and similar terms. Regarding judges who ruled against him, he remarked, “It’s beyond imagination how corrupt they were.”
In Trump’s perspective, that corruption is compounded by a similarly “really corrupt” media that pressures judges to rule against him. He dismissed the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NBC, ABC, CBS, UJ, and “MSDNC” as “fake news,” asserting that “what they do is illegal.”
“It’s totally illegal what they do,” he asserted to the gathered prosecutors. “I just hope you all keep an eye out for it, because it’s completely illegal.” Again, he stated: “It has to stop. It must be illegal. It’s influencing judges and fundamentally changing law, and it cannot be legal. I don’t believe it’s legal.”
Spoiler: It is legal.
In essence, the president communicated to the nation’s foremost federal law enforcement officials, who report to him, that any unfavorable coverage directed at him is deemed illegal, and that they should “watch out” for such illegality.
But the situation doesn’t stop there.
The president, whose campaign website vowed to “end censorship and reclaim free speech,” and who boasted in a joint session of Congress that he “restored free speech to America,” has embarked on a substantial initiative to penalize not only protests on American college campuses — a cause that sometimes resonates with me when such protests exceed mere speech — but also on school curricula and internal practices.
His Department of Justice dispatched a threatening letter to a Congressman who criticized Elon Musk.
The White House has been maneuvering to control how the press reports on the president, denying the Associated Press access to significant events because it won’t refer to the Gulf of Mexico — a body of water Trump renamed Gulf of America — by its new title.
The administration, committed to combating “misinformation” and partisan “fake news,” has credentialed blatantly pro-Trump outlets, such as Gateway Pundit and Mike Lindell’s LindellTV. Meanwhile, over the weekend, Trump issued an order shuttering the Voice of America for being “anti-Trump.” The VOA was founded to counter propaganda with factual reporting, originally serving as a bastion of truth against the Nazis, and subsequently against authoritarian regimes worldwide.
Now, one doesn’t need to oppose all these actions. However, the trend is difficult to reconcile with a vice president who proclaimed, mostly based on a few anecdotes, that the greatest peril to Europe was “the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values” — that is, from free speech values — “shared with the United States of America.”
@JonahDispatch
