CBS's “Face the Nation” anchor Margaret Brennan said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Nazis “weaponized” and “weaponized” the Holocaust in an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio I did.
Margaret Brennan: I would like to hear what happened at a security conference in Munich, Germany. Vice President Vance gave a speech, and he told his allies that the threat he most worried about is not Russia, nor China. He called it an “internal threat” and spoke about what he described as censorship. He also met with the leader of the far-right party known as the AFD. What has all of this achieved besides annoying our allies?
Secretary Rubio: Why are we irritated by our allies and someone who is free speech and someone expressing their opinions? After all, we are democratic. The Munich Security Conference is primarily a conference of democracy, and one of our values is our ability to speak freely and offer your opinions. So, if someone is angry at his words, I don't think they need to agree with him, but because they're angry about it, I'm actually making his point I think so. Whether you agree with him or not, I thought it was actually a rather historic speech. The effective points he does in Europe are the true values we share, the values that are linked to Europe, freedom of speech and democracy, and when we win two world wars and defeat the Soviets. I think it's something like our shared history. Communism, etc.
These are values we shared in common, and in that cold war we fought censorship, oppression, etc., and when you look at the backslide and you raise it, it is very It's a valid concern. We cannot tell them how to run their country. We are – he simply expressed his views in his speech. And I thought he said he needed to have a lot to say in that speech. Honestly, I don't know why someone is upset about it. People are – you know, you don't need to agree to someone's speech. I happen to agree with a lot of what he said, but you don't need to agree with someone's speech – at least to understand the fact that they have the right to say it, and you It is effective to hear it and see if you should see those criticisms. I assure you, I assure you that the US has received many opportunities from many European leaders, and we have not been throwing tantrums about it.
Brennan: Well, he stood in a country where freedom of speech was weaponized to do genocide, and he has some historical ties with far-right views with extreme groups I met the head of a political party. The context had changed its tone. And you know that. Censorship was specifically about rights –
Rubio: – Well, I have to disagree with you. No – I have to disagree with you. Free speech was not used to implement genocide. Genocide was carried out by a by chance authoritarian Nazi regime, as they hated Jews and hated minorities and hated them. There was no freedom of speech in Nazi Germany. There was nothing. There was no opposition to Nazi Germany. They were the only party and only party that ruled the country. Therefore, it is not an accurate reflection of history. I think it's wrong too – I'll go back to the point of his speech. The point of his speech was that there was basically erosion in freedom of speech and intolerance or opposing perspectives within Europe.
It's not erosion of your military capabilities, it's not erosion of your economic status, it's erosion of actual values that bring us together in this transatlantic coalition that everyone is talking about, and I worked together I think we have allies, friends and partners, and now we should be able to speak openly to each other on open forums without being mad, insulted or upset for 80 years. And I spoke with foreign ministers from several countries across Europe. Many of them probably didn't like or agree to the speech, but they continued to engage with us on all sorts of issues that unite us. Again, at the end of the day, I think people will give it everything – it's a forum where you are supposed to invite people to give speeches, and basically everyone is exactly the same It's not the chorus I'm talking about. This is not necessarily the case when a democratic collection of leaders have the right and privilege of speaking their minds in forums like this.
