Vice President J.D. Vance called out the difference between blocking media access and jailing people for speech. He responded to former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan in a Monday post on X.
Vance had criticized European leaders over censorship and immigration at the Munich Security Conference. Hasan fired back, questioning why the Trump administration allegedly barred the AP from the Oval Office. The AP had continued using “Gulf of Mexico” after Trump renamed it the “Gulf of America” in an executive order.
“Hey @JDVance, I know you’re busy lecturing the Europeans on free speech, but have you seen this?” Hasan posted. He referenced a claim from Axios reporter Marc Caputo about the AP losing access.
“Yes dummy. I think there’s a difference between not giving a reporter a seat in the WH press briefing room and jailing people for dissenting views,” Vance shot back. “The latter is a threat to free speech, the former is not. Hope that helps!”
In Munich, Vance slammed European leaders for “running in fear” from their voters. He questioned why Romania’s presidential election had been nullified. He also called out Great Britain and Germany for suppressing speech deemed “hateful.”
Authorities in both countries have arrested people for speech violations. One case involved a British army veteran convicted for praying outside an abortion clinic. That happened in October 2024.
“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,” Vance said. “And I say ‘ourselves’ because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. We must do more than talk about democratic values. We must live them.”
“Within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against tyrannical forces on this continent,” he continued. “Consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, closed churches, and canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not.”