Secretary Rubio on VP JD Vance’s remarks in Munich: “Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech?”
“Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech and by someone giving their opinion? We are, after all, democracies. The Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies, and one of the things that we cherish and value is the ability to speak freely and provide your opinions.
And so I think if anyone’s angry about his words, they don’t have to agree with him, but to be angry about it I think actually makes his point. I thought it was actually a pretty historic speech. Whether you agree with him or not, I think the valid points he’s making to Europe are that we are concerned that the true values that we share, the values that bind us together with Europe, are things like free speech and democracy and our shared history in winning two world wars and defeating Soviet communism and the like.
These are the values that we shared in common, and in that Cold War, we fought against things like censorship and oppression and so forth. And when you see backsliding and you raise that, that’s a very valid concern. We can’t tell them how to run their countries; he simply expressed in a speech his view of it, which a lot of people frankly share. And I thought he said a lot of things in that speech that needed to be said, and honestly, I don’t know why anybody would be upset about it. People are allowed—you don’t have to agree with someone’s speech.
I happen to agree with a lot of what he said, but you don’t have to agree with someone’s speech to at least appreciate the fact they have a right to say it, and then you should listen to it and see whether those criticisms are valid. I assure you, the United States has come under withering criticism on many occasions from many leaders in Europe, and we don’t go around throwing temper tantrums about it.”