Thank you to all the gathered delegates and luminaries and media professionals, and thanks especially to the host of the Munich Security Conference for being able to put on such an incredible event. We're of course thrilled to be here, we're happy to be here.
One of the things that I wanted to talk about today is, of course, our shared values. It's great to be back in Germany. As you heard earlier, I was here last year as United States Senator. I saw Foreign Secretary David Lammy and joked that both of us last year had different jobs than we have now. But now it's time for all of our countries, for all of us who have been fortunate enough to be given political power by our respective peoples, to use it wisely to improve their lives.
I was fortunate in my time here to spend some time outside the walls of this conference over the last 24 hours, and I've been so impressed by the hospitality of the people, even of course as they're reeling from yesterday's horrendous attack. The first time I was ever in Munich was with my wife actually, who's here with me today, on a personal trip, and I've always loved the city of Munich and I've always loved its people. I just want to say that we're very moved, and our thoughts and prayers are with Munich and everybody affected by the evil inflicted on this beautiful community. We're thinking about you, we're praying for you, and we will certainly be rooting for you in the days and weeks to come.
Now, I hope that's not the last bit of applause that I get, but we gather at this conference, of course, to discuss security. And normally we mean threats to our external security. I see many great military leaders gathered here today. But while the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, we also believe that it's important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.
The threat that I worry the most about with Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within—the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America. Now, I was struck that a former European commissioner went on television recently and sounded delighted that the Romanian government had just annulled an entire election. He warned that if things don't go to plan, the very same thing could happen in Germany too.
These cavalier statements are shocking to American ears. For years, we've been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values. Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy. But 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. 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 much more tyrannical forces on this continent. Consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not, and thank God they lost. They lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty—the freedom to surprise, to make mistakes, to invent, to build. As it turns out, you can't mandate innovation or creativity just as you can't force people what to think, what to feel, or what to believe. We believe those things are certainly connected.
Unfortunately, when I look at Europe today, it's sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the Cold War's winners. I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warned citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they've judged to be "hateful content." Or to this very country, where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of "combating misogyny on the internet"—a day of action. I look to Sweden, where two weeks ago the government convicted a Christian activist for participating in Quran burnings that resulted in his friend's murder. And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden's laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant—and I'm quoting—"a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief."
Perhaps most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britain in particular in the crosshairs. A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes—not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own. After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, Adam replied simply that it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before. The officers were not moved. Adam was found guilty of breaking the government's new buffer zone law, which criminalizes silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person's decision within 200 meters of an abortion facility. He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution.
I wish I could say this was a fluke—a one-off crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person. But no, this last October, just a few months ago, the Scottish government began distributing letters to citizens whose houses lay within so-called safe access zones, warning them that even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law. Naturally, the government urged readers to report any fellow citizen suspected guilty of thought crime. In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.
In the interest of comity, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe but from within my own country, where the prior administration threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation—misinformation like, for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China. Our own government encouraged private companies to silence people who dared to utter what turned out to be an obvious truth.
So I come here today not just with an observation but with an offer. Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that. In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. Under Donald Trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square—agree or disagree.
The situation has gotten so bad that this December, Romania straight up annulled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors. The argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections. But I'd ask my European friends to have some perspective. You can believe it's wrong for Russia to buy social media advertisements to influence your elections—we certainly do. You can condemn it on the world stage. But if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn't very strong to begin with.
The good news is that I believe your democracies are substantially less brittle than many people apparently fear. Allowing our citizens to speak their mind will make them stronger still. This brings us back to Munich, where the organizers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations. When political leaders represent an important constituency, it is incumbent upon us to at least participate in dialogue with them.
To many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old, entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like "misinformation" and "disinformation," simply because they don't like the idea that someone with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.
This is a security conference, and I'm sure you all came here prepared to talk about increased defense spending over the next few years in line with new targets. That's great. President Trump has made it abundantly clear that our European friends must play a bigger role in the future of this continent. But how will you even begin to think through budgeting questions if we don't know what it is we are defending in the first place? What exactly is the positive vision that animates this shared security compact?
I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, opinions, and conscience that guide your very own people. Europe faces many challenges, but the crisis we face together is one of our own making. If you're running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.
You need democratic mandates to accomplish anything of value. Have we learned nothing that thin mandates produce unstable results? There is so much of value that can be accomplished with a strong democratic mandate that comes from being more responsive to your citizens. You cannot win a mandate by censoring opponents, jailing them, or ignoring voters on key issues like mass migration. No voter opened the floodgates to unvetted immigrants, but they did vote for leaders promising to control migration.
People care about their homes, dreams, safety, and future. Dismissing their concerns undermines democracy. Speaking up isn't election interference, even from influential people abroad. If American democracy can survive Greta Thunberg's scolding, you can survive Elon Musk. What no democracy will survive is telling millions of voters that their concerns are invalid.
Democracy rests on the principle that the voice of the people matters. Europeans have a voice, and leaders have a choice. Do not be afraid of your people. Embrace them, and face the future with confidence, knowing your nation stands behind you. As Pope John Paul II said, "Do not be afraid." Thank you, good luck, and God bless you.
