President Trump on Friday played defense when asked about Vice President Vance’s recent scolding of European leaders about the impacts of immigration and what he decried as restrictions on free speech.
“I heard his speech and he talked about freedom of speech. And I think it’s true in Europe, it’s losing,” Trump told reporters at the White House Friday during his latest signing of executive orders. “They’re losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech. I see it. I mean, I thought he made a very good speech, actually, a very brilliant speech.”
“Europe has to be careful. And he talked about immigration. And Europe has a big immigration problem,” the president added, defending his second in command. “Just take a look at what’s happened with crime. Take a look at what’s happening in various parts of Europe.”
His comments come a day after Vance offered his first major speech on the international stage, where he reprimanded his European counterparts for censoring opposing viewpoints and retreating from “fundamental values.” The former Ohio senator argued that Europe’s biggest enemy isn’t China or Russia, but mass immigration and laws that target speech.
“While the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine … the threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” Vance said during the conference.
The vice president’s remarks spoke little of the nearly three-year-long war between Russia and Ukraine or negotiations for peace, which Trump signaled earlier this week were underway. He also sidestepped the president’s desire for Europe to commit more to defense spending.
“I thought his speech was very well received, actually. I have heard very good remarks,” Trump said Friday, after greenlighting executive actions that would create a new energy council and bar schools from mandating COVID vaccines or face spending cuts.
Vance’s speech has received some pushback, including from officials in Germany who called into question the vice president’s comments about democracy in the European Union.
“This democracy that was just called into question by the U.S. vice president. Not just for German democracy, but Europe as a whole. He spoke of the annulment of democracy. And if I understood him correctly, he compares the condition of Europe with the condition that prevails in some authoritarian regimes,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not acceptable! This is not acceptable!” he continued, while adding, “In our democracy, every opinion has a voice.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday also hammered Vance over his critique, while also blasting him for embracing the country’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) also criticized the Ohio Republican for his rhetoric, pointing to the Trump administration’s moves to cut down on federal spending — including settings its eyes on reducing or dismantling entire agencies and departments.
“Imagine lecturing Europeans about being afraid of their own electorate when it is Trump and Elon Musk who are firing FBI agents because they dared to do their duty, who are having loyalty test at the National Security Council, who are firing tens of thousands of federal employees because they consider them part of the deep state and can’t be trusted,” Connolly said in an interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown.
“You’re going to lecture others about political tolerance of free speech?” he added. “That’s a bit much.”
From the U.S. Agency for International Development, Education Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the departments of Interior, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services, among other areas, the administration has made significant strides in Trump’s first few weeks in office to overhaul the federal workforce.
