Below is my column on Fox.com on the alliance of some on the American left with Europeans in combatting the United States as a menace to world order. From Hillary Clinton to Nina Jankowicz, Europeans are hearing tales of alarm and agony from liberals warning that the United States is a growing global threat.
Here is the column:
In his historic speech in Munich this year, Vice President J.D. Vance confronted the Europeans over their attacks on free speech, declaring “If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.” That is manifestly true, but it appears that there is something that certain Americans can still do for Europe. As the European Union ramps up its long-standing campaign against free speech, it is increasingly calling upon Americans to make the case against both free speech and the United States.
The Europeans and globalists see the Trump Administration as a threat in the effort to create transnational governance systems. German diplomat Christoph Heusgen became emotional in responding to Vance, declaring “It is clear that our rules-based international order is under pressure. It is my strong belief that this more multipolar world needs to be based on a single set of norms and principles.”
American politicians and journalists quickly added their voices of condemnation. CBS anchor Margaret Brennan confronted Secretary of State Marco Rubio to suggest that Vance’s support for free speech was outrageous because he was “standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.” Brennan’s bizarre suggestion that free speech contributed to the death camps was amplified by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) who accused Vance of using “some of the same language that Hitler used to justify the Holocaust.”
After the Munich speech, some of the leading anti-free speech figures in the world gathered at the World Forum in Berlin. I was one of the few speakers from the free speech community at the conference that declared “A New World Order with European Values.” Various Americans were present to reaffirm the worst about the United States as a nation descending into tyranny.
The two most celebrated figures were Bill and Hillary Clinton, who also criticized the current Administration.
The appearance of Hillary Clinton was particularly chilling for the free speech community at the Forum. Clinton has been unrelenting in her attacks on free speech and is a favorite of globalists who want to create this new world order. After Musk bought Twitter with the intention of restoring free speech protections, Clinton called upon the European Union to use its infamous Digital Services Act to make Musk censor her fellow Americans. She has also suggested arresting those spreading disinformation.
The EU did precisely that and is now threatening Musk with confiscatory fines unless he resumes the censorship of Americans and others.
After returning from Berlin, I testified in the Senate Judiciary Committee and warned about the building threat to free speech from the use of the DSA.
Since then, the EU has moved forward with its aggressive campaign against U.S. companies and figures who are not yielding to their expansive censorship demands.
They continue to rely on Americans to make the case against the United States and they are finding a long list of eager experts.
Many are disgruntled Democrats after the election or “disinformation experts” left without positions or grants after the start of the Trump administration. Unemployed censors now roam the Earth like rōnin, or masterless disgraced samurai. They are finding opportunities in Europe where free speech in a virtual free fall.
It was not surprising, therefore, that Nina Jankowicz, the former head of Biden’s infamous Disinformation Governance Board, appeared this week before the European Parliament. She called upon the 27 EU countries to fight against the United States, which she called a world threat.
How the “Mary Poppins of disinformation” came to alight upon the European Union is little surprise. Appealing before one of the most anti-free speech bodies in the world. The “New World Order with European Values” notably does not include robust protections for free speech.
I have been a long critic of Jankowicz. After the Biden Administration reluctantly disbanded her board, she later moved to join a European group as a foreign agent to continue her work to block views that she considers disinformation.
Jankowicz fed the anti-American fervor sweeping over Europe. While she was called to address Russian disinformation, she went out of her way to attack the United States as a global menace: “Before I describe the details of Russia’s recent online influence campaigns, I would like to call upon you to stand firm against another autocracy: The United States of America.”
The false portrayal of the United States as a lawless, autocratic nation no doubt thrilled the Europeans. In announcing her heading a private disinformation group called the American Sunlight Project, Jankowicz used the same hysteria to attract donors, insisting that “Disinformation knows no political party. Its ultimate victim is our democracy.”
Of course, Jankowicz herself has been accused of spreading disinformation and advocating censorship.
The ultimate irony is that Jankowicz knows that she can count on many of us in the free speech community to support her right to spread such sensational and inflammatory information. She has every right to trash this country and the results of the election.
Jankowicz has clearly found a home with globalists in Europe where our “Mary Poppins of Disinformation” is “practically perfect in every way.”
Of course, these “defenders of democracy” are advocating for precisely what they are condemning in seeking greater state controls over speech and individual rights.
The new diaspora of disgruntled American liberals and censors will find eager European audiences to hear their tales of woe.
Jonathan Turley is the author of best-selling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”