They don’t know what it is. Freedom of the press and free speech have become perverted by the censorship industrial complex that independent reporters Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi have railed against. If you don’t believe that, CBS News proved to be a textbook case, not just in terms of historical illiteracy but also in terms of gaslighting.
Host Margaret Brennan deserved to be ripped to pieces for this appalling take on the Holocaust, where she blamed too much freedom of the press for starting the infamous crime committed by Nazi Germany. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was all class in slapping down this atrociously incorrect take, but he would’ve had a lot of latitude if he decided to go ‘full Hulk smash.’ Brennan, what you said was precisely wrong; the Nazis had state media and propaganda systems. Is this even real?
Even liberal reporter Michael Tracey, who is no supporter of the Trump administration, called this one of the clownish takes on World War II hyperbole in the media, labeling it truly “bonkers.”
Margaret Brennan of CBS News is going through some bizarre episode as she makes disgusting excuses for Nazis and the Holocaust.pic.twitter.com/z80mL3sgr7
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) February 16, 2025
By attempting to shoehorn WWII into present-day debates, Brennan ends up debuting the theory that the real problem with Nazi Germany was that it permitted too much free speech. This goes in the "Hall of Fame" of clownish WWII analogies, for which there's already much competition https://t.co/na3NXjWe5I
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) February 16, 2025
Utterly bizarre assertion from Margaret Brennan. She claims the Nazi Holocaust occurred because "free speech was weaponized" in Germany, thus making Vance's comments all the more worrisome. Recasting the Holocaust as a consequence of excessive free speech is just totally bonkers pic.twitter.com/2vefGlzT6s
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) February 16, 2025
And capping it off was a segment on 60 Minutes later that evening about how Germany (no, you cannot make this up) is limiting free speech and, deploying police squads to raid homes, posting mean memes on social media. They even interviewed a bunch of Deutsch clowns who peddled what liberals think should be codified here: limiting free speech enhances public safety. It’s what China does, folks. And good for Germany for having that appalling World War II-relic of an amendment in their constitution. They can keep their Eurotrash takes on freedom of speech over there:
Quite a bookend to CBS News’ day on this subject https://t.co/HjDmJMxhOn
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 17, 2025
Posting or reposting false information in Germany can be a crime, and the punishment for repeat offenders can include jail time. pic.twitter.com/25OLFeLfna
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
German state police raid a home, seizing the suspect’s laptop and phone. The crime? Posting a racist cartoon online. https://t.co/4LHUP1ZWrB pic.twitter.com/tEC1N1Nm1L
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 17, 2025
For those who may still be confused, this is called authoritarianism. It's no different than what China does. https://t.co/xusGKF7Efl
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 17, 2025
Sorry, didn't D.C's most annoying residents just attack Vice President Vance for saying countries like Germany don't have free speech anymore?
— Alex Pfeiffer (@Pfeiffer47) February 17, 2025
This aired on 60 Minutes tonight. https://t.co/LE9QznDY70
Sorry, I'm not taking any lessons on freedom from Germany. And since we’re all flying off the rails here, this entire segment was a very Diet Goebbels or Goebbels-lite, CBS. It's the same principles that the deranged propaganda master embodied but couched in less antisemitic language, you fools.
East Berlin endured 40 years of Soviet censorship
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) February 17, 2025
Germans tore down the Berlin Wall in 1989
…only 36 years later, Germany is censoring its own citizens pic.twitter.com/gS3qZHMeda