“You CAN’T FORCE people what to think, what to feel, or what to BELIEVE”

… I see many, many great military leaders gathered here today

… we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine

… the threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China

… is the threat from within

… The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values

… we see European courts cancelling elections

… senior officials threatening to cancel others

… you can’t mandate innovation or creativity

… you can’t force people what to think, what to feel, or what to believe

… Brussels … warned citizens that they intend to shut down social media the moment they spot what they’ve judged to be ‘hateful content’

… to this very country where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online

… the United Kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons in particular in the crosshairs

… the heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes

… not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own

… even private prayer within their own homes may amount to breaking the law

… the government urged readers to report any fellow citizens suspected guilty of thought crime in Britain and across Europe

… the prior administration [ USA ] threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation

… for example, the idea that coronavirus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China

… what turned out to be an obvious truth

… under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer them in the public square

… Romania straight up cancelled the results of a presidential election

… enormous pressure from its continental neighbours

… the argument was that Russian disinformation had infected the Romanian elections

… if your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with

… the organisers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations

… we don’t have to agree with everything or anything that people say

… But when political leaders represent an important constituency, it is incumbent upon us to at least participate in dialogue with them

… who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion

or, God forbid, vote a different way,

or even worse, win an election

… I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people

… you cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail

… Whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home, or a journalist trying to report the news

… No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants

… all over Europe, they are voting for political leaders who promise to put an end to out-of-control migration

… I just think that people care about their homes

… They care about their dreams

… They care about their safety and their capacity to provide for themselves and their children

… And they’re smart

… Contrary to what you might hear, a couple of mountains over in Davos

… the citizens of all of our nations don’t generally think of themselves as educated animals

or as interchangeable cogs of a global economy

… dismissing people, dismissing their concerns

or worse yet, shutting down media,

shutting down elections

or shutting people out of the political process

protects nothing

… In fact, it is the most surefire way to destroy democracy

… Speaking up and expressing opinions isn’t election interference

… Even when people express views outside your own country, and even when those people are very influential

… But what no democracy, American, German or European will survive,

is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief,

are invalid or unworthy of even being considered

… Europeans, the people have a voice. European leaders have a choice

… As Pope John Paul II … once said, ‘do not be afraid’

… We shouldn’t be afraid of our people even when they express views that disagree with their leadership. Thank you all. Good luck to all of you. God bless you