Before it&#8217;s possible to discuss any policy position that&#8217;s supposedly &#8220;progressive,&#8221; the first step is always to escape the world of euphemisms and start talking, in explicit detail, about what&#8217;s actually happening. This might sound straightforward, but every single organ of the Left is committed to making sure you don&#8217;t do this. They would much rather you debate the abstract concept of &#8220;a woman&#8217;s right to choose,&#8221; for example, than discuss how children are dismembered and discarded like trash. They would also prefer that you use terms like &#8220;gender-affirming care,&#8221; instead of discussing chemical castration. And on and on. Euphemisms are one of the most potent tools these people have. They are everywhere, in every single debate on every issue. And in every case, they&#8217;re a gross misrepresentation of reality. They need to be neutralized immediately before any actual discussion can begin.
To that end, take <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/14/hungary-poised-to-adopt-constitutional-amendment-to-ban-lgbtq-gatherings">this headline</a> from the other day. It ran in The Guardian: 
<blockquote>Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ gatherings.</blockquote>
The Associated Press ran a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hungary-pride-ban-amendment-orban-gay-rights-lgbtq-155ec12cbbde7cc6be0f96adb323de77">similar story</a>:
<blockquote>Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ public events, seen as a major blow to rights.</blockquote>
The article explains that Hungary&#8217;s parliament just overwhelmingly passed an amendment that will outlaw, &#8220;public events by LGBTQ+ communities.&#8221;
If you&#8217;re just skimming these headlines, this might seem like a surprising development. You might wonder: What are &#8220;public events by LGBTQ+ communities,&#8221; exactly? And what precisely is an &#8220;LGBTQ+ gathering?&#8221; If you take these headlines literally, then it sounds like the government of Hungary has just made it illegal for gay people to appear in public, for any reason. It&#8217;s a total crackdown on figure skating, musical theater and art exhibitions. Gay people can&#8217;t even get together and watch “Glee” reruns on the couch without getting hauled to prison. This is the current state of Hungary, if you believe The Guardian and the Associated Press.
In reality, of course, Hungary has not banned gay people from assembling in public. What they&#8217;ve banned are disturbing and morally objectionable public displays of sexual hedonism that can easily be observed by children. That includes Hungary&#8217;s annual pride parade. Pull up any footage of this parade that&#8217;s posted online, and you&#8217;ll quickly see exactly what I&#8217;m talking about. Here&#8217;s some of it, or at least the parts we can play. This is from Budapest several years back:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Budapest gay pride" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hMLRsBLKnEU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
And again, this is the most sanitized footage I could play. This is what the corporate press means when they say Hungary has banned &#8220;LGBTQ events&#8221; and &#8220;LBGTQ gatherings.&#8221; This is the truth behind the euphemism. They mean that Hungary has banned public indecency that everyone — including children — can see. In fact, in many cases, these public displays are explicitly directed at children. This is what &#8220;pride parades&#8221; always entail, as we&#8217;ve discussed dozens of times on this show.
If you actually look at the text of the amendment that just passed in Hungary — and again, it was an overwhelming vote in Hungary&#8217;s parliament, passing by a margin of 140 to 21 — then you&#8217;ll immediately understand why it passed. This is not simply an amendment about &#8220;pride parades&#8221; or &#8220;gay gatherings&#8221; or anything like that. It&#8217;s not, as the Associated Press claims, an amendment that constitutes a &#8220;major blow to rights.&#8221; In reality, it&#8217;s the exact opposite.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1577-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
This amendment, with very forceful and unapologetic language, affirms the right of everyone — and in particular children — to enjoy public spaces without being confronted by someone else’s sexual obsessions. As far as I know, this is the first major piece of legislation, and certainly the first constitutional amendment, to explicitly state that gay and trans activists are not, in fact, the only people on the planet with rights that deserve protection. Until relatively recently, that didn&#8217;t need to be spelled out.
Here&#8217;s the National Review&#8217;s <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/hungary-approves-constitutional-amendment-banning-public-lgbt-events/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">summary</a> of the amendment:
<blockquote>The amendment forbids LGBT pride parades that conservative lawmakers argued threatened the well-being of children. One of its provisions specifically declares that children’s rights to moral, physical, and intellectual development supersede the right to peaceful assembly and almost every other right, except the right to life. Hungarian authorities are also allowed to use facial recognition software to identify and potentially fine demonstrators at the newly prohibited pride parades if they are held in defiance of the law.</blockquote>
Yes, this amendment — which codifies a law passed by the parliament a few weeks ago — states that a child has a right to be protected physically, morally, and spiritually, and that this right supersedes the right of gay people to celebrate their sexuality in the town square. That&#8217;s exactly the right way to frame this situation. It&#8217;s certainly the honest way to frame it.
Virtually all of our cultural and political debates, regardless of the particular topic, ultimately come down to a battle of competing rights and interests. That&#8217;s not how you normally see policy debates framed, but it&#8217;s the truth. Even something as simple as a speed limit involves weighing various rights and interests. On the one hand, you have people&#8217;s reasonable interest in traveling to their destination quickly. On the other hand, you have people&#8217;s reasonable interest in not being killed in a high-speed car accident. These two interests are obviously in tension. If we wanted absolute safety on the highway, we&#8217;d set the speed limit to 5 miles per hour. But we don&#8217;t do that, because we&#8217;ve decided that other interests are more important. Every functioning society has to weigh competing interests like this, in every single area of policy.
The only way to sort through this mess is to come to some kind of understanding about which rights are most fundamental. With this amendment, Hungary has decided that, apart from the right to life, the most fundamental right is a child&#8217;s &#8220;right to protection and care for their adequate physical, mental and moral development.&#8221; You can agree or disagree with this philosophical claim — and of course I strongly agree with it. But regardless of your particular stance on the issue, you can&#8217;t deny that, at the very least, they are dealing with these questions in a clear and coherent way.
The opponents of the amendment, on the other hand, are not responding coherently. Instead, they&#8217;re reacting in exactly the kind of hysterical manner you would expect. They&#8217;re lying about the content of the amendment, as we just discussed. They&#8217;re also setting off smoke bombs in Hungary&#8217;s parliament and blocking the entrance to government buildings. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 smoke bombs protests" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSWKwOCVHOc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is the response you expect from people who know they have no actual argument. They&#8217;ll blockade buildings. They&#8217;ll spread propaganda that has no basis in reality. They&#8217;ll detonate smoke bombs in parliament. But the one thing they won&#8217;t do — because they can&#8217;t do it — is rationally explain why you&#8217;re wrong, and they&#8217;re right. In this case, these LGBT activists simply cannot articulate any reason to oppose this amendment. And there are a couple of reasons for that. One of the reasons, of course, is that these so-called &#8220;pride parades&#8221; are indefensible, morally and practically. Every sane person knows that they should be banned from public streets. Anyone who&#8217;s ever seen footage of one of these parades understands this.
But the more fundamental issue is that, even if the pride parades weren&#8217;t bizarre, explicit, and objectionable, these activists would still have a problem. Put simply, the Leftist conception of human rights gives no real basis for objecting to this constitutional amendment. These people believe that rights are social constructs, codified by the government. They generally reject the idea that rights come from God. After all, it&#8217;s hard to make the case that the right to abort a baby created by God somehow comes from God. But if rights are social constructs, then society can abolish a right just as easily as it creates it. And that&#8217;s exactly what&#8217;s happened here. Hungary, through its democratically elected government, has decided that the absolute right to gay pride displays no longer exists in their culture. As a result, it makes no sense for the Leftist to object.
They can&#8217;t say that the rights of LGBT people are being infringed in Hungary. How could they? The right doesn&#8217;t exist anymore. There is no authority higher than society and government (according to them), and those authorities have spoken on the matter. That&#8217;s all there is to it.
In other words, gay activists are melting down in Hungary right now because they&#8217;re realizing, if only subconsciously, that their ideology can be erased just as quickly as it took hold. As it turns out, a fiction that&#8217;s maintained by a patchwork of laws and government policy can also be eliminated by law and government policy. And it&#8217;s not just the so-called LGBT community in Hungary that&#8217;s coming to this realization. In this country, as we&#8217;ve <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtFCCDy__os" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed</a>, &#8220;pride parades&#8221; are also facing serious problems, mainly because the major sponsors are pulling out and people are losing interest. They&#8217;re going door-to-door in San Francisco right now to cover a multimillion-dollar funding shortfall for their pride events this summer. In every respect, these people are now weak and desperate.
If there were ever a moment to implement a Hungary-style ban on &#8220;pride parades&#8221; in this country, now is that time. Yes, activists in this country would inevitably act out, just like they&#8217;re doing in Hungary. But there are some things that are a lot more important than the feelings of screeching Left-wing protesters. One of them is the right of children to grow and develop and have their innocence protected. Hungary is now finally enforcing that right. For the benefit of every child in this country, we should do the same.

Protest Against Amendment Banning Pride In Budapest, Hungary

LGBT Activists Panic After This Huge Move In The Fight To Protect Children

Europe

Hungary

LGBTQ

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Parade

Parliament

Pride

Telecommunication companies have warned NATO that Russia could sabotage undersea cables with its “shadow fleet” and could trigger a “worldwide internet blackout.”
“A submarine cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations, usually to carry telecommunication signals or power. Hundreds of cables crisscross the globe carrying 98% of internet traffic, making them essential to the global economy,” Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgoldenziel/2025/02/13/law-doesnt-protect-undersea-cables-russia-and-china-know-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>.
Companies including Vodafone, Telefonica, and Orange wrote a letter in which they stated, “The repercussions of damage to subsea cables extend far beyond Europe, potentially affecting global internet and power infrastructure, international communications, financial transactions and critical services worldwide. Subsea cable security must be a cornerstone of broader infrastructure protection efforts. By acting now, we can safeguard the networks that underpin our shared future,” <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14591345/Russia-worldwide-internet-blackouts-sabotaging-Nato-warns.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a> reported, noting, “More than 500 cables are used to carry about 95 percent of all international data.”
Since October 2023, 11 undersea cables have been damaged, most of them in the Baltic Sea. In January, NATO <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/01/10/nato-to-boost-baltic-presence-send-warships-to-guard-undersea-cables/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent 10 ships to the Baltic Sea</a> to protect the undersea cables after a spate of sabotage attacks.
In September 2021, a Russian spy ship, the Yantar, was seen in the English Channel; the ship transported two unmanned submersibles that could be used to cut the cables. “Rossiya, a Russian state TV network, has claimed the ship is able to cut Internet cables and jam underwater sensors,” The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9985185/Russian-spy-ship-English-Channel.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
Matt Western, chairman of the U.K. committee supervising the U.K.’s national security strategy, <a href="https://industrialcyber.co/critical-infrastructure/uk-launches-jcnss-inquiry-into-undersea-cable-vulnerabilities-amid-rising-cybersecurity-concerns/">warned in January,</a> “As the geopolitical environment worsens, foreign states are seeking asymmetric ways to hold us at risk. Our internet cable network looks like an increasingly vulnerable soft underbelly.”
“NATO members said they reserved the right to take action against ships suspected of posing a security threat as part of a broader action, dubbed ‘Baltic Sentry,’ in response to <a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N3N30DZ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a string of incidents</a> in which power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been damaged in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/undersea-cables-are-cut-suspicion-falls-russian-chinese-vessels-rcna187105" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a> reported in January.

SPAIN-US-INTERNET-FACEBOOK-MICROSOFT

‘Worldwide Internet Blackout’: NATO Warned That Russia Could Cut Undersea Cables

Global Politics

Russia

Undersea cables

World

The European Union is considering levying a $1 billion fine against Elon Musk&#8217;s X, alleging that the social media company has violated its law against disinformation and illicit content, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/technology/eu-penalties-x-elon-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Along with the hefty fine, the E.U. would also demand that X make changes to its product, according to the Times, which cited &#8220;four people with knowledge of the plans.&#8221; If the E.U. moves forward, it would be the first fine imposed by the body using its Digital Services Act (DSA). The <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-services-act_en#:~:text=Digital%20Services%20Act%20(DSA)%20overview,and%20open%20online%20platform%20environment." target="_blank" rel="noopener">DSA</a> &#8220;regulates online intermediaries and platforms &#8230; to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation.&#8221;
The social media company formerly known as Twitter, which Musk said he took over to restore free speech, <a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1907963263419297893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the potential enforcement of the E.U.&#8217;s social media law, saying the move would be &#8220;an unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on free speech.&#8221;
&#8220;X has gone above and beyond to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, and we will use every option at our disposal to defend our business, keep our users safe, and protect freedom of speech in Europe,&#8221; the company added.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino <a href="https://x.com/lindayaX/status/1907980612947841444" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>, &#8220;This would be an egregious example of regulatory overreach. X continues to fight the attempts to stifle free speech taking place around the world, whether on our platform or off. We’re committed to protect this fundamental right for our users.&#8221;
Last July, the E.U. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3761" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> that X violated the DSA &#8220;in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.&#8221; In its report, the E.U. claimed that X verifies accounts and hands out &#8220;Blue checkmarks&#8221; in a way that &#8220;deceives users.&#8221;
&#8220;Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a &#8216;verified&#8217; status, it negatively affects users&#8217; ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,&#8221; the E.U. said.
The E.U. also accused X of failing to provide adequate transparency in advertising and failing to hand over its public data to researchers &#8220;in line with the conditions set out in the DSA.&#8221;
E.U. regulators reportedly hit the brakes on the investigation into X to discuss potential ramifications for going after a company controlled by one of President Donald Trump&#8217;s closest advisers and top donor. The E.U. has also been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration as Vice President JD Vance called out the bloc during a speech in February, slamming the E.U. for its digital censorship.
The Times reported that Musk&#8217;s social media company could still settle the dispute with the E.U., but that would likely require X to make changes to satisfy the governing body. If X chooses to fight the fine, it&#8217;s unclear how the legal process would play out between the American social media company and the E.U. The bloc is also going after U.S. tech companies Meta and Apple for allegedly violating the DSA.

Elon Musk

E.U. Reportedly Considering Massive Fine For Elon Musk’s X Over ‘Disinformation’

Big Tech

European Union

Social Media

Twitter

Speaking at a NATO event in Brussels, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reassured NATO nations that the United States would not leave the alliance, but also warned that European nations would have to increase their own defense spending as a deterrent to outside forces.
“We want NATO to be stronger; we want NATO to be more visible, and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability,” he <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-us-security-ukraine-russia-rubio-210c5c3856ab32570f165ea31be5e39e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
“I understand there&#8217;s domestic politics, after decades of building up vast social safety nets that maybe don&#8217;t want to take away from that and invest more in national security,” Rubio added. “But the events of the last few years … full-scale ground war in the heart of Europe as a reminder that hard power is still necessary as a deterrent. We do want to leave here with an understanding that we are on a pathway, a realistic pathway to every single one of the members committee, and fulfilling a promise to reach up to 5% of spending.”
Rubio stated the United States would also spend 5% of its GDP on defense as well.
“The majority of the 32 NATO members currently spend 2% of their nation’s GDP per previous NATO commitments, eight nations – Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain – have yet to meet their <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-effect-forces-germany-reprioritize-defense-nation-plays-catch-up-military-spending" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defense spending</a> pledges,” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/rubio-demands-nato-ponies-up-dismisses-hysteria-over-us-role-under-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> noted. “Only Poland spends over 4% of its GDP on defense, while four other nations spend over 3% – Estonia, the U.S., Latvia and Greece.” The United States spent 3.38% of its GDP on defense in 2024.
“As we speak right now, the United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” Rubio said. “Some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted. The United States president [has] made clear: He supports NATO. We&#8217;re going to remain in NATO.”
Roughly 100,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe.

NATO Foreign Ministers Meet In Brussels

Rubio Urges NATO Members To Increase Their Own Defense Spending To 5% Of GDP

Defense

Marco Rubio

NATO

Trump’s tariffs go into effect at midnight as foreign leaders and state governors scramble to negotiate last-minute deals. Populist leader Marine Le Pen is banned from running for office in France after being found guilty of embezzlement. And, Elon Musk says he&#8217;s uncovered millions of non-citizens on the social security rolls, including thousands who allegedly voted.
It’s Tuesday, April 1st, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tariff-time-marine-le-pen-convicted-in-france-4-1-25/id1576594336?i=1000701702406" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2>Trump Tariffs Take Hold</h2>
<div id="attachment_900809" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900809" class="size-large wp-image-900809" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Trump-Tariff-EO-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Just hours from Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” consumers, corporations, and international trading partners are preparing for a slew of new tariffs that could reshape the global economy.
For weeks now, the president has floated various ideas on tariffs, sometimes saying he’d match the rates set by other countries, then floating the idea of a universal 20 percent rate, before saying that he could be “much more generous” with our trading partners. We’re still not entirely sure what the details of Trump’s “Liberation Day” policy will be – that ambiguity is almost certainly intentional.
The Art of the Deal: By waiting until the last minute, Trump has left the door open for negotiating. On Friday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met with Trump officials to discuss her plans to improve border security, clearly hoping to ease looming tariffs on her country. The president has fielded calls from the prime ministers of Canada and Great Britain — both men reportedly made their last-minute pitches seeking to dodge tariffs. In the last 72 hours, lawmakers in both parties have also been calling the White House to lobby for exemptions for particular industries in their states, and a flood of business leaders have made their case to the president, some vowing to bring manufacturing stateside and pour money into investments and jobs in exchange for lower tariffs.
While that shifting picture might benefit Trump from a negotiating standpoint, it has spooked markets. Wall Street saw its second worst day of the year on Friday and continued to see-saw Monday:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The DOW Jones was <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/djia">up 1%</a> at market close after a tumultuous day of trading</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The NASDAQ was down <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/">0.14%</a></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/spx">S&amp;P 500</a> was up by 0.55%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Japan’s <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/nik?countrycode=jp">NIKKEI 225 index</a> was down by more than 4%</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Various <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/data-news/european-stocks-weaken-for-fourth-day-7859828b-bf1ee26684a5?mod=mw_quote_news">European stock exchanges</a> have been trending down for days</li>
</ul>
Amid the market swings and concerns over potential price increases from these tariffs, there’s no doubt that more voters have soured on President Trump’s handling of the economy — the issue he’s typically been the most popular on. Numerous polls show his approval rating on the economy lower now than at any point in his first or second term. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-poll-immigration-tariffs-trade-b7a430909606d6b8b27cfbc5049a32b4">The Associated Press</a>, for example, had him at 40%. If Liberation Day results in considerable price increases, there’s a real risk those numbers could fall even further.
<h2>French Opposition Leader Banned</h2>
<div id="attachment_900815" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900815" class="size-large wp-image-900815" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Le-What-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Tom Nicholson/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Marine Le Pen, the populist frontrunner for France’s 2027 presidential race, has been convicted of embezzlement and banned from seeking office for five years.
Marine Le Pen is the leader of the National Rally, a right-wing political party in France. She has generally been characterized by the leaders of France’s establishment parties as an extremist but has proved to be very popular. She came in first place in the first round of the last French presidential election, and <a href="https://www.ifop.com/publication/les-intentions-de-vote-a-lelection-presidentielle-5/">polling</a> continues to show that more than 1 in 3 French voters back her and her party, more than any of the other prospective candidates. National Rally also holds a plurality of seats in France’s national assembly, 126/577, although they have been consistently kept out of government by coalitions of other parties.
Le Pen was found guilty of misappropriating several million euros in European Union funds. Her party was entitled to a certain amount of EU funding to pay staff to work for general European political operations, but the court determined she used that money to the benefit of her party rather than restricting it to EU-related expenses.
However: Ellen Fantini, managing editor of The European Conservative, told Morning Wire that virtually every major party in Europe uses these funds similarly. She says the way the conviction is being carried out makes it very clear that this is about sidelining Le Pen as a candidate.
“Under French law, of course, she can appeal the conviction, like in the United States,” Fantini said. “But the prohibition on running for office is in execution as of basically today, even though she has the right to appeal. So it&#8217;s obvious that that&#8217;s the real thing they wanted.”
Critics of the case against Le Pen have condemned it as a blatant weaponization of the justice system against a political opponent and compared the legal battle to the various efforts to convict Donald Trump on state and federal charges in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Leaders of right-wing parties across Europe have spoken up in support of Le Pen:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">On Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted, “Je suis Marine!” [I am Marine].</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing populist League party, called the ruling a “declaration of war by Brussels.”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">“I am shocked by the incredibly tough verdict against Marine Le Pen,” Geert Wilders of the Netherlands’ right-wing Party for Freedom, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/le-pen-fall-far-right-france-3650ad8276aaee462c8e92f2904f400f">said</a>. “I support and believe in her 100% and I trust she will win the appeal and become President of France.”</li>
</ul>
Le Pen has already indicated that she will appeal the case, although her chances of overturning the ban before the 2027 election deadline are slim.
“This evening, millions of French people are indignant, indignant to an unimaginable extent seeing that France, the country of human rights, judges have implemented practices that were thought to be the reserve of authoritarian regimes,” Le Pen said in an interview on Monday.
<h2>Non-Citizen Social Security</h2>
<div id="attachment_900819" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-900819" class="wp-image-900819 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/03/Social-Security-Stock-Photo-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Douglas Sacha via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: Elon Musk and venture capitalist Antonio Gracias have alleged widespread fraud in the Social Security system.
Senior figures within the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project claimed to have uncovered millions of non-citizens who were collecting Social Security benefits and potentially voting in American elections. Musk and Gracias said on Sunday that 2.1 million non-citizens received Social Security Numbers last year alone, and 4.8 million received SSNs over the last four years. That alone isn’t necessarily evidence of fraud – non-citizens in the country under certain rules are eligible for Social Security Numbers – but the number of non-citizens receiving them surged under the Biden administration.
“The defaults in the system from Social Security to all of the benefit programs have been set to max inclusion, max pay for these people, and minimum collection,” Gracias <a href="https://x.com/Geiger_Capital/status/1906675223304228870">sai</a>d on Sunday. “We found 1.3 million of them already on Medicaid as an example.”
Social Security is currently deep in the red – the trust fund that handles retirement benefits, for instance, is expected to run out of money in 2033.
Musk claimed that the surge in illegal immigration and increased access to government benefits during the Biden years were intentional government policy. “They weren&#8217;t asleep at the switch. It was a massive, large-scale program to import as many illegals as possible, ultimately to change the entire voting map of the United States and disenfranchise the American people and make it a permanent deep blue one party state.”
Gracias says that some of these non-citizens who received Social Security numbers showed up to vote. “We actually just took a sample and looked at voter registration records and we found people here registered to vote,” Gracias said. “We found some by sampling that actually did vote, and we have referred them to prosecution.”

Trump Threatens New Tariffs On Multiple Countries As Second Term Nears

Morning Brief: Trump’s Tariffs, Le Pen Barred & Social Security Fraud?

Democracy

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

DOGE

Donald Trump

France

Illegal Immigation

Marine Le Pen

Social Security

Tariffs

Trade War

A French court has now banned Marine Le Pen, who is highly likely to win the next election in France, from seeking public office for five years. The court convicted her of misusing European Union funds.
&#8220;The court ruled that Le Pen and other members of her party illegally used 4.4 million euros, equivalent to $4.8 million, in EU funding that was earmarked for assistants helping lawmakers in the European Parliament with their work,&#8221; The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/frances-marine-le-pen-found-guilty-of-embezzlement-b8c42dac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. &#8220;Monday’s sentence bars Le Pen from seeking public office for the next five years, thrusting her far-right party into limbo. Le Pen also received a four-year prison sentence. Half of that term was suspended, judges said, adding that she could serve the remaining two years by using an electronic bracelet or other alternatives to jail time. The ruling takes Le Pen out of contention for the 2027 race, unless she can win a swift appeal. Le Pen had been expected to enter that contest as a front-runner as President Emmanuel Macron will be term limited and other prominent contenders have yet to emerge.&#8221;
This is crazy — but this is part and parcel of the broader attempt by Left-wing judiciary activists across the globe to stop “populist politicians” from being able to run.
We saw it with President Trump, where the DOJ went after him for supposed crimes, the same crimes for which they let Joe Biden off the hook. We saw it in New York, where a New York attorney general filed a civil fraud lawsuit in an attempt to stop then-candidate Trump.
We have seen it in Brazil, where the entire judicial apparatus has been brought down on the head of Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, in favor of Lula da Silva, who was then freed by that same exact judiciary.
We&#8217;ve seen it in Romania, where Cǎlin Georgescu won the election in 2024 and then the judiciary decided the election had been rigged by the Russians and annulled it. 
We have seen it in Israel, where the attorney general of Israel has been targeting Benjamin Netanyahu on specious charges for literally years, and the judiciary keep saying that Netanyahu can&#8217;t perform the basic functions of an executive, such as fire his attorney general or fire anyone in the executive branch.
And now we are seeing it in France.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2169-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
It is absolutely amazing to watch these unelected officials going out of their way to thwart the will of the people in supposed democracies. It&#8217;s really insane.
You want to talk about undermining democracy itself? This undermines democracy because the reaction to this is, “Okay, what if we just overthrow the judicial institutions?”
Why do I feel like this is a put-up job? Because it takes effect immediately. The point is to get her out of the elections. Thus they&#8217;re suspending her jail sentence but they are not suspending her ban from running.
Le Pen had denied the charges, “testifying in court that it was appropriate for the assistants to perform other party-related work because they were political aides, not direct employees of the European Parliament,” the Journal noted.
In other words, if the European Parliament didn’t want them focused solely on party-related tasks, perhaps it should have hired them directly, rather than paying the party to handle some of its work. That sounds like a strong defense.
Is the idea here that Marine Le Pen desperately needed a couple of million euros in order to pay off her political party? I feel like she probably could have raised it. Her party&#8217;s pretty big in France.
This is just the latest NATO member to reject a populist candidate by some sort of judicial intervention.
If you want to talk about undermining the argument that democracy must flourish in Europe, this would be a great way to do it.

FRANCE-POLITICS-JUSTICE-TRIAL-RN

Marine Le Pen Banned From Running

Ben Shapiro

Conservatives

Corruption

Judiciary

Leftists

Populism

Prison

The United States military is continuing its efforts to recover a vehicle that became submerged in a swamp in Lithuania this week that is believed to contain the bodies of four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during the incident.
The soldiers from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, went missing during scheduled tactical training this week at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, just a few miles away from the country&#8217;s border with Belarus.
&#8220;We are leveraging every available U.S. and Lithuanian asset to coordinate for and provide the required resources for this effort,&#8221; said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the commanding general of 1st Armored Division.
The U.S. military said that the soldiers were riding in an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, which is a giant armored tow truck designed to pull damaged tanks off the battlefield, when they went missing.
The vehicle was located on Wednesday, just one day after the soldiers went missing, after an extensive search from United States and Lithuanian military forces.
The thick forests and swampy terrain present unique challenges in trying to recover the vehicle as &#8220;thick mud and soft ground&#8221; have &#8220;required specialized equipment to drain water from the side and stabilize the ground,&#8221; the military said in a statement.
&#8220;Engineers on site are working to create berms,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;These berms—barriers built of dirt and sand from the nearby terrain—are designed to create a contained area from which water can be pumped and mud dredged, providing emergency personnel on site access to the vehicle.&#8221;
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a statement on Wednesday that everyone&#8217;s &#8220;prayers are with their families, teammates, the entire unit—and everyone conducting search operations.&#8221;
&#8220;Nothing our troops do — whether in combat or in training — is ever routine,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We will not rest until our troops are found.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Four of our brave soldiers from 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division are currently missing in Lithuania. They were conducting scheduled tactical training. Our prayers are with their families, teammates, the entire unit—and everyone conducting search operations. Nothing our troops… <a href="https://t.co/mIVklSD2BK">https://t.co/mIVklSD2BK</a>
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1905016533539328171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></blockquote>

Screenshot

U.S. Military Recovery Efforts Still Ongoing To Recover Vehicle Trapped In Swamp

General

U.S. Army

U.S. Military

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle to the 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, although the exact details would have to be brokered with the United States.
“The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,” Putin told a news conference in Moscow. “But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners.”
The announcement comes days after Ukraine offered a temporary truce at the urging of the United States. In February, the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia entered its 4th year, and President Donald Trump has made ending the conflict a priority of his administration.
Ukraine has been vocally skeptical of any deal with Putin, pointing to his history of reneging on previous agreements. For example, the 2014 Minsk Accords, which France and Germany negotiated to end hostilities in the Donbas region, an area in eastern Ukraine with a large Russian-speaking population that rebelled against the Ukrainian government after a pro-EU revolution ousted the previous Russian-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February of that year.
This skepticism led to a brief but very public falling out with the United States after a contentious joint press conference saw Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-cancels-meeting-sends-zelensky-packing-he-can-come-back-when-he-is-ready-for-peace">ejected</a> from the Oval Office without signing a pre-negotiated minerals deal with the United States. The rift, and the subsequent suspension of American military aid and intelligence sharing, appears to have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ukraine-russia-ceasefire-rubio">mended</a> on Tuesday.
“Now is the time to begin a process toward lasting peace,” a joint<a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/spilna-zayava-za-pidsumkami-zustrichi-delegacij-ukrayini-ta-96553"> statement</a> by American and Ukrainian diplomats read. “The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.”
The United States has applied considerable pressure on the Ukrainians to get them to the negotiating table. It has significant leverage over the embattled nation as its primary military supplier. Still, the Trump administration recently signaled that a similar pressure campaign could be used against Russia if they refused to accept the deal.
On Wednesday, Trump said peace was “up to Russia now” and hinted that he might ramp up economic sanctions against Russia if Putin did not accept the offered ceasefire.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified this stance on Thursday in an interview with CNBC, stating that America was “willing to apply maximum pressure on both sides” with sanctions of ‘the highest scale’ on Russia.
Many observers have argued that Russia has little incentive to accept the ceasefire at the moment, as their forces are currently advancing across much of the Ukrainian front, and a 30-day pause could allow the Ukrainian troops to retrench and recuperate, thus breaking their current momentum. 
&#8220;A 30-day temporary ceasefire. Well, what does it give us? It gives us nothing. It only gives the Ukrainians an opportunity to regroup, gain strength and, to continue the same thing,&#8221; Yuri Ushakov <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-kursk-u-s-ceasefire-talks-ukraine-1.7482377">told</a> Russian media.
Others have made the opposite case – that Russia may use the pause to rearm and recuperate before a renewed offensive.
However, some have argued that the glacial pace of the advance, the heavy cost of each square mile, and the economic benefits of loosened sanctions could incentivize Russia to accept a deal.
Meanwhile, Russia has made considerable gains in Kursk, a Russian territory that was invaded by Ukraine roughly 7 months ago and has been slowly taken back. On Wednesday, Putin told Russian media that he expected Russian forces “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future.”
The announcement by the Russian President came <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-sudzhba-military-occupation-17cebbc24642ab56d78112eba7eb7509">hours</a> after American Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow on Thursday to continue peace negotiations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Attends The Annual Meeting Of The Interior Ministry Board

Putin Backs Trump Admin’s Ceasefire Proposal In Principle

State Department

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

More scuttlebutt has been bandied about that the Trump administration is indeed becoming more interested in the alliances it can build closer to home rather than with the traditional European allies.
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/03/us-news/trump-mulls-pivot-from-european-conflicts-building-latin-american-alliances-after-zelensky-oval-office-blowup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that a “source close to the White House” stated in reference to the administration’s desire for Europe to shoulder the assistance of Ukraine, “This is going to be part of a larger pivot away from conflicts in Europe and a pivot towards building alliances in Latin America and in the Western Hemisphere.” The source mentioned conservative Argentinian President Javier Milei, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado Parisca as leaders with whom the White House would like to build strong alliances.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said Monday morning in reference to supporting Ukraine, “The American people’s patience is not unlimited; their wallets are not unlimited, and our stockpiles and munitions are not unlimited.”
In late January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear that when President Donald Trump spoke of America First, that meant that the United States needs to prioritize problems closer to home.
In an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/an-americas-first-foreign-policy-secretary-of-state-rubio-writes-western-hemisphere-too-long-neglected-a81707b0?st=Ga7aQt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opinion piece</a> published in The Wall Street Journal, Rubio said it was “no accident that my first trip abroad as secretary of state, to Central America on Friday, will keep me in the hemisphere.&#8221;
“This is rare among secretaries of state over the past century,” Rubio pointed out. “For many reasons, U.S. foreign policy has long focused on other regions while overlooking our own. As a result, we’ve let problems fester, missed opportunities and neglected partners. That ends now.”
“We see a prosperous region rife with opportunities,” he declared. “We can strengthen trade ties, create partnerships to control migration, and enhance our hemisphere’s security. El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic — the countries I will visit on this trip — all stand to benefit tremendously from greater cooperation with the U.S.&#8221;
“Covid exposed the fragility of America’s dependence on far-flung supply chains,” he recalled. “Relocating our critical supply chains to the Western Hemisphere would clear a path for our neighbors’ economic growth and safeguard Americans’ own economic security. &#8230; As our regional partners build themselves up, they can more easily resist countries such as China that promise much but deliver little.”
“The threats Mr. Trump was elected to stop are threats to the nations of our hemisphere as well,” he stated. “We share a common home. The safer, stronger and more prosperous that home becomes, the more all our nations stand to benefit. Together, there are few limits to what we can accomplish.”

US-FRANCE-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-MACRON

Trump May ‘Pivot’ Away From Europe, Focus On Central And South America, White House ‘Source’ Says

Politics

South America

Britain announced on Tuesday that it will ramp up its military spending in the coming years as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepares to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.
Trump has long pushed European allies to spend more on their own militaries and contribute more to NATO&#8217;s defense. Starmer told Parliament that the U.K. would increase its military spending from 2.3% of gross domestic value to 2.5% by 2027 and then to 3% by 2034, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/world/europe/uk-defense-spending-starmer.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;It is my first duty as Prime Minister to keep this country safe. That is why we are increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027,&#8221; Starmer, the liberal Labour Party leader, <a href="https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1894372457370316803" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;In an ever more dangerous world, it’s vital that we protect British people at home.&#8221;
Britain will pay for the increase in military spending by cutting back on foreign development aid from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%, according to Starmer, who said the move was unfortunate but necessary. “At times like this, the defense and security of the British people must always come first,” he said.
The prime minister added that the announcement means the U.K. will be taking on more responsibility in its commitment to NATO and &#8220;the collective defence of our continent,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyrkkv4gd7o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a>.
The U.K.&#8217;s move amounts to the nation&#8217;s largest military spending increase since the Cold War, a decision Starmer <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/ap-business/ap-starmer-commits-to-raise-uk-defense-spending-to-2-5-of-gdp-by-2027/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> is necessary because &#8220;tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin only respond to strength.&#8221; The Labour Party leader added that Britain will remain committed to supporting Ukraine&#8217;s defense as the U.S. continues peace negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.
&#8220;We will walk with [Ukraine] through this conflict and we will continue to do so for as long as is necessary,&#8221; Starmer <a href="https://x.com/Keir_Starmer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, adding, &#8220;We will not falter in our support for Ukraine. We will not stop our efforts to end this war. And we will not rest until the people of Ukraine can live peacefully and safely in their own country.&#8221;
President Trump, meanwhile, has been critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the U.S. seeks to broker a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-zelensky-shouldnt-attend-meetings-with-russia-he-makes-it-very-hard-to-make-deals" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last week that he&#8217;s had “very good talks” with Putin but “not such good talks with Ukraine” after calling Zelensky a &#8220;dictator&#8221; and blaming him for starting the war.
&nbsp;

British Troops

U.K. Says It Will Increase Military Spending As Prime Minister Set To Meet With Trump

Keir Starmer

U.K.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni delivered an impassioned speech on the state of Europe at CPAC on Saturday, asserting that Europe’s identity had been “sacrificed on the altar of wokeness, bureaucracy, and mercantilism.”
Meloni came to the defense of Vice President JD Vance in her speech, who has been heavily critiqued by European elites for his speech regarding censorship and cultural identity at the Munich Security conference last week.
In her address, Meloni declared, “We must say to [the elites] that we will never be ashamed of who we are &#8230; we affirm our identity and work to strengthen it.”
“Without a deep-rooted identity, we cannot be great again,” Meloni emphasized.
During her appearance via video at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the prime minister described supporters of mass migration in Europe as part of a “mainstream propaganda machine” that she said falsely predicted Italy’s international isolation.
“We do what we say. We do what is right. We fight for what we believe in. And moreover, we trust people, not fear them.”
Meloni also underscored her perspective on the dangers of so-called “American liberal leftism,” which she argued had been adopted in Europe by a set of “ruling classes and mainstream media.” She maintained that these elites “imported and replicated in the old continent the most reckless theories,” fueling what she sees as a weakening of Europe’s true cultural underpinnings.
Continuing her endorsement of Vance’s position, she reiterated that the vice president had urged European leaders to be clear about “what we are defending” before discussing defense and security matters.
“Vice President Vance was discussing something deeper,” Meloni said, emphasizing “identity, democracy, [and] freedom of speech” as the cornerstone of any Western alliance.
She called on European leaders to show the same level of unity in protecting these foundational values, insisting that “you cannot defend your freedom if you lack the means or the courage to do so.”
Meloni concluded by arguing that greater cooperation is critical, warning against the notion that Europe is “distant or even lost.” Pointing to successes claimed by conservative leadership in various parts of Europe, she maintained that momentum continues to build.
“There is a growing awareness in Europe that security is now the top priority,” she noted, urging leaders to focus on measures that safeguard both Europe’s borders and its cultural identity against what she characterized as external threats and internal ideological pressures.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Italian Prime Minister GIORGIA MELONI&#039;S Full Speech at CPAC 2025" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l1GGSPp_Md0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Conference In Washington DC

Italian PM Defends Vance: Europe Has Been ‘Sacrificed On The Altar Of Wokeness’

CPAC

Culture

Giorgia Meloni

J.D. Vance

Since Churchill’s time, America and Britain have spoken of their “special relationship” – even if the affection has been somewhat unilateral in recent years, as the US has recognised the UK’s increasing irrelevance on the world stage as it descends into economic decay, social disintegration, and democratic suppression.
You might think this an exaggeration – and I do not intend to imply that dissenting British voices receive the same treatment they might receive in China or Cuba. But that is not the right question. The question is whether dissenting voices in Britain are free.
We have all seen the evidence that they are not. The first act of Bridget Philipson, Keir Starmer’s Education Secretary, was to <a href="https://freespeechunion.org/phillipson-tried-to-pull-plug-on-new-free-speech-law-days-after-election/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">try and revoke</a> the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, even after it was passed by Parliament. That this is not merely a position, but even the top priority, of our new government is chilling. This, despite the fact that <a href="https://adfinternational.org/en-gb/news/uk-students-feel-censored-on-campus-poll-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly half</a> of UK students are scared to express their views.
Whether people are <a href="https://www.gbnews.com/news/christian-lecturer-sacked-from-methodist-college" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fired from their jobs</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-64786856" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referred to terrorist watchlists</a>, secretly put on registers for “non-crime hate incidents” (<a href="https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/children-as-young-as-nine-investigated-by-police-for-hate-incidents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even as children</a>), or even <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/article/police-criticised-over-arrest-for-gay-swastika-post-0dj6j0007">arrested</a>, freedom of speech is increasingly a luxury commodity in Britain – and saying what you think is increasingly seen as criminal. “Hate speech” is increasingly seen as a legitimate constraint – with <a href="https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/bible-hate-speech-survey-rewrite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 in 4 young people</a> open to banning the Bible itself if they believed it included “hate speech”.
Yet free speech is not the only casualty of recent years. Multiple people have been <a href="https://adfinternational.org/en-gb/cases/isabel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested or charged</a> merely for praying silently in their heads in the vicinity of an abortion clinic (which, in one case, was not even open), with an army veteran <a href="https://adfinternational.org/en-gb/news/guilty-army-vet-convicted-for-praying-silently-near-abortion-facility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently convicted</a> for silently praying for his unborn son. Thoughtcrime is no longer Orwellian fiction.
When asked if the UK should be included among other human rights abusing regimes, however, congressmen in the US ordinarily reply that “we are allies, we can’t do that”. The UK is enough of a friend to the US that it escapes any significant accountability.
But true friends do not let each other make serious mistakes without challenge: that is politeness, not friendship. So the question is: can the UK be enough of a friend to receive accountability?
We all know what tough love means: that if you really seek the best for someone, you confront them with reality, whose content or consequences may be acutely painful – but ultimately needed for our flourishing. And the reality in this case is clear: the British people desperately need a restoration of their civil liberties before we are too far down the slippery slope. If the US really cares for our country and its citizens, you must speak – and act – in favor of our freedom, whoever you offend in the process. Vance’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOsgfINdKg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech in Munich</a> was a fantastic start – but now action is needed.
There are many ways to achieve this, but here is one idea: the freedom tariff. The UK is desperate for a trade deal with the US after Brexit. Trade is one of the few areas where nations can be genuinely held accountable beyond stern letters or phone calls – which are routinely ignored. Freedom tariffs would provide genuine leverage over the UK with a simple addition: include a clause stipulating that insofar as the UK restricts the most basic freedoms – speech, assembly, conscience, religion, and thought – it will pay for those restrictions with tariffs.
This is hardly coercive: why should America give us free trade when we won’t give our own people free speech? We either believe in freedom or we don’t. If we don’t, we can hardly expect its benefits from others. The deal is up to us to take or not.
America imposing “freedom” on other countries has understandably come under fire in recent decades. But rather than intervening militarily in intractable Middle Eastern political disputes, tariffs are entirely non-violent. And here’s the extra good news: this tough love need not be painful at all. All the UK would have to do is stop firing, blacklisting, and arresting people for thinking and saying the wrong things. Give free speech, get free trade. It is really that simple.
Of course, this problem is not unique to the UK. In France, a TV channel was <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/french-tv-channel-fined-for-calling-abortion-the-worlds-leading-cause-of-death" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fined 100,000 euro</a> for stating that abortion is the leading cause of death worldwide, while in Finland, a sitting parliamentarian has been on <a href="https://adfinternational.org/en-gb/campaign/free-speech-on-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criminal trial</a> under the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity sections of their penal code – launched by the attorney general – for years, simply for tweeting a Bible verse (a bishop has faced similar persecution).
The European Union’s deleterious approach to open discourse on social media has been widely publicized by Vance and Musk, among others. Perhaps freedom tariffs are benefits that can be extended beyond the Special Relationship.
* * *
Calum Miller is a research fellow at University of Oxford and a registered medical doctor.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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