Rantz: How can Margaret Brennan blame free speech for the Holocaust?

Margaret Brennan, host of Face the Nation, has a habit of regurgitating leftist talking points like a parrot with a teleprompter and notes. But even by her low standards, her latest nonsense was a spectacle of historic ignorance. She blamed free speech for the Holocaust.

During a segment with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Brennan actually claimed that “free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide” in Nazi Germany. Brennan’s bizarre exchange came in response to Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he pointed out an uncomfortable truth: Europe, and especially Germany, is veering down a path of censorship.

Vance warned that the biggest threat to the West isn’t Russia or China—it’s the erosion of free speech, the very foundation of democracy. Germany, with its aggressive criminalization of political speech, is leading the charge in proving him right.

Let’s be clear—Brennan’s claim is not merely stupid. It’s dangerously stupid.

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Margaret Brennan doesn’t know what caused the Holocaust

Margaret Brennan, ever the loyal defender of authoritarian overreach, tried to reframe Vice President JD Vance’s warning as some kind of tacit endorsement of fascism.

She fretted that Vance made his remarks while meeting with the leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing party under scrutiny for “extremism.” Rather than engaging in an actual debate, Brennan predictably resorted to guilt by association—a classic media trick to discredit conservatives without addressing their actual arguments.

Then came her history-shattering claim: “Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.” Rubio immediately shot back with a reality check. “Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime,” he noted.

We already know that Brennan aims to be the most anti-conservative journalist on TV. She’s spent weeks conducting extraordinarily bad faith interviews with Republicans. But is she also trying to be the most ignorant person on TV?

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Germany was never a bastion of free speech

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of history knows that Nazi Germany wasn’t a bastion of free speech. And no, free speech wasn’t “weaponized” to conduct the Holocaust.

Hitler didn’t rise to power because of too much free speech—he rose precisely because there was none. The Nazis systematically crushed dissent, banned opposition parties, arrested political enemies, and controlled the media through state propaganda. The very first thing they did after seizing power was eliminate the free press and criminalize speech they deemed “dangerous” to the regime.

And speaking of Germany’s censorship obsession, CBS’ 60 Minutes just gave us a chilling glimpse into where this is all headed. It has banned “offensive” speech.

The segment showcased German police storming homes, seizing phones, and arresting people for posting “offensive” content online. In one case, someone was fined thousands of euros for making a crude joke about asylum seekers. Another was raided over a single political tweet. Authorities defended this dystopian nightmare by saying free speech has “limits” and that reposting something illegal is now a crime too.

It’s almost like Margaret Brennan is actively trying to be the most ignorant, biased, and historically illiterate journalist on TV.

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) February 16, 2025

Fighting for fascists while pretending to fight them

If Margaret Brennan’s logic were applied today, Germany’s latest censorship laws—like arresting people for memes or raiding homes over political posts—should be considered “weaponizing free speech” as well. But of course, she’d never admit that. Because in her mind, censorship is only bad when it prevents leftists from silencing their opponents.

This is what Brennan and her ilk support. This is the “progress” they want America to adopt. A system where criticizing politicians gets you fined, where reposting the wrong article lands you in jail, and where nebulous definitions of “hate speech” allow the government to criminalize opinions they don’t like. Germany has gone from fighting fascism to emulating its worst instincts—and Brennan is cheering them on because she apparently thinks free speech caused the Holocaust.

Vance was right to sound the alarm on censorship, and Rubio was right to call out Brennan’s historical illiteracy. The real threat isn’t too much free speech—it’s too little. And if the media weren’t filled with left-wing hacks like Brennan, that might actually be the story.

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