Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended VP JD Vance after he met with members of the right AfD party in Germany and lectured the Germans about supposedly suppressing "free speech."

JD Vance has met with the leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, breaking a taboo in German politics as the Trump administration continues to court and promote far-right populist parties across Europe. [...]

Vance met with Weidel just weeks before a German election in which the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim party appears poised to take second place on a wave of growing anti-establishment sentiment.

The meeting was not the first contact between the party and a figure close to Donald Trump. Elon Musk, the billionaire now leading a purge of the US federal government, has repeatedly claimed that “only the AfD can save Germany” and last month hosted Wiedel in a 75-minute live conversation on his social media platform, X.

Vance did not meet with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor who should be among the US’ key partners in negotiations with Russia over the future of the war in Ukraine. “We don’t need to see him, he won’t be chancellor long,” one former US official told Politico of the Vance team’s approach.

Addressing the Munich security conference earlier on Friday, Vance admonished Europe’s leaders for refusing to work with their far-right parties.

“If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you,” said Vance. “You need democratic mandates to accomplish anything of value in the coming years.”

The move sent shockwaves through German political circles as the Trump administration appeared to be making a large bet on some of the continent’s most toxic parties in opposition to the sitting governments in the UK, Germany and other major allies.

Rubio was asked about the speech during an interview on this Sunday's Face the Nation, and of course dismissed the criticism:

In an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation, Rubio dismissed comparisons between the AfD and the Nazi regime. “There was no free speech in Nazi Germany,” he said. “There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany, they were a sole and only party that governed that country. So that’s not an accurate reflection of history.”

Jewish groups condemned the meeting, pointing to AfD’s record of downplaying the Holocaust and promoting anti-immigrant policies. The American Jewish Committee highlighted the party’s “clear record of antisemitism and hostility to America.” They noted that Björn Höcke, one of the AfD’s leaders, was charged twice by the government for using banned Nazi phrases and was nearly expelled from the party after calling the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe a “monument of shame.” Höcke also advocated for a “national turnaround” in how Germany confronts its Nazi past.

Rep. Daniel Goldman, a Jewish Democrat from New York, called the AfD a “neo-Nazi party” and criticized the Republican Party for “being so quiet about this signal of antisemitism” following Vance and Elon Musk’s support for the AfD ahead of German elections next Sunday. Recent polls put the AfD in second place with 20%, ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party.

So we've got our VP and our Secretary of State lined right up with Putin and the Nazis in Germany. Wonderful.

Vance's remarks went over as expected in Germany.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Saturday accused Vice President JD Vance of unacceptably interfering in his country’s coming elections on behalf of a party that has played down the atrocities committed by the Nazis.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) February 15, 2025 at 10:45 AM