CBS News’ Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan is at the centre of a huge storm for her views during an interview with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Numerous comments from netizens on social media singled out her statement that free speech was responsible for the Nazi Holocaust in Germany.
However, her comments were misinterpreted, and what she said was that free speech was weaponized by Nazi Germany to commit genocide. It was not only netizens who misunderstood the context of Margaret Brennan’s comments but also U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
This is being shared everywhere, and it should be, because it’s historically illiterate, antagonistic to a fundamental value, and done so condescendingly from a highly paid “news” desk.
CBS Margaret Brennan blames free speech for the Holocaust.
pic.twitter.com/hRGvVuvjE4— Will Cain (@willcain) February 16, 2025
After CBS News’ Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan commented, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cut her off mid-sentence and stated that there was no free speech in Nazi Germany.
He labelled the ruling regime during World War II as authoritarian, emphasizing that there was no opposition in Germany at the time. He also stressed the importance of free speech in democracies.
Rubio interpreted Margaret Brennan’s comments as suggesting that too much free speech was the cause of the Holocaust. He also defended U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which Vance ridiculed Europe’s increasing trend of censorship.
Brennan had remarked after Rubio supported Vance’s contention:
“Well, he [Vance] was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct genocide.”
Rubio immediately responded:
“Free speech was not used to conduct genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities.”
He also labelled Brennan’s claim as an erroneous and conflicting depiction of history.
Brennan also brought up the issue of Vance’s meeting with a leader from a far-right political party with ties to extremist groups, stating that the result irritated the allies.
Rubio contended that democracies must be amenable to free speech, and he did not see any reason for allies to be piqued by anyone voicing their opinion. He also stated that the Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies, something everyone cherishes. Democracy provides an atmosphere for people to speak freely and put forth diverse opinions.
The interview touched on a diverse range of topics, including the release of hostages by Hamas in Gaza, Iran’s nuclear deal, and peace talks in the war between Ukraine and Russia. However, it seemed that Brennan was unsatisfied with Rubio’s response and deemed it best to cut the segment short.
