America dodged the bullet on Nov. 5, 2024, and already we’re already sealing up the border, saving women’s sports, as well as combatting federal fraud, waste, and abuse.

But when Donald Trump retook the White House and Republicans flipped the U.S. Senate in their favor and retained control of the House, America secured control of something less tangible but far more precious — freedom of speech.

Had Nov. 5 turned out differently we would likely have become Europe — we would have become mediocre and no longer exceptional.

Vice President JD Vance told European leaders just how mediocre and even dangerous Europe had become in a Valentine’s Day reality check he delivered to the Munich Security Conference Friday.

While recognizing external threats from Russia and China, Vance said the greater threat was "the threat from within," which he described as a "retreat" from fundamental European values, "values shared with the United States of America."

The vice president acknowledged "that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come, not from within Europe, but from within my own country," and recalled that the Biden administration "threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation."

But while we dodged that bullet on Nov. 5, Europe welcomed it.

Vance gave specific examples of recent free speech restrictions in Brussels, Germany, Sweden, and especially the U.K., where it’s illegal to silently pray within 200 meters of an abortion facility.

"In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat," he said.

The European leaders didn’t take his remarks well, and several hours later German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said of the speech, "this is not acceptable."

While Vance’s address prompted only a polite spattering of applause, it should have been applauded in the United States — especially by media outlets relying on First Amendment free speech and press protections.

But it wasn’t.

Two days later it was . . . call it, "Censorship Sunday" at CBS News.

It began in the morning with "Face the Nation."

While interviewing U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, program host Margaret Brennan denounced Vance’s remarks, claiming that "he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide. . . "

Secretary Rubio interrupted her, "I have to disagree with you. Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide," he said.

"The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews. . . There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none," and then continued his history lesson for more than a minute while praising Vance’s "historic" address.

When Rubio finished, all Brennan could say was, "Mr. Secretary, I’m told we’re out of time."

CBS’s "Censorship Sunday" concluded with "60 Minutes," during which a film crew accompanied German police making early morning raids on citizens who had said mean things on social media.

Afterwards they interviewed Josephine Ballon, CEO of HateAid, a Berlin-based human rights organization.

"Free speech needs boundaries," she said.

"Without boundaries, a very small group of people can rely on endless freedom to say anything that they want, while everyone else is scared and intimidated."

In fact, speech with boundaries is not free, and when boundaries are imposed, the "small group" setting the boundaries control speech.

CBS never challenged her on this.

The following day a German politician claimed that the vice president’s speech "was a direct assault on European democracy."

Vance responded that it's "Always funny to me that 'listen to your people when they object to mass migration’ and ‘censorship is bad' is treated as a 'threat to democracy.'"

He then asked, "Do you know what 'democracy' actually means?"

Although European leaders may be a bit fuzzy on the definition of democracy, the current White House is not, and poll numbers indicate that they’re listening to the voters.

ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl reported Sunday that President Trump’s favorability ratings are higher than they’ve ever been before, because:

• 63% favor government recognizing only two sexes.
• 60% favor deporting illegals.
• 60% favor expanding oil and gas production.
• 59% favor declaring emergency at southern border.

Democracy comes down to accepting the will of the voters, but you can’t know what their will is unless you accept that they have the absolute right to freely speak.

Political commentator Victor Davis Hansen observed this week that failure is generally followed by censorship.

Had then-Vice President Kamala Harris won in November, America would have descended further into failure — more illegal border crossings accompanied by more crime, a more bloated, less responsive federal government, higher inflation and unemployment, and more wars.

And when the people speak out in protest, the government’s typical response is to limit speech — just like Biden did before, just like Europe is doing now.

We nearly became Europe, but we dodged the bullet.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.