Why certain elected Democrats chose to attend the 2026 Munich Security Conference is not clear – other than to strut their stuff on the world stage, trying to acquire some cachet as 2028 presidential hopefuls. As it turns out, the stuff was not worth strutting and not one of those hopefuls did themselves any favors. They were out of place and out of their depth, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio put on a masterclass in humiliating European leaders in a way that left them thinking they had been congratulated.
The 2026 Munich Security Conference, from Feb. 13-15, was billed as a forum for discussing “security policy challenges” and attended by “hundreds of decision-makers and opinion leaders from different regions of the world.” This year was the 69th gathering.
For reasons unknown – well, other than the previously mentioned grandstanding for 2028 – Democrat Govs. Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer of California and Michigan, respectively, believed they had some business being there. More puzzling was the cameo appearance by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Politics aside, it is reasonable to observe that this trio has the combined foreign policy and national security expertise of an Olympic skier. It showed.
2028 Prospects Beclowning Themselves
Ocasio-Cortez, who is impressed, insensibly it appears, with her prowess as a future world leader, put even Kamala Harris to shame with a word-salad response to a question about American defense of Taiwan. This happened during an interview at one of the security conference side-powwows. The question was, “Would and should the US actually commit US troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?” AOC’s answer:
“Um, you know, I think that, ah, this is … such a … you know, I think that this is a, um [extended pause]. This is of course a, uh, a very long-standing, um, policy of the United States, uh, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure we never get to that point. And we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic, research, and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation, and for that question to even arise.”
At another gathering, the congresswoman fared no better as she attempted to define nationality. “There’s a very big difference between whiteness and national … like your actual culture, right? Whiteness is an imaginary thing. Being German is real. Being Italian is real. You know, being English, um, these are rich cultural heritages that are based on values …"
It was not clear if AOC was suggesting that race – or ethnicity, to be more correct – is merely a social construct, or only if being white was imaginary.
Ocasio-Cortez is just one name being thrown around as a potential 2028 presidential candidate on the Democrat side. She has not ruled it out, at least. Newsom and Whitmer are certainly considered contenders, and perhaps Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who also decided that a winter mini vacation in Bavaria was just the thing.
Whitmer perhaps wasn’t listening to Ocasio-Cortez’s tortured non-answer to the Taiwan question; otherwise, during the same foreign policy panel, she may not have deferred to AOC’s alleged greater knowledge of international matters.
The same panel host who stumped the New York representative asked Whitmer, “On Ukraine, what does victory look like?” After a little stuttering, Whitmer responded, “The two that I am on the panel with are much more steeped in foreign policy than a governor is. But I do think that Ukraine’s independence – keeping their landmass and having the support of all the allies – I think is the goal.” She then invited a US ambassador also on the panel – so, a Trump-appointed ambassador – to “do a better job” of answering the question.
Newsom Teaches Germans About Nazism
It takes a special kind of narcissism, as an American, to go to Germany – of all places – and make comparisons to the Nazis. That could be why Newsom gave it a shot. During a sit-down with a three-person panel before a small audience, Newsom decided to trash ICE, saying at one point, "[B]ut I wanna remember all those images of masked men, the secret police – something familiar in Germany … " The inference was clear and, as Newsom mentioned Germany, he practically leaned across to nudge a German gentleman seated next to him on the stage. As if to say, you know what I’m talking about, right?
If the audience didn’t find that incredibly insulting, insensitive, and uncomfortable, that would be shocking. There is a reason why Germans today who personally experienced life under Nazi rule make no such comparisons. They understand it is preposterous because no Western country today faces anything remotely similar to the horrors of the Third Reich.
Kelly, like Newsom, spent a good deal of time trashing America – something that has traditionally been frowned upon. It is generally considered a breach of protocol for politicians or dignitaries from any nation to attend overseas conferences and speak negatively about their own country.
Hillary Clinton also put in an appearance. People can read into that what they will. She, too, was humiliated – this time by Petr Macinka, deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic. Clinton became flustered during another forum when Macinka stated that he believed there were only two genders. At one point, Macinka practically laughed in Clinton’s face and told her, “I'm sorry that it makes you nervous."
The Democratic Party may need to cast a wider net for possible 2028 White House candidates. The current crop certainly appears to command little respect and even less credibility on the world stage. Many elected Democrats seem to have fallen into a malaise, of sorts, believing they can skate by without really saying anything of worth because their voting base in the United States – so they genuinely appear to believe – is stupid enough to applaud their every word without paying attention to what they are really saying. But when American political figures go overseas, and perhaps this applies especially in Europe, people do in fact pay attention to what they say.
In terms of trying to make names for themselves as international statesmen, or stateswomen, for the 2028 election, Newsom and AOC and company probably did themselves more harm than good – at least in terms of being taken seriously by either America’s allies or its adversaries.
