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The congresswoman, who once was rewarded with her own prime-time documentary on CNN and a town hall on MSNBC’s prime time, descended on Munich recently in a clear signal she plans on running for president. And in a stunning-but-not-surprising moment to those who have been paying attention, the possible commander in chief was asked the following foreign policy question:
“Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was asked.
Her answer, per the official transcript:
“Um, you know, I think that this is such a, you know, I think that this is a um — this is, of course, a, um, very long-standing, um, policy of the United States and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that 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,” she responded.
Needless to say, the U.S. would be in serious trouble if somehow this social media creation ascended to the Oval Office. This answer, which makes (installed) 2024 Democrat nominee Kamala Harris sound like Margaret Thatcher, is disqualifying. Watch it if you haven’t: This answer is no different than an unprepared sophomore struggling to reach a minimum time requirement on an oral exam, and the word painful is the only thing that comes to mind.
But AOC wasn’t done there. Here she is mocking Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the origin of American cowboys.
Rubio: “Our expansion into the interior followed the footsteps of French fur traders and explorers whose names, by the way, still adorn the street signs and towns’ names all across the Mississippi Valley. Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos — the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West — these were born in Spain. And our largest and most iconic city was named New Amsterdam before it was named New York.”
AOC: “My favorite part was when he said that American cowboys came from Spain. And I believe the Mexicans and descendants of African enslaved peoples would like to have a word on that.”
Is her history correct? Of course not.
Per History.com and the Galicenos of Sawannee Horse Ranch, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés brought the first horses to Mexico in the 16th century in his conquest of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish also instituted breeding farms to produce more horses
“The modern cowboy culture of the Americas can also trace its roots back to Spain, given that the Spanish settlers trained indigenous populations to wrangle cattle on horseback in order to maintain their ranches in places like Texas, Arizona and New Mexico,” History.com reads.
Whoops. And throw in the fact that AOC accused Israel of genocide in Gaza (and made such a claim while on German soil, a country that once carried out an actual genocide during World War II), and it’s safe to say this was a disastrous trip for the 34-year-old.
But then again, this is a legacy media darling we’re talking about, so perhaps the damage won’t be as extensive as it should be. Exhibit A is the New York Times:
“Ms. Ocasio-Cortez sounded strongest when drawing a direct contrast with Mr. Trump’s vision of the world,” the outlet argued after calling the aforementioned verbal disasters simply “stumbles.”
“[AOC] urged the United States to instead deepen its bonds with allies and recommit to global projects like the United States Agency for International Development, the aid agency Mr. Trump dismantled,” the outlet reads.
And it gets even more hilarious, unintentionally, of course.
“American voters have twice elected Mr. Trump, who is hardly a foreign or domestic policy expert and often stumbles far more than she did on Friday,” the story that isn’t labeled an opinion piece asserts. “Her slips could ultimately be outweighed by the practice she is getting in speaking about tough international issues, and perhaps by her star power.”
Yes, her star power will outweigh everything. The Times will try to ensure that.
As for their dig on Trump’s foreign policy prowess, perhaps the publication, which hasn’t endorsed a Republican presidential candidate since Dwight D. Eisenhower, could also have noted Trump’s numerous foreign policy victories. These include the Abraham Accords, essentially ending North Korea’s nuclear testing, defeating the ISIS caliphate, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, bringing dozens of hostages home, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, better trade deals with dozens of countries through tariff leverage, a (relative) end of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and setting back Iran’s nuclear capabilities for the foreseeable future via Operation Midnight Hammer.
Back to AOC, this is the same lawmaker who cried on the House floor after congressional funding was approved for Israel’s Iron Dome, which has saved countless lives and arguably has saved Israel itself from extinction. She was given a pass for that cheesy performance art by outlets such as Bloomberg, which continues to carry an ocean’s worth of water for her to this day.
Bloomberg News on AOC’s Munich performance:
“It was Ocasio-Cortez who drew the most buzz. It was her first time at the annual conference, and she doesn’t sit on the House foreign affairs or armed services committees. What foreign-policy work she’s done has centered mostly on Latin America and her opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza,” its “report” reads.
“Republican commentators back home declared her unprepared for primetime for what they called a flubbed answer to a question from Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua on whether the US would come to Taiwan’s defense if China attacked. But she recovered with a cogent response. ‘The US should avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise,’ she said.”
After portraying AOC’s horrific answer on China-Taiwan as a “Republicans pounce” moment, this “straight news” story went on to quote an AOC foreign policy adviser who called her incoherent response on China-Taiwan a simple matter of being “careful” with her words.
You can’t make this stuff up.
So can AOC still somehow get elected to the highest office in the land? In 2028, it’s doubtful, albeit not impossible, for that to happen. But the smarter money is on Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who also attended the Munich conference to bash Trump and his administration, to make AOC his running mate.
Not because she’s the best qualified, of course, but for the same reason Kamala was chosen by Biden: To check off boxes on race, gender, and in this case, age, to appeal to the kind of younger voters who support Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist mayor currently in the process of destroying New York City.
In the 2020s, more than ever, clicks and likes and retweets and snark on social media are just as important as articulating U.S. policy on Taiwan and China and tacitly supporting Hamas as a political entity instead of as a terrorist organization.
THE GREAT BRITISH HOMESCHOOLING CRACKDOWN
AOC is the poster child of this kind of political environment.
And based not just on her statements in Munich but eight years in Congress, God help us all if she ever ascends to a position of actual power.