Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed in Munich this week, no doubt trying to fluff her "foreign policy credentials" for a potential 2028 presidential run. If you know anything about the socialist congresswoman, it went about as well as you'd expect.
Putting aside the shallowness of American politics, which apparently counts simply saying stuff at a security conference as real-world experience, Ocasio-Cortez clearly had a plan. She'd show up, riff a bit about billionaires, and claim democracy is under threat around the globe. It was supposed to be easy, but you know what they say about plans.
See: Socialist NY Rep Crashes and Burns in Munich, Serves Up Kamala-Style Word Salad
AOC is asked if the US should defend Taiwan in the event China invades. Her answer is a word salad disaster that would even make Kamala cringe: pic.twitter.com/jgfMWiSfmE
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 14, 2026
That wasn't the worst of it, though. During one session, the congresswoman was asked about instituting a "wealth tax." After she fumbled over her answer, an Argentinian politician stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park. The contrast in intellect was terrible for Ocasio-Cortez.
AOC in Munich giggles excitedly when asked if she will impose a wealth tax as president. Moments later, her ignorance is exposed by Argentinian politician Daiana Fernández Molero, who has actually seen the destruction caused by a wealth tax. pic.twitter.com/FQn6iEtxTC
— Tudor Dixon (@TudorDixon) February 16, 2026
HOST: So when you run for president, are you going to impose a wealth tax or a billionaire's tax?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: I don't think that, um, I don't think that anyone, and that we don't have to wait for any one president to impose a wealth tax. I think it needs to be done expeditiously.
MOLERO: You have the recipe that many Latin American countries applied many, many times, that is some relief in the short term, but ends up being a tragedy for the future. It's like a public expenditure, huge public expenditure, price controls, sometimes wealth tax, and you end up with the wealth going away, and you have just the tax, and you don't have wealth anymore. That was something that Peronism did many, many times.
So all these recipes create a cycle. Then you have this short-term relief, but then it goes with inflation, shortage, then you have more poverty, and the cycle goes and goes.
What you have to understand is that Ocasio-Cortez isn't used to pushback. She's used to fawning coverage and softball interviews. Answering questions that stray from her typical socialist talking points isn't part of her skillset, nor is dealing with negative headlines as a result of her face-planting.
In short, she wasn't happy and quickly ran to one of her stenographers at The New York Times to clean things up for her. While he was more than willing to give it a shot, he didn't succeed.
The way her performance was microscopically dissected through the lens of what it meant for a hypothetical White House campaign frustrated AOC.
— Kellen Browning (@Kellen_Browning) February 17, 2026
She said she worried that her message was being lost in all the commotion.https://t.co/KBeT3kaBzj
Sometimes I wonder if these journalists can feel shame. "She gave me a call," says Kellen Browning, as if that's not indicative of exactly how Ocasio-Cortez views him. Namely, as a simp who will do her bidding.
I mean, read these opening paragraphs. It's embarrassing.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had anticipated a potentially frosty reception to her anti-establishment arguments at the Munich Security Conference, a venue she called “an elite place of decision makers that, frankly, are not responsive to a class-based message.”
And the visit to Germany felt high-stakes: It was the most prominent foreign trip to date by the progressive New York congresswoman, who had mostly focused on domestic priorities until now. Her remarks last week about addressing working-class concerns around the globe, and the reception from world leaders, were both eagerly awaited and highly scrutinized.
But rather than the substance of her arguments, it was her on-camera stumbles when answering questions about specific world affairs that rocketed around conservative social media and drove plenty of the discussion about her visit, as political observers speculated whether they would make a dent in a potential presidential run in 2028.
Exactly what "substance" was missed about Ocasio-Cortez's presence in Munich? Her big meeting was with a failed East Berlin-derived socialist party, and her on-screen appearances showed someone utterly unprepared to have a serious discussion about anything.
The stenographer continued.
“This reporter came up to me and was like, ‘Is Munich the new New Hampshire?’ And I cannot say enough how out of touch and missing the point, genuinely, that is,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview, referring to the state’s tradition of hosting early presidential primary contests. “Global democracies are on fire the world over, and established parties are falling to right-wing populist movements.”
To Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, the discourse about her visit had missed the more important point about the risks of authoritarianism — an argument that she said had been well-received by the Europeans during two foreign policy panels, private meetings with German leaders and an address in a packed university auditorium in Berlin.
This is what happens when a total light-weight, whose rise to prominence was astroturfed in a far-left congressional district with a mix of DSA funding and acting lessons, finally feels the slightest amount of pressure. Ocasio-Cortez expected to get the treatment she receives from the mainstream American press. Instead, she got a wake-up call. She's not good at this, and she's never been more exposed.
She might want to rethink that 2028 presidential run, because once the shine comes off a politician, it's hard to put it back on. If the failure of Kamala Harris proved anything, it's that voters see through facades rather easily, and they don't forget.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member