{"id":475832,"date":"2026-02-18T12:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475832\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T12:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:40:21","slug":"rubio-and-aoc-attended-the-munich-security-conference-how-did-they-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475832\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio and AOC attended the Munich Security Conference. How did they do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for the Slatest<\/a> to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.<\/p>\n

Two American politicians drew top billing at this past weekend\u2019s Munich Security Conference, where U.S. and European political leaders gather each year to mull the state of the trans-Atlantic alliance\u2014a topic that is now teeming with suspense and peril.<\/p>\n

The headliners were Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Europeans hoped Rubio would mollify their concerns about President Donald Trump\u2019s commitment to the continent\u2019s defense\u2014or at least erase the memory of last year\u2019s main speaker, J.D. Vance<\/a>, whose unabashed hostility toward the Western alliance and firm embrace of Germany\u2019s neo-Nazi party set off the crisis between the two continents today.<\/p>\n

In this context, they viewed AOC as a possible harbinger of the U.S. leadership\u2019s next generation and wondered\u2014some with excitement, some with dread, almost everyone with curiosity, because she had never appeared at the conference before\u2014just what her ascension might bode.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, Rubio proved disappointing, while AOC was too vague to leave behind an outline of the alliance\u2019s future or her chances of rising to its helm\u2014though she expressed reassuring sentiments with (for the most part) encouraging eloquence.<\/p>\n

Rubio received a standing ovation at the end of his keynote address on Saturday, mainly because he spoke softly and uttered a few welcome lines that the likes of Vance or, worse still, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (who did not attend the conference) would never utter\u2014for instance, \u201cthe United States and Europe \u2026 belong together,\u201d \u201cWe are part of one civilization,\u201d and \u201cOur destiny is, and will always be, intertwined with yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

These lines inspired his interlocutor, at the start of a Q&A period, to note \u201cthe collective sigh of relief throughout this hall\u201d during the secretary\u2019s \u201cmessage of reassurance and partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those listening with more jaded ears, and nearly everyone who read the transcript<\/a> afterward, saw it as what might be called Vance-and-Hegseth lite\u2014warm and friendly in tone but pure MAGA in substance, or as Politico<\/a> paraphrased his message: \u201cJoin Donald Trump\u2019s campaign to reshape the world for Washington\u2019s benefit, or get out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The traditions that Rubio invoked, in recalling the alliance\u2019s past, were those of nationalism (a subtle rebuke to the European Union, an open rejection of free trade, and a dismissal of international law), Western civilization as Christian civilization (ignoring not just Judeo-Christian heritage but the roughly 25 million Muslims who live in Europe<\/a>), and the \u201cunapologetic\u201d mission \u201cto build a vast empire out across the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

His call for alliance unity was an invitation for \u201cyou\u201d (Europeans) to \u201cjoin us\u201d (Trump\u2019s America) on our path. His speech\u2014at the world\u2019s most preeminent security conference\u2014did not mention Russia, NATO, or China, but instead listed as the West\u2019s biggest dangers \u201cfear of climate change, fear of war, fear of technology,\u201d and the \u201cmass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.\u201d To renew our alliance, he said, means to \u201crestore a place in the world\u201d that will \u201crebuke and deter the forces of civilizational erasure that today menace both America and Europe alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard this phrase \u201ccivilizational erasure<\/a>\u201d before, from Trump himself. It translates, pretty explicitly, to Make America (and now Europe as well) White Again.<\/p>\n

After his appearance in Munich, as if to confirm this impression, and to splash water on those who tried to interpret the speech as a beacon of hope, Rubio flew to Budapest, where he publicly embraced Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a> and told him, \u201cI say to you with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success because your success is our success, because this relationship we have here in central Europe through you is so essential and vital for our national interests in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubio\u2019s wish for Orb\u00e1n\u2019s \u201csuccess\u201d should be viewed in two contexts. First, the prime minister is facing a tough election; Rubio\u2019s words amounted to an open endorsement by Trump. Second, Orb\u00e1n is universally seen as the EU\u2019s outlier\u2014the Union\u2019s most outspoken critic of democracy, supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and opponent of military aid to Ukraine. In wishing for Orb\u00e1n\u2019s success, Rubio was thumbing his nose at the entire spectacle\u2014the very purpose\u2014of the Munich Security Conference. Basically, he was repeating, through his actions, Vance\u2019s aggressively hostile speech last year.<\/p>\n

If Rubio had gone to Munich after Hungary, the gist of his speech would have been grasped without illusion. Even before the speech, he gave what should have been seen as a hint of his real intentions by brushing off a meeting<\/a>, which he\u2019d been scheduled to attend, on the security of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Usually several members of Congress attend the Munich conference, though this time House Speaker Mike Johnson barred the funding of their flights, in anticipation of the impasse that froze the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s budget. Still, a few made their own way, notably Sen. Lindsey Graham\u2014who, at one session, said, \u201cWho gives a shit who owns Greenland? I don\u2019t<\/a>.\u201d (Too bad he couldn\u2019t have summoned the courage to say that a month ago, when Trump threatened war over the question). A few politicians who are assumed to have presidential aspirations also managed to attend: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (who stressed the vital relations between her state and Canada), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (who proclaimed that his state still observed tight laws on greenhouse gases), and the aforementioned AOC.<\/p>\n

AOC was the big curiosity, and the two panels where she spoke\u2014one on populism, the other on U.S. foreign policy\u2014were hot tickets. She had never been to the conference before. She was there to lay out a vision of an alternative, progressive foreign policy\u2014and therein lay the mystery: What is a progressive foreign policy in the era of Trump?<\/p>\n

A decade ago, progressives would have been, and still would be, anti-war, but would they now support NATO and the armament of Ukraine, if just to distinguish themselves from MAGA isolationists? And how would a progressive fit the U.S. into Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s assertion of \u201cmiddle\u201d nations\u2019 power<\/a> in his speech earlier this month at the Davos conference?<\/p>\n

Before this weekend, I had never heard AOC speak at length, without a script, on foreign policy (or many other topics), and, following the panels streamed on YouTube, I found her for the most part impressive. She argued that income inequality fueled the resentment that triggered the rise of right-wing populism. She noted (as did Carney, though less pointedly) that the \u201crules-based order\u201d has always excluded the poor from its benefits and the powerful from its obligations, and mused that, contrary to those who say we\u2019re in a \u201cpost-rules-based order,\u201d we might be in a \u201cpre-rules-based order.\u201d The real question, in any case, was \u201crules for whom.\u201d She advocated a \u201cworking-class-centered\u201d policy, in part for its own sake, in part to \u201cstave off authoritarianism.\u201d She supported firm commitment to allies, especially those that share our values on human rights and democracy, and adherence to treaties, regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans had signed them.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t quite explain what a \u201cworking-class\u201d foreign policy might entail. (President Joe Biden talked about \u201ca foreign policy for the middle class<\/a>,\u201d tying the idea to an industrial policy that let the U.S. compete with China in high tech; it\u2019s unclear whether AOC would go there.) Nor did she address how a commitment to alliances would affect the balance between social spending and defense spending. In that realm, she (already famously) fumbled<\/a>\u00a0a question on whether she\u2019d defend Taiwan from an attack (though, in fairness, the \u201cstrategic ambiguity<\/a>\u201d of U.S. policy on that question is confusing even to seasoned experts\u2014she just hadn\u2019t been briefed on the proper clich\u00e9s to utter).<\/p>\n

She still needs some seasoning in this sphere, but this was her first exposure, and she\u2019s just 36 years old. She could acquire another 30 years of seasoning and still emerge younger than Trump was the first time he ran for president.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Fred Kaplan
\n Pete Hegseth Has Outdone Himself
\n Read More\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

But just as Rubio revealed his true colors on his first stop after Munich, AOC made what could turn out to be her most enduring impression after the conference as well. Rubio stood alongside Europe\u2019s most authoritarian leader, in Budapest. AOC met and spoke with some of its most prominent left-liberal leaders, in Berlin.<\/p>\n

She spoke first to leaders of Germany\u2019s Social Democratic Party\/SPD and then to its Left Party\/Die Linke\u2014both full-house events, mainly about leftish issues, which they had rarely heard about from an American politician, especially one as prominent as AOC.<\/p>\n

But apart from the issues, AOC stressed the importance of sticking together<\/a>. Whatever they might try to accomplish, she said at the first event, the approach \u201chas to be coalitional.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have to grow our ranks \u2026 because if we go separately, we will lose it all. \u2026 Everyone has something to give here, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m proud to meet with Die Linke tomorrow and to be here with SPD today, because we cannot let the right win.<\/p>\n


\n This Content is Available for Slate Plus members only<\/p>\n

AOC Just Debuted on a New International Stage. How Did She Do?
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

This was a stern message to the two groups of German politicians, who have sharp divisions, despite knowing very well that, a century ago, similar divisions between social democrats and socialists abetted the rise of Hitler. Today, SPD and Die Linke together hold 19 and 10 percent of the seats in Germany\u2019s parliament,<\/a> respectively. The far-right-wing party, the AfD, holds 24 percent. (The centrist Christian Democratic Union holds 33 percent, and the Green Party holds 13 percent.) Together, the two left-leaning parties outflank AfD; apart, they can get crushed.<\/p>\n

AOC is pursuing the same theme back in Washington. Back in 2018, when she was first elected as a Bernie Sanders\u2013type democratic socialist, she formed a huddle with a few like-minded House members who called themselves the Squad. Now she is a power- and coalition-builder<\/a>, even helping to raise money for centrist Democrats\u2014who ask her for help, knowing that they need her constituents to push them over the edge, just as AOC knows she needs the moderates to push her agenda.<\/p>\n

The U.S. probably hasn\u2019t shifted quite left enough to elect AOC president in 2028. (It\u2019s questionable whether she could even win upstate New York in a race for the Senate.) But domestic alliances are shifting, just as global alliances are shifting. In weighing the contestants for America\u2019s top leadership positions, it\u2019s worth noting that Trump, Rubio, and Vance endorse Orb\u00e1n and the AdF\u2014while AOC tries to unify the SPD and Die Linke.<\/p>\n

Which of these sides should America be on?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sign up for Slate’s evening newsletter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[51190,23,12,1076,1922,2091,6009,643,3,6843,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-475832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-foreign-policy","13":"tag-international","14":"tag-jd-vance","15":"tag-marco-rubio","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-slate-plus","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}