Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) hit back at the discourse surrounding her recent visit to Germany, defending the trip abroad was not meant to serve as a launchpad for a possible presidential run.
The congresswoman, who was in Germany as a speaker at the Munich Security Conference, suggested that many were far too focused on her potential ulterior motive for being in Europe rather than actually listening to her warning about authoritarianism.
“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,” AOC told The New York Times Monday. “Global democracies are on fire the world over, and established parties are falling to right-wing populist movements.”
While many dissected the congresswoman’s conference remarks, with several on the right ripping her for her Venezuela is “below the equator” comment, she defended that her trip abroad was not meant for political clout.
“[I went to to Munich] not because I’m running for president, not because I’ve made some kind of decision about a horse race or a candidacy,” she continued, “but because we need to sound the alarm bells that a lot of those folks in nicely pressed suits in that room will not be there much longer if we do not do something about the runaway inequality that is fueling far-right populist movements.”
Additionally, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the right’s attempt to take small snippets of her speech and make them go viral was meant to “distract from the substance” of what she was saying.
“Everyone’s got this story wrong, that this is about me running for president,” AOC emphasized. “I could give — whatever, about that, to be honest … The story is less about the opponents being some hypothetical primary. To me, my opponents are the network that links Orban, Trump, Milei, Bolsonaro, all of these folks.”
AOC’s comments come as Trump ripped into her for the remarks she made in Munich, stating her performance was “not a good look for the United States.”
“And by the way, I watched AOC answering questions in Munich,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One Monday. “This was not a good look for the United States … I watched Gavin [Newsom] answering questions in Munich and this was a bad look for our country. This was bad. These two people are incompetent and at least Hillary [Clinton]’s competent. She’s just Trump deranged. She was so deranged.”
He added: “[AOC] had no idea what was happening. She had no idea how to answer, you know, very important questions concerning the world. But she can’t answer questions concerning New York City, either.” Watch his full response above.
