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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., sparked social media backlash Friday after appearing to struggle with a journalist’s question about whether the United States should commit troops to defend Taiwan against a potential Chinese invasion.
While speaking during a town hall at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez was asked: “Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?”
“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.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, Feb. 13, 2026. (Liesa Johannssen/Reuters)
The congresswoman’s meandering response was quickly criticized on X, with some users calling it “painful” to watch and questioning how Ocasio-Cortez did not have a prepared answer to such an important and frequently asked question.
“This is painful,” wrote Dispatch editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg. “I don’t think it’s necessarily because she doesn’t have an answer in her head. It’s that she has no idea how to answer without making news.”
“Without a script and preprogrammed talking points AOC is an exposed lifeboat at sea. Please run for president in 2028. You’ll make Kamala look like a savant,” quipped National Review reporter John Fund.
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Another X user also made reference to former Vice President Kamala Harris with Ocasio-Cortez’s “Harris-esque word salad,” adding that it comes as “no surprise to anyone who has paid attention.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, weighed in on the congresswoman’s response as well, writing: “This is the leader of the Democrat party.”
Conservatives weren’t the only ones critical of Ocasio-Cortez’s answer, with former CNN journalist Chris Cilliza responding, “Not great!” to the clip.
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Digital has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
While her comments on Taiwan certainly turned heads online, the congresswoman was also called out for alleging that U.S. aid to Israel enabled a genocide by the Jewish state during the same town hall event.
Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism of Israel’s war campaign to defeat the U.S. and EU-designated terrorist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip sparked outrage and intense criticism from academic military and Middle East experts.
During the town hall event in Munich, the congresswoman said, “To me, this isn’t just about a presidential election. Personally, I think that the United States has an obligation to uphold its own laws, particularly the Leahy laws. And I think that personally, that the idea of completely unconditional aid, no matter what one does, does not make sense. I think it enabled a genocide in Gaza. And I think that we have thousands of women and children dead that don’t, that was completely avoidable.”
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She continued, “And, so I believe that enforcement of our own laws through the Leahy laws, which requires conditioning aid in any circumstance, when you see gross human rights violations, is appropriate.”
The Leahy Laws prohibit the Department of Defense and the State Department from funding “foreign security force units when there is credible information that the unit has committed a ‘gross violation of human rights.” Former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., introduced the bill in 1997.
Tom Gross, an expert on international affairs, told digital that “AOC has flown all the way to Munich — infamous as the city in which Hitler staged his Nazi Beer Hall Putsch that marked the beginning of the road to the Holocaust — in order to smear the Jewish people further with a phony genocide allegation.”
Gross added, “Such preposterous allegations of ‘genocide’ form the bedrock of modern antisemitic incitement against Jews in the U.S. and globally. This shocking ignorance and insensitivity by Ocasio-Cortez should rule her out of any potential presidential bid or other high office.”
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Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.
