Vice President J.D. Vance couldn’t wait to poke fun at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Speaking at the inaugural Board of Peace event in Washington D.C. on Thursday, Vance used his very first words to lob criticism at the progressive firebrand from the Bronx.
“Thank you Mr. President, not only for your leadership but also for the kind words about me personally,” Vance began. “I knew exactly what I wanted to say but then after the president said I was so smart and that I didn’t want to repeat our congresswoman who froze for 20 seconds over in Munich, now I’m tempted, sir, just to freeze for 20 seconds and just stare at the cameras and maybe they’ll say nice things about me like they did about Congresswoman Cortez.”
Vance paused for effect, but neither laughter nor cheers could be heard in the hall. On X, a viral post by the right-wing account Grimaldus derided Vance as “Jeb Bush 2.0.” The joke bombed because it didn’t make sense. No one—neither the liberal press nor the conservative new media types—said “nice things” about Ocasio-Cortez’s lackluster showing at the Munich Security Conference.
New York Magazine described AOC’s performance in Munich as a “stumble.” The New York Times pointed out the congresswoman incurred a series of “slip ups.” And Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf told the Hill that AOC “showed a complete lack of chops about international issues.” The only major left-wing media figure to defend AOC’s remarks openly was Emma Vigeland, an unrepentant progressive who has praised AOC unceasingly throughout her career.
Nor were conservatives kinder. CNN’s Scott Jennings said AOC’s underwhelming outing proved that “America has just one adult political party right now, and it’s the Republican Party.” Megyn Kelly said AOC “humiliated womankind.” The New York Post called AOC’s performance “gaffe-filled” while Fox News labeled it an “absolute train wreck.” AOC faced even harsher backlash on X where users flooded the site with insults and mockingly urged Democrats to make her their nominee in 2028.
And all of that was before President Donald Trump and Vance began to dig in. Trump, in particular, has spent several days attacking AOC, who he said “made a fool” of herself on the international stage. Speaking with reporters earlier this week, Trump described AOC as “incompetent.” The president, who has suffered similar criticism throughout his polarizing political career, suggested the Munich debacle could be a “career-ending” moment for Ocasio-Cortez.
In his speech at the Board of Peace event on Thursday, Trump continued to pile on Ocasio-Cortez, dismissively stating that although she is a “young, attractive woman,” the congresswoman was “unable to answer questions” and “didn’t do so well” in her first big international moment. Hours later, aboard Air Force One, Trump couldn’t help but take another swipe at AOC, calling her “stupid” and suggesting that her performance in Munich would haunt her political career for years to come.
Watching Trump repeat his rolling critique of AOC, I wondered why he, Vance, and the broader conservative movement seem so driven to undermine her aspirations for higher office beyond mere partisan loyalty. The obvious answer is that AOC has made a career out of punching back against Trump and the ever-shifting brand that is MAGA conservatism, which recently is drifting daily toward a retrograde neoconservatism.
AOC used her appearance in Munich to address what she characterizes as an “age of authoritarianism,” offering an explicit criticism of Trump’s use of the Oval Office to project U.S. power in ways that explicitly shape politics both at home and abroad. She claimed Trump’s leadership approach is intended to permit him to “command the Western Hemisphere and Latin America as his personal sandbox” while allowing Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to “saber rattle around Europe.” And though critics were right to assert that AOC struggled when asked about her position on Taiwan should the Chinese military take action, Ocasio-Cortez did earn applause from The American Conservative’s contributor Eldar Mamedov, who praised AOC for labeling Israeli actions in Gaza “a genocide” that has been enabled by unconditional American aid to Israel.
Furthermore, nothing the congresswoman said in Munich—not her stumble on Taiwan or tacit support for the war effort in Ukraine—was so disastrous as the Trump administration’s current, real-life intentions for Iran are, should a deal fail to materialize. Speaking at his Board of Peace event Thursday morning, Trump proudly announced that he has ordered 22 new stealth bombers, which were key in the attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as part of “Midnight Hammer” in June of last year. So much for winding down the war machine.
For conservatives, perhaps the most concerning part of AOC’s show in Munich wasn’t where she failed but where she threatened to peel off support from Trump’s base. She deftly tied the rise in appeal of right-wing populism to deep economic insecurity in the U.S., a key motivating factor in Trump’s victories in 2016 and 2024. Despite his campaign promises, voters believe Trump has materially failed to deliver economic relief in his second term according to figures reported by a widespread faction of varied pollsters. In an NBC/Marist poll released in early February, only 36 percent of adults say they approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.
Though Trump recently admitted in an interview with NBC that he can’t understand why his polling numbers on the economy are in the tank, everyday Americans continue to express their inability to keep pace with ballooning prices and stagnant wages. When confronted with poor polling numbers or unseemly news items, Trump and his cabinet often pivot to the alleged success of the administration’s tariff policy or the roaring stock market, a sector long criticized for its extreme concentration of wealth. Only 10 percent of Americans own nearly 90 percent of all stocks, while the bottom 50 percent hold just 1 percent.
The widening gap between the stock market profiteers and paycheck-to-paycheck America is a point AOC hammered home at the MSC. “It is of the utmost urgency that we get our economic houses in order and deliver material gains for the working class,” argued AOC. “Extreme levels of income inequality lead to social instability and, in a sense, drive authoritarianism.” If the congresswoman decides to pass over a golden opportunity to unseat Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in an effort to take the White House, the issues of working-class America will be what powers her campaign, much as it did Trump’s.
Hours after Vance’s attempt at humor on Thursday, the congresswoman from New York delivered a pointed response on X, highlighting the silence in the room. “The only thing longer than my pause to think was their silence to his joke,” wrote AOC who included a single skull emoji with her tweet. It was the sort of prodding that AOC has become known for as she ramps up an ongoing verbal war with the presumptive 2028 GOP nominee.
If Munich was AOC’s downfall, it’s likely to be a short-lived one. Amongst the younger generation, who will be potentially as decisive in 2028 as they were for Trump in 2024, the “young, attractive woman” from the Bronx holds a formidable advantage over all competitors, Democrat or Republican. Recent polling of likely Democrat voters found that AOC retains a remarkable 81 percent net favorability among young Democrats. Meanwhile, in a Yale Youth Poll conducted in the fall of 2025, pollsters found Gen Z voters drifting away from Trump and his MAGA movement while AOC surges among the same demographic.
Though no politician can win a major election through the youth vote alone, history shows that young voters often brandish greater influence than they are credited with. Whether it be Trump in 2024, former President Barack Obama in 2008, or the insurgent campaign of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in 2025, young voters move the electoral needle and that needle is undoubtedly pointed in AOC’s direction.
But to suggest that AOC’s electability rests solely on young, excited voters would also misrepresent her potential to tip the national scales in 2028. As evidenced by her well-received performances as the opener for the Vermonter Sen. Bernie Sanders “Fight Oligarchy” tour in early 2025 or her ambitious speech in front of the Democratic National Convention in 2024, when AOC gets on the stage and has prepared remarks in front of her, she speaks with a confidence that is rare among the political class.
The GOP’s obsession with AOC reveals more about its own anxieties than her gaffes in Munich. The right risks repeating 2008-level complacency by mocking her instead of approaching AOC as a serious threat in the coming post-Trump era. If the GOP continues to drift back toward hawkish interventionism and away from addressing economic insecurity, a figure like AOC could potentially exploit the fracture in the base. After all, AOC speaks the same language of economic grievance that has powered Trump’s rise.
Who is afraid of AOC? The very people mocking her the loudest. If MAGA believe populism belongs to them alone, they may discover too late that it never did.
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