Ben Rhodes

So we had Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, obviously,

We had Governors Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, who is now dipping his toe in the water, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Melissa Slotkin of Michigan, and former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

I will say that all the buzz in Munich was about AOC because she had not been on the world stage this way.

She spoke about what you mentioned, which is the danger of authoritarianism.

She also had some missteps.

I want to play a clip that has kind of both the strength and the thing that people are picking on her about from AOC.

So let's hear that clip.

So, look, we're not picking here on AOC, but I want to say, first of all, that, you know, the Europeans are pretty, you know, when they talk to me, disappointed, and Democrats, where are you guys, what's the plan?

In a way, we're like the Europeans, and I'm the Democrat here, you're the journalist, but, like, we haven't figured out a way to stand up to Trump either.

I will say there was a lot of excitement about AOC.

She's just as popular with young Europeans as she is with young Americans.

And I, just from my perspective...

You know, I thought her presentation on authoritarianism was really strong.

Yeah, she flubbed the Taiwan question.

But look, the benefit for her is to just get some reps, right?

She's out there.

She's not been in a conference like this.

You're not going to nail every answer.

She does need to bone up on Taiwan.

But like, I'm glad she was there.