Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared to struggle with Taiwan defense question

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., sparked backlash on social media Friday after she appeared to battle with a journalist’s query about whether or not america ought to deploy troops to defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese language invasion.

Talking at a city corridor on the Munich Safety Convention on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez was requested: “Would and will the US truly deploy American troops to defend Taiwan if China have been to maneuver?”

“Um, you already know, I feel that is such a, you already know, I feel it is a um – that is in fact a, um, very long-standing, um, coverage of america and I feel what we’re hoping for is that we need to guarantee that we by no means get to that time, and we need to guarantee that we make progress in all of our financial analysis and our international positions to keep away from such a confrontation – and that that query even comes up,” she responded.

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Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., speaks through the Munich Safety Convention (MSC) in Munich, Germany, February 13, 2026. (Liesa Johannssen/Reuters)

The congressman’s meandering response was shortly criticized on

“That is painful,” wrote Dispatch editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg. “I do not assume it is essentially as a result of she does not have a solution in her head. It is that she has no thought easy methods to reply with out making information.”

“With no script and pre-programmed speaking factors, AOC is a lifeboat at sea. Run for president in 2028. You will make Kamala seem like a scholar,” Nationwide Evaluation reporter John Fund joked.

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One other

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, additionally weighed in on the congressman’s response, writing, “That is the chief of the Democratic occasion.”

Conservatives weren’t the one ones to criticize Ocasio-Cortez’s response, with former CNN journalist Chris Cilliza responding: “Not nice!” to the clip.

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Fox Information Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for remark however didn’t instantly hear again.

Whereas her feedback about Taiwan definitely attracted consideration on-line, the congresswoman was additionally known as out for claiming that U.S. assist to Israel enabled a genocide by the Jewish state throughout the identical city corridor occasion.

Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism of Israel’s struggle marketing campaign to defeat the US-EU designated terrorist motion Hamas within the Gaza Strip sparked outrage and intense criticism from army lecturers and Center East consultants.

On the city corridor occasion in Munich, the congressman mentioned, “For me, this isn’t nearly a presidential election. Personally, I feel america has an obligation to implement its personal legal guidelines, particularly the Leahy Legal guidelines. And I personally assume that the thought of ​​utterly unconditional assistNo matter you do, there isn’t any level. I feel it made potential a genocide in Gaza. And I feel there are literally thousands of ladies and youngsters useless who do not do this, that was utterly avoidable.”

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She continued, “And so I imagine that imposing our personal legal guidelines by the Leahy Legal guidelines, which require conditional reduction in all circumstances, is acceptable whenever you see gross violations of human rights.”

The Leahy Legal guidelines prohibit the Division of Protection and the State Division from “funding international safety forces” when there’s credible info that the unit has dedicated a “gross violation of human rights.” Former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., launched the invoice in 1997.

Tom Gross, a world affairs knowledgeable, instructed Fox Information Digital that “AOC flew all the best way to Munich – notorious as the town the place Hitler staged his Nazi Beer Corridor Putsch that marked the start of the Highway to Munich. the Holocaust – to additional smear the Jewish individuals with a false accusation of genocide.”

Gross added: “Such ridiculous accusations of ‘genocide’ are the idea of contemporary anti-Semitic incitement towards Jews within the US and worldwide. This surprising ignorance and insensitivity from Ocasio-Cortez ought to disqualify her from any potential presidential bid or different excessive workplace.”

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Benjamin Weinthal of Fox Information Digital contributed to this report.