Last weekend, just as the NBA All-Stars were showcasing their talents in California, some Democrats were displaying astonishing ignorance in Germany. While the hoopers performed acrobatic dunks and hit threes from long range, the Dems were mostly chucking up air balls and bricks.

In one corner was California’s absentee Governor Gavin Newsom, who went overseas to denounce ICE and President Trump while focusing on the now-passé issue of climate change. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton grew visibly angry when she was Czech-mated by a mid-level Eastern European politician, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer looked like a deer in the headlights when asked about Ukraine.

But of course, the undisputed champion of incoherence was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who flailed and stumbled when asked about China and Taiwan.  To call her answer a ‘word salad’ would be an insult to lettuce. She also embarrassed herself by erroneously stating that Venezuela is below the equator and, of course, accused Israel of ‘genocide.’

Some Republicans immediately predicted that AOC destroyed her political future over the course of those 21 seconds, but that’s highly unlikely.  First, she will have plenty of time and many opportunities to recover.   One or two well-crafted foreign policy speeches will do much to refurbish her image.  More importantly, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez can always depend on her allies in the media. After the debacle in Germany, she immediately called her pals at The New York Times, who obediently hailed her as a consummate communicator under this headline:  ‘Ocasio-Cortez Offers a Working-Class Vision in Munich, With Some Stumbles.’  That’s one way of putting it.

Over on CNN, Ana Navarro excused AOC, stating the obvious: ‘She’s not a foreign policy expert.’  Another panelist claimed that Ocasio-Cortez had ‘a ton of amazing answers’ and Abby Phillip, likely the most vapid host on television, contended that Donald Trump has made many gaffes that were far worse. 

On the GOP side, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a rousing speech in which he denounced the ‘climate cult’ and mass immigration.  He defended Western values and accused European leaders of allowing their countries to dramatically decline.  Rubio’s speech garnered high praise from just about everyone, with one notable exception being AOC.  She mocked Secretary Rubio for saying that America’s cowboy culture originated with Spanish colonizers, which turned out to be accurate. 

So right now Ocasio-Cortez, Whitmer, and Newsom look like lightweight politicians whose knowledge of foreign affairs is far south of the equator, but it’s way too early to count anyone out. The Democratic 2028 hopefuls will perhaps crack some books and bone up on history before their next ventures onto the world stage. There will be another Munich Security Conference next year, and it’s entirely possible that the Democrats' 2026 scrubs will be the 2027 All-Stars.