A parade of Democratic presidential hopefuls showed up in Munich, Germany, over the weekend for an international security conference, seeking to burnish their foreign policy credentials while presenting America’s European allies with an alternative to President Donald Trump’s approach to trade and diplomacy.
Conference attendees included New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Govs. Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, Sens. Mark Kelly, Chris Murphy and Elissa Slotkin, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Among those representing the Republican Party were Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Thom Tillis.
“Almost appears as if Munich turned into Iowa,” left-leaning German political strategist Julius van de Laar told The New York Times. He said the gathering often felt like “Munich University,” with attendees “getting sped up on foreign policy.”
Newsom sought to portray California as a bulwark against Trump’s national agenda, especially the dismantling of U.S. efforts to combat climate change. He also signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom to develop clean technology, earning a $1 billion commitment from U.K. firm Octopus Energy for companies in the state.
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The California governor said Saturday that Trump is “doubling down on stupid.”
“Never in the history of the US has there been a more destructive president than the current occupant of the White House in Washington,” Newsom said. “He is trying to recreate the 19th century. He is a wholly owned subsidiary of big oil, gas and coal.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who has a limited foreign policy portfolio in Congress, used her time on panels tying income inequality to the rise of worldwide authoritarianism.
Critics were also quick to jump on her stumbles, including a halting response to a question about whether the U.S. should step in to defend Taiwan against an invasion by mainland China.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez responded, leading many online to point out her hesitation.
Ocasio-Cortez also focused on Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, which she said are “not a joke” and “threatens the very trust and relationships that allows peace to exist.”
“They are looking to withdraw the United States from the entire world so that we can turn into an age of authoritarians that can carve out a world where Donald Trump can command the Western Hemisphere and Latin America as his personal sandbox, where Putin can saber-rattle around Europe,” she said of the Trump administration’s agenda.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy also condemned Trump for engaging “in a consistent campaign to alienate our friends in Europe.”For European allies worried about Trump’s commitment to mutual security guarantees, Rubio’s speech was largely a sigh of relief. The secretary of state stuck to broad strokes and alluded to a strong future alliance between the U.S. and Europe. He also attributed recent tensions to “civilizational erasure” threatening the two countries.
“What we want is a reinvigorated alliance that recognizes that what has ailed our societies is not just a set of bad policies but a malaise of hopelessness and complacency,” Rubio said. “An alliance – the alliance that we want is one that is not paralyzed into inaction by fear – fear of climate change, fear of war, fear of technology. Instead, we want an alliance that boldly races into the future.”
Despite the Trump administration’s assurances that the U.S. is still committed to its trans-Atlantic partnerships, many Democrats in Munich spent their time assuring allies that the U.S. would course correct after Trump’s term ends.
“I hope if there is nothing else I communicate today: Donald Trump is temporary,” Newsom said. “He’ll be gone in three years.”
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