{"id":2572399,"date":"2026-02-22T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-democrat-strategist-says-aoc-not-ready-for-primetime-after-her-world-stage-fumble\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T12:09:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:09:38","slug":"ex-democrat-strategist-says-aoc-not-ready-for-primetime-after-her-world-stage-fumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-democrat-strategist-says-aoc-not-ready-for-primetime-after-her-world-stage-fumble\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Democrat Strategist Says AOC &#8216;Not Ready&#8217; For Primetime After Her World Stage &#8216;Fumble&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fex-democrat-strategist-says-aoc-not-ready-for-primetime-after-her-world-stage-fumble%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2572399&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An article reports that former democratic strategist Dan turrentine criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a 40-second rambling answer at the Munich Security Conference about whether the U.S. should defend Taiwan, saying the performance showed she is unprepared for a presidential run.He described her as freezing on stage and off, with little online defense for her, and noted that her team canceled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/well-known-colorado-animal-rights-lawyer-arrested-after-allegedly-hiring-hitman-to-murder-husbands-girlfriend\/\" title=\"Well-Known Colorado Animal Rights Lawyer Arrested After Allegedly Hiring Hitman To Murder Husband\u2019s Girlfriend\">media appearances<\/a> afterward. The piece mentions that she did not rule out a 2028 bid and framed her responses around avoiding confrontation with China and continuing economic and global policy work.It also recalls her 2018 admission that she is not an expert in geopolitics. The article includes a Daily Caller News Foundation Disclaimer about republication and mentions embedded ads and scripts within the content.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Former Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine said on Monday that Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez&rsquo;s rambling response at the Munich Security Conference showed she was unprepared to pursue the presidency.<\/p>\n<p>Ocasio-Cortez&rsquo;s 40-second rambling answer occurred on Friday when Bloomberg Television&rsquo;s Francine Lacqua asked her if the U.S. should send troops to protect Taiwan if China invaded the contested Asian island.<\/p>\n<p>Turrentine, on &ldquo;The Huddle,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MpV6JMNAoKA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a> on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@TheDCHuddle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">show<\/a> that not even leftists defended Ocasio-Cortez after the answer and that she retreated in the aftermath rather than bouncing back.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;[W]hat it was a reminder of is you&rsquo;re now on the big stage. This is not a union hall in Queens &hellip; Her team hyped her appearance. She froze like a deer in headlights &hellip; I saw all the [former Vice President] Kamala Harris references online &hellip; I don&rsquo;t think this is going to end her career,&rdquo; Turrentine said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But what I found fascinating was how she and her team reacted. She canceled media appearances on Saturday. There was nobody online defending her.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Even on the left, if you went to Bluesky, there were not kind of &mdash; like if [President Donald] Trump does something like this &hellip; if you even so much as mock him, comes back at you with a baseball bat,&rdquo; he added.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She had no defenders. She froze not just on the stage, but she froze off the stage and basically slinked back to the United States. And to me, that was a sign that she is not ready for this.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Ocasio-Cortez&rsquo;s team limited her public and media appearances during the conference following her Taiwan answer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/02\/16\/politics\/democrat-munich-conference-attendees-speech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according<\/a> to CNN.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You know, I think that &mdash; uh &mdash; this is such a &mdash; you know, I think that this is a &mdash; this is, of course a &mdash; uh &mdash; a very long standing policy of the United States,&rdquo; Ocasio-Cortez said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And, I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise,&rdquo; she added.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Ocasio-Cortez did not rule out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/big-sky-hypocrisy-newsom-vacations-in-state-he-put-on-no-travel-list\/\" title=\"Big Sky Hypocrisy: Newsom Vacations in State He Put on No-Travel List\">potential presidential bid<\/a> in 2028 when The New York Times&rsquo; Katrin Bennhold asked her a question framed with &ldquo;when you run for president.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So when you run for president, are you going to impose a wealth tax or a billionaire&rsquo;s tax?&rdquo; Bennhold asked.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that we have to wait for any one president to impose a wealth tax,&rdquo; the congresswoman replied.<\/p>\n<p>During her first run for Congress in 2018, Ocasio-Cortez <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4TJK1a8OHyw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-mrf-link=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4TJK1a8OHyw\">admitted<\/a>, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not the expert in geopolitics,&rdquo; when pressed by a reporter to clarify what she meant by a reference to the Israeli &ldquo;occupation&rdquo; of Palestine.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine argued on Monday that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s 40\u2011second, rambling answer at the Munich Security Conference showed she isn\u2019t ready to pursue the presidency. The moment came after Bloomberg\u2019s Francine Lacqua asked whether the U.S. would send troops to defend Taiwan if China attacked. Turrentine said the left didn\u2019t defend her online, and she stepped back rather than rebound, noting that she appeared unprepared for the national stage, with her team having promoted her appearance. He added that she seemed unsettled and that the episode sparked online chatter about Kamala Harris, but he didn&#8217;t think it would end her career. He also pointed out that she canceled media appearances on the following Saturday and had little online support.<\/p>\n<p>CNN reported that Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s team limited her public and media appearances during the conference after the Taiwan question, as she tried to steer the conversation back to U.S. policy. She suggested the issue reflects a long\u2011standing U.S. position and emphasized a desire to avoid a confrontation, while aiming to advance economic research and global stances to prevent such scenarios from arising. The congresswoman also left open the possibility of a presidential bid in 2028 when The New York Times asked about it, and she replied to a question about wealth taxes by saying they don\u2019t need to wait for a single president to implement one.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2018 interview during her first congressional campaign, she acknowledged she wasn\u2019t an expert in geopolitics when pressed on references to the Israeli occupation of Palestine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2572400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Michael-Featured-Image-725.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[8334,10968,73071,16600],"class_list":["post-2572399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-aoc","tag-ex-democrat","tag-media-analysis-2","tag-primetime"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Michael-Featured-Image-725.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572403,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572399\/revisions\/2572403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2572400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}