AOC Got Knocked Down. How She Gets Up, Is The 2028 Question.

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On The Huddle on Friday, Sean, Rachael and I discussed AOC going to the annual Munich Security Conference. My eyebrows raised when I read on Wednesday her inclusion. It was exciting, if a political nerd, like me, that also there would be fellow ambitious Democrats, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Mark Kelly, and more. It would be the first time the two Tier 1 candidates, Newsom and AOC, shared the spotlight— oh, by the way, along with Marco Rubio. Who knew the first 2028 candidate forum would be 3,800 miles east of New Hampshire!

I was curious what AOC’s goals were and, most importantly, how prepared her team was to amplify and do battle online and in the media, knowing the right would be watching on the edge of their seat, and rival Democrats would be in the stands taking measure. Part of the AOC brand and mystic is her nimbleness and comfort with media. She gives as good as she gets, is quick on her feet, speaks bluntly, and is fearless. I’ve often said, I would pay to watch her and Rahm Emanuel debate!

On substance, I personally cringed that, at the core of the philosophy laid out, was the need to combat the rise of authoritarianism in response to the struggles of the working class. I know our base loves it and believes to their core Trump is Hitler. But, as I have said for years, I don’t believe the decisive middle views Trump as authoritarian, and consequently hears such language as hyperbolic and thus is a turn off. But, I get digress.

The headline, unfortunately for AOC, was not the unveiling of a macro foreign policy vision, but her freeze at a Q&A session later that evening, in which she was asked about the US defending Taiwan. It’s tough, if a Democrat, to watch, and Christmas-come-early, if a Republican.

Immediately, X lit up with right wing influencers and elected officials comparing AOC’s freeze and fumbling to Kamala Harris’ famous “word salads”. They proclaimed the lady from Queens, NY was out of her league and a national candidate joke. And it wasn’t just Republicans. Friends with two different prospective 2028 rivals texted me the clip, asking if I had seen it, with various unflattering emojis. The wolves were feeding.

Such quick and relentless punches are to be expected from the opposition when you step in it—as AOC clearly did. But, what I instantly became excited about, as a student of politics, was how she would respond? Let’s see her online army in action, let’s see who she’s lined up to defend on camera? What memes would be put out? Trump, from Day one up, has made non-sensical statements all the time. But his counter punch, and that of his online and cable army, is often relentless. They give no quarters—deflecting, redirecting, undercutting and, when necessary, simply lying. So, what did AOC and team do? My jaw dropped: nothing.

On Saturday morning, as they awoke to the tsunami of attacks, AOC’s team announced they were cancelling their schedule, including media engagements. On BlueSky, X, cable, and other platforms where her influencers squat, there was silence. Nobody was defending, redirecting, undercutting, etc. Clearly, no talking points were distributed, no memes made, no game plan whatsoever. As evening fell, the silence was deafening. And as news outlets, like The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, wrote stories for Sunday, they were void of a counter attack—unorganized or not.

AOC’s debut on the world stage was a disaster. Luckily for her, the election is a long way away, and foreign policy is not currently in anyone’s top 10 most important issues, with the one exception, perhaps, the Middle East, for which she is a star for her outspoken criticism of Israel.

The question going forward is what has AOC and her team learned and how will they respond? Demcoratic opponents are slightly less fearful today than on Thursday. Prospective donors, staff, volunteers and elected officials being quietly recruited are no doubt weighing this weekend in the back of their minds. National reporters smell blood. They will look to test/stump her and write with a little more skepticism. AOC needs to flex back.

To my mind, AOC, since winning in 2018, has proven to be an excellent political athlete. When she crossed Nancy Pelosi, she went into the penalty box and sufficiently worked her way out of it over a few years—Pelosi is not her biggest fan, but also no longer her biggest enemy. For the first time, AOC has been knocked down on the big stage. As one of my favorite songs, by Chumbawamba, goes, “ I get knocked down. But I get up again.” Let’s see if, and how, she responds. The 2028 Democratic primary has begun.