Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused Donald Trump of tearing apart the transatlantic alliance with Europe and seeking to introduce an “age of authoritarianism”, as she condemned his administration’s foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference.
Speaking on a panel about populism on Friday, the US congressperson outlined what she called an “alternative vision” for a leftwing US foreign policy, challenging the Trump administration’s shift to the right. She said Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “looking to withdraw the United States from the entire world so that we can turn into an age of authoritarianism”, carving out a world where Trump could command the western hemisphere as his “personal sandbox”.
Ocasio-Cortez also condemned the US capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, and US support for Israel’s war on Gaza. She decried the US-led war in Iraq and the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling for a “working-class-centered politics” to stave off authoritarianism.
She argued that extreme income inequality drives authoritarianism and rightwing populism, and that the failure of democracies to deliver higher wages and rein in corporations has fueled the international tide of authoritarianism. “Hypocrisies are vulnerabilities, and they threaten democracies globally,” she said, referring to US actions such as kidnapping a foreign head of state or threatening allies.
Ocasio-Cortez’s visit comes as a counterweight to Rubio, who is due to address the conference on Saturday, and follows Vice-President JD Vance’s assault on Europe last year. Despite the grave situation, she insisted that the majority of Americans are not ready to walk away from a rules-based order or their commitment to democracy.
