Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week released a video encouraging illegal immigrants to enroll in the city&#8217;s free childcare programs.
“Any New York City parent, regardless of your occupation, income, or immigration status, is eligible to sign their child up,” Ocasio-Cortez said in the video, which was entirely in Spanish. Mamdani briefly addressed viewers, saying his Spanish was rusty before deferring to the New York congresswoman.
Children turning three or four in 2026 are eligible to enroll for Pre-K or 3-K, &#8220;free, full-day, high-quality education to three-year-old children.&#8221; Parents are generally required to provide proof of the child’s age and verification of New York City residency. However, the residency requirement can be waived if a parent indicates the child is living in temporary housing.
“Students in temporary housing, as defined by McKinney-Vento, are not required to submit documentation (including address, proof of date of birth, and immunization) in order to enroll,” the form states. 
My Spanish is… not very good,&#8221; Mamdani wrote on X, in a post also in Spanish. &#8220;But the fight for universal childcare? That’s very good.&#8221;
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Mi español es… no muy bueno. Pero la lucha para cuidado infantil universal? Eso es muy bueno.
Asi que traje una amiga para ayudarme a compartirles porque registrarse para el kinder-3 y prekinder esta semana importa. Vamos a registrarlos.
Visite <a href="https://t.co/Ghy11RZNkq">https://t.co/Ghy11RZNkq</a> para… <a href="https://t.co/8GkRRPJeDX">pic.twitter.com/8GkRRPJeDX</a>
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/2026322403840639448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez are both at the forefront of the Democratic Party&#8217;s defense of illegal immigration. The congresswoman has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/border-czar-tom-homan-has-had-enough-of-aoc-after-she-threatens-trump-admin-officials?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Border+Czar+Tom+Homan+Has+Had+Enough+Of+AOC+After+She+Threatens+Trump+Admin+Officials">publicly clashed</a> with border czar Tom Homan over the Trump administration&#8217;s detention and deportation of illegal aliens. Mamdani&#8217;s immigration chief is a radical leftist activist who has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Parents can apply online through the city&#8217;s &#8220;MySchools&#8221; portal, by phone with interpretation services available in more than 200 languages, or in person at Family Welcome Centers.
The free Pre-K program is indicative of Mamdani&#8217;s young administration. The avowed socialist ran for office promising to make a number of things free — notably city buses and city-run grocery stores — pledges that appealed to young New Yorkers but have made Mamdani the bete noir of conservatives across the country.
Mamdani has thus far struggled to find funding for the free programs he&#8217;s promised. Mamdani’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year projects that total city spending is going to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-127b-budget-plan-relies-on-property-tax-increases-and-raiding-rainy-day-fund?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Mamdani%E2%80%99s+%24127B+Budget+Plan+Relies+On+Property+Tax+Increases+And+%E2%80%98Raiding%E2%80%99+Rainy+Day+Fund">jump to $127 billion</a>, resulting in a large deficit. The mayor has faced backlash for proposing raising property taxes by 9.5% to pay for the budget jump. 
To avoid raising property taxes, Mamdani has an open request to Governor Kathy Hochul to raise taxes by 2% on those who make over one million dollars a year, but Hochul has pledged not to raise taxes in 2026. She did, however, promise Mamdani $1.5 billion dollars over the next two years to help fund his budget, with some of the funding going towards early childhood programs.
But even a successful launch of the universal childcare program may not save Mamdani from criticism. Since taking office in January, the mayor has come under fire for failing to deliver on his agenda, and for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdani-abandons-key-leftist-policy-as-homeless-new-yorkers-freeze-to-death?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Mamdani+Abandons+Key+Leftist+Policy+As+Homeless+New+Yorkers+Freeze+To+Death">resuming</a> homeless encampment sweeps, which the leftist had eliminated shortly after taking office.

New York Is Not For Sale Rally In NYC

Mamdani, AOC Encourage Illegal Immigrants To Enroll In NYC’s Free Childcare Program

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

childcare

Illegal Immigration

New York City

Zohran Mamdani

The hosts of ABC&#8217;s &#8220;The View&#8221; elevated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to &#8220;MENSA&#8221; status during Wednesday&#8217;s broadcast, drawing a bizarre comparison between the Democratic socialist darling and President Donald Trump.
Led by Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, the ABC midday talk show&#8217;s hosts argued that Trump&#8217;s occasional verbal gaffes — including one recent instance in which he mentioned Iceland in place of Greenland — stand as incontrovertible evidence that Ocasio-Cortez is a certifiable genius by comparison.
WATCH:
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After playing soundbites of Trump mispronouncing words, Joy Behar tries to claim AOC&#8217;s rambling answer on Taiwan was &#8220;Mensa&#8221; material. 
Savannah Chrisley immediately counters: &#8220;Mispronouncing a word is totally different than not knowing your position on Taiwan.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/702X6SOJNY">pic.twitter.com/702X6SOJNY</a>
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/2024155209220464949?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The hyperbolic comparison came after the Bronx congresswoman made several statements over the weekend that spotlighted her ignorance of both world history and current U.S. foreign policy. The first was a statement she made criticizing Secretary of State Marco Rubio for claiming that horses and the idea of American &#8220;cowboys&#8221; were originally brought to the United States by Spanish explorers and conquistadors. Of course, Rubio was correct. And the second was a rambling, incoherent response to a question about whether or not American troops should defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
Goldberg responded to the brouhaha regarding Ocasio-Cortez by playing a brief clip of Trump clearly saying &#8220;Iceland&#8221; when he meant to say &#8220;Greenland.&#8221;
&#8220;So, clearly &#8230;&#8221; she said, letting her voice trail off.
&#8220;My mother used to say, &#8216;Don&#8217;t spit up in the air, it comes back in your face,'&#8221; Behar added. &#8220;Okay? Check him out before you start attacking AOC, who, by the way, it sounded a little &#8216;homina, homina, homina,&#8217; but you know, compared to him it&#8217;s like MENSA.&#8221;
Guest Savannah Chrisley stepped in to defend the president, saying that his &#8220;mispronouncing a word&#8221; was a far cry from having no idea what a policy was or how to articulate it.
&#8220;[It&#8217;s] totally different than not knowing your position on Taiwan,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And what&#8217;s important is how you recover from something.&#8221;
Trump followed his gaffe by meeting with world leaders and discussing global affairs and American interests, while Ocasio-Cortez went to The New York Times to complain that conservatives were sharing unflattering clips of her saying exactly what she&#8217;d said.
&#8220;The recovery is what mattered, and AOC just didn&#8217;t have a recovery,&#8221; Chrisley said.
&#8220;But he does it over and over again,&#8221; Behar complained. &#8220;How about the quantity of times?&#8221;
Goldberg then interrupted to point out that Trump is the current president, which obviously made his verbal gaffes a bigger deal than AOC&#8217;s, but made no effort to explain why she&#8217;d been silent while former President Joe Biden — while in office — was often unable to complete a sentence without mumbling something unintelligible or saying something staffers would have to clean up later.
&#8220;My point is, I can take &#8216;homina, homina&#8217; from congresspeople and stuff, you don&#8217;t have your stuff together, that&#8217;s on you,&#8221; Goldberg declared. &#8220;Can&#8217;t take it from the guy who says he&#8217;s the leader of the free world.&#8221;

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, SARA HAINES, JOY BEHAR, SUNNY HOSTIN, ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN

‘The View’ Elevates AOC To ‘MENSA’ Status In Bizarre Trump Comparison

‘The View’ Elevates AOC To 'MENSA' Status In Bizarre Trump Comparison

Donald Trump

Media

Politics

The View

Vice President JD Vance roasted Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday after she was stumped by a question on Taiwan at the Munich Security Conference.
“You bring me on your show, you show me the most uncomfortable 20 seconds of television I&#8217;ve ever seen,” Vance told Fox News host Martha MacCallum after watching the cringeworthy clip.
Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-mocked-for-global-stage-disaster-then-phones-a-friend">fumbled</a> the question and made other gaffes throughout her tour of the conference, meant to display her foreign policy chops as a young Democratic socialist who is in position to take up the standard of 84-year-old Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Vance said that Ocasio-Cortez’s display shows that she, as a politician, relies too much on scripted answers.
“I think it&#8217;s a person who doesn&#8217;t know what she actually thinks, and I&#8217;ve seen this way too much in Washington with politicians where they&#8217;re given lines, and when you ask them to go outside the lines they were given, they completely fall apart,” the vice president said.
“Look, that was embarrassing,” said Vance. “If I had given that answer, I would say, ‘You know what, maybe I ought to go read a book about China and Taiwan before I go out on the world stage again.’ I hope that Congresswoman Cortez has the same humility. I&#8217;m skeptical.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a> just COOKED <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AOC</a> for her answers in Munich:
“I think it’s a person who doesn’t know what she actually thinks &#8230; if I had given that answer, I would say, ‘You know what, maybe I oughta go read a book about China and Taiwan before I go out on the world stage again.’” <a href="https://t.co/UfUcjfZSei">pic.twitter.com/UfUcjfZSei</a>
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/2023863411801727153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
As Ocasio-Cortez flashed her smile around Munich last week, she was asked about the United States&#8217; relationship with Taiwan and whether Washington should come to the island nation’s aid if it is attacked by China. For about 20 seconds, Ocasio-Cortez grasped about for a coherent thought before stumbling on an answer that appeared to rehash the United States’ longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity about a potential conflict between Beijing and Taipei.
While Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s flub of the question over Taiwan was perhaps the most embarrassing of her Munich tour, it was not a one-off. The New York Democrat also mistakenly claimed that Venezuela is south of the equator. Ocasio-Cortez also attempted to mock Secretary of State Marco Rubio for pointing out that the American cowboy and much of the culture that surrounds him has its roots in Spain.
“Rubio’s speech was a pure appeal to Western culture. My favorite part was when he said that American cowboys came from Spain. I believe the Mexicans and descendants of African slave peoples would like to have a word on that,” Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-tries-to-dunk-on-rubio-over-cowboys-from-spain-history-dunks-back">said</a>, mistakenly attempting to correct Rubio. Even the word cowboy is a literal translation of the Spanish word “vaquero.”

JD Vance

Vance Mocks AOC’s Taiwan Flub At Munich: ‘Most Uncomfortable 20 Seconds Of Television’

General

Munich

Longtime Democratic strategist Dan Turrentine laid into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday, saying that she was undermining her own reputation in her efforts to pivot away from gaffes at the weekend&#8217;s Munich Security Conference.
Turrentine explained on &#8220;The Huddle&#8221; that Ocasio-Cortez had built an image of herself as social-media-savvy and adept at taking her message directly to the people, so it did not look good when she turned to The New York Times for a bailout.
WATCH:
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🚨NEW: <a href="https://twitter.com/danturrentine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@danturrentine</a> on AOC whining to NYT over scrutiny of her overseas gaffes🤣
&#8220;It’s now getting to the point where the cover-up is worse than the initial crime. It&#8217;s PATHETIC &amp; EMBARRASSING! This now has more &amp; more people LAUGHING AT HER within the party.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DailyCaller</a> <a href="https://t.co/TqqRu9IXZr">pic.twitter.com/TqqRu9IXZr</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/2023798540179587149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;It was a horrible idea. It’s now getting to the point where the kind of cover-up is worse than the initial crime,&#8221; Turrentine said. &#8220;Start with who she — she called the New York Times, right? We talked about how her brand is social media savvy. She’s young, she constantly is online, kind of giving and taking, and just in the game.&#8221;
&#8220;And next to [California Democratic Governor] Gavin Newsom, it’s who people said gets this modern world better than anyone else,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;To argue that basically it’s unfair that people are taking clips and sending them around in short snippets — duh! It&#8217;s pathetic and embarrassing for her to make this kind of whining argument that — when your calling card is that you&#8217;re kind of the party queen of social media.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t understand what she was doing,&#8221; he added.
Ocasio-Cortez delivered a full weekend&#8217;s worth of gifts to her conservative critics, from a nearly incoherent response to a question about whether American troops should ever defend Taiwan to her objectively false claim that Venezuela was below the equator. She also raised eyebrows when she attempted to engage Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a battle of historical trivia — a battle in which she was unsuccessful.
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AOC mocks Marco Rubio for saying cowboys can be traced back to Spain.
Fun immutable fact: cowboys can be traced back to Spain. <a href="https://t.co/WvQXGVI2mr">pic.twitter.com/WvQXGVI2mr</a>
— Brittany Hughes (@RealBrittHughes) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealBrittHughes/status/2023199816910516344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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But Rubio was, in fact, correct in his assertions. &#8220;American&#8221; cowboys were modeled after the vaqueros — horse-mounted livestock herders from Spain&#8217;s Iberian peninsula — after Christopher Columbus brought Iberian horses to the New World in 1493. Spanish explorers and conquistadors also brought horses with them; some were traded to Native Americans, and others escaped and ran free. By 1525, horses were being bred in Mexico — but they were not, as Ocasio-Cortez suggested, native to the Americas.
When clips of her missteps began making the rounds on social media, she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-mocked-for-global-stage-disaster-then-phones-a-friend">responded</a> by running to The New York Times for help.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

‘Pathetic And Embarrassing’: Dem Strategist Trashes AOC’s Attempt To Clean Up After Munich Gaffes

'Pathetic And Embarrassing': Dem Strategist Trashes AOC's Attempt To Clean Up After Munich Gaffes

Congress

New York Times

Social Media

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not consider the Munich Security Conference a springboard into the 2028 presidential election. At least, that&#8217;s what she told The New York Times after she was roundly criticized for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-spits-out-word-salad-when-asked-about-china-refuses-to-say-if-u-s-should-defend-taiwan?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=AOC+Spits+Out+Word+Salad+When+Asked+About+China%2C+Refuses+To+Say+If+U.S.+Should+Defend+Taiwan">failing to answer</a> a basic question on U.S. foreign policy at the conference last week.
The Munich Security Conference is considered one of the most important stages for lawmakers, diplomats, and world leaders to set themselves apart as important voices on foreign policy and the direction of global politics. For Ocasio-Cortez, the event came as speculation swirls around 2028 Democratic presidential candidates, with the New York leftist often floated as a top contender. After multiple missteps at the conference, Ocasio-Cortez picked up the phone and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/us/politics/aoc-germany-munich-security-conference.html">spoke</a> to her hometown paper, telling the legacy media outlet that the link between her supposed presidential aspirations and the conference is far-fetched.
&#8220;Everyone’s got this story wrong, that this is about me running for president,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez said. &#8220;I could give — whatever, about that, to be honest.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s appearance in Munich was marked by an awkward response to a question on China and Taiwan and an indecipherable comment on the &#8220;rise of populism.&#8221; During one panel discussion, the congresswoman was joined by Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, and Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who is also considered a 2028 presidential hopeful. When asked whether the United States should send troops to Taiwan if China advances on the island, Ocasio-Cortez struggled to speak for around 20 seconds before her attempt to answer the question.
When she finally spit out an answer, she said only that the United States should &#8220;avoid any such confrontation,&#8221; and did not answer whether U.S. troops should be deployed if China attempted to invade Taiwan. Ocasio-Cortez was blasted over her response, including by President Donald Trump.
&#8220;I watched AOC answering questions in Munich. This was not a good look for the United States,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2023579424491253844">told</a> reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday night.
&#8220;She had no idea what was happening,&#8221; he added. &#8220;She had no idea how to answer, you know, very important questions concerning the world.&#8221;
Whitaker, Trump&#8217;s NATO ambassador who was sitting next to Ocasio-Cortez during the panel discussion, <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2023753952874164640">told</a> Fox &amp; Friends on Tuesday morning that he was surprised that Ocasio-Cortez and Whitmer &#8220;didn&#8217;t have better answers, or at least, better preparation.&#8221;
&#8220;I think it&#8217;s really quite obvious that the Left really does not have an answer for President Trump&#8217;s very clear articulation and success on the international stage, and they&#8217;re struggling to do that,&#8221; Whitaker added. &#8220;But on the China and Taiwan issue, that issue is so obvious what the answer is; it&#8217;s to make sure China doesn&#8217;t make a move on Taiwan, that Taiwan is strong and can defend itself, and that the region is stable and prosperous and that American interests are protected.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez told the Times that it is &#8220;out of touch&#8221; to consider the Munich Security Conference as an important gauge for the 2028 presidential election, adding that she was really there to send a warning about &#8220;right-wing populist movements&#8221; throughout the world. The lawmaker told the Times that a reporter asked her whether Munich is &#8220;the new New Hampshire,&#8221; referring to the important early primary election.
&#8220;I cannot say enough how out of touch and missing the point, genuinely, that is,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Global democracies are on fire the world over, and established parties are falling to right-wing populist movements.”
She added that she went to Munich &#8220;not because I’m running for president, not because I’ve made some kind of decision about a horse race or a candidacy, but because we need to sound the alarm bells that a lot of those folks in nicely pressed suits in that room will not be there much longer if we do not do something about the runaway inequality that is fueling far-right populist movements.&#8221;
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro told Fox News host Dana Perino on Tuesday, &#8220;It&#8217;s not our fault for noticing she&#8217;s horrible.&#8221;
&#8220;My favorite conceit here is that she goes abroad and says a bunch of incredibly stupid things. &#8230; I&#8217;m sorry, but if you give an answer reminiscent of that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww">famous clip</a> of Miss South Carolina attempting to answer a question about the Iraq War from 15 years ago, and you&#8217;re on an international stage, that is your fault,&#8221; Shapiro added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry, but if you give an answer reminiscent of that famous clip of Miss South Carolina attempting to answer a question about the Iraq War&#8230; that&#8217;s your fault.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> joins <a href="https://twitter.com/DanaPerino?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DanaPerino</a> to slam AOC&#8217;s geopolitical incompetence at the Munich Security Conference 😂 <a href="https://t.co/w3EIJUdf0Z">pic.twitter.com/w3EIJUdf0Z</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2023792851201699861?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Some of the congresswoman&#8217;s other gaffes during the conference included saying that Venezuela is below the equator (the entire country is north of the equator) and mocking Secretary of State Marco Rubio for saying in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-declares-new-western-century-in-world-speech-says-america-wont-oversee-managed-decline">his speech</a> at the Munich Security Conference that the American cowboy was born in Spain.
&#8220;My favorite part was when he said that American cowboys came from Spain,” Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/aoc-mocked-absolute-train-wreck-weekend-global-stage-made-fool-out-of-herself">said</a>. “And I believe the Mexicans and descendants of African enslaved peoples would like to have a word on that.”
Spain is largely responsible for introducing horses to North America in the 1500s, and historians credit the Spanish vaqueros with influencing American cowboy culture, as Rubio mentioned during his widely praised speech.
During another panel discussion at the conference that focused on &#8220;the rise of populism,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez offered another head-scratching answer. While addressing President Trump’s shift on foreign policy and how the rest of the world has responded, Ocasio-Cortez said, “I think what we are seeking is a return to a rules-based order that eliminates the hypocrisies around when too often in the West, we look the other way for inconvenient populations to act out these paradoxes, whether it is kidnapping a foreign head of state, whether it is threatening our allies to colonize Greenland, whether it is looking the other way in a genocide. Hypocrisies are vulnerabilities, and they threaten democracies globally.”
Ocasio-Cortez told the Times that the criticism of her answers in Munich that have gone viral on social media &#8220;distract from the substance of what I am saying.&#8221; In its article breaking down Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s Munich appearance, the Times wrote that there were &#8220;mostly positive&#8221; responses to Ocasio-Cortez &#8220;on the ground in Germany.&#8221;
Warsaw&#8217;s mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, was quoted in the Times article and praised Ocasio-Cortez for speaking out about &#8220;right-wing populism.&#8221;
“It’s of course refreshing to see some American politicians who talk openly about all of those challenges that we face,” said  Trzaskowski. “It’s good to hear progressive voices which are courageous enough to call a spade a spade.”

AOC Mocked For Global Stage Disaster — Then Phones A Friend

2028 presidential election

Democratic Party

The New York Times

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, mocked Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a passage in his historic speech at the same event a day earlier, which elicited a <a href="https://x.com/JCAndersonNYC/status/2022768689561448678">standing ovation</a>.
“Our expansion into the interior followed the footsteps of French fur traders and explorers whose names, by the way, still adorn the street signs and towns’ names all across the Mississippi Valley,” Rubio noted before the appreciative crowd.  “Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos – the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West – these were born in Spain. And our largest and most iconic city was named New Amsterdam before it was named New York.”
At a TU Berlin event with German Bundestag member Isabel Cademartori, AOC taunted, “Rubio’s speech was a pure appeal to Western culture. My favorite part was when he said that American cowboys came from Spain. I believe the Mexicans and descendants of African slave peoples would like to have a word on that.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
AOC tries to take a swing at Sec. Rubios address in Munich:
“You are starting to see the ascent of the Right, even in places like Munich. Marco Rubio’s speech was a pure appeal to Western culture.“ <a href="https://t.co/Ksh5HpH5FL">pic.twitter.com/Ksh5HpH5FL</a>
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/2023134644674138196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Of course, what Rubio actually said was “the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West – these were born in Spain.”
Absolutely true.
The word &#8220;cowboy&#8221; itself is a direct translation of the Spanish word vaquero (from vaca, meaning cow). The tradition began in the medieval hacienda system of Spain and was brought to the Americas by conquistadors like Hernán Cortés and Gregorio de Villalobos in the early 1500s. These Spaniards introduced the first horses and cattle to the Western Hemisphere.
The &#8220;look&#8221; and equipment of the cowboy is almost entirely Spanish in origin: The lariat comes from la reata; chaps is a shortened form of the Spanish chaparreras, which were leather leggings used to protect riders from brush; the western saddle came from Spanish war and ranching saddles, and even the Stetson hat comes from the Spanish sombrero.
The rodeo dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries, when Spanish hacendados held annual rodeos to gather, count, and brand cattle. Spain introduced the ranching association and the system of branding cattle for ownership.

US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Berlin

AOC Tries To Dunk On Rubio Over ‘Cowboys From Spain.’ History Dunks Back.

Marco Rubio

Spain

Leftist New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez struggled to answer when asked how the United States should respond to China&#8217;s threat to take over Taiwan.
Ocasio-Cortez was part of a panel at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, alongside Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker. The panel focused on discussing U.S. foreign policy, but when the moderator asked Ocasio-Cortez if the United States should &#8220;commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan, if China were to move,&#8221; the far-Left Democrat struggled to come up with an answer.
&#8220;I think that, uh, this is such a — you know, I think that this is a, umm — this is, of course, a uh, a very longstanding, umm, policy of the United States,&#8221; she began. &#8220;Uh, and I think that what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure we never get to that point, and we want to make sure 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.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
AOC is asked if the US should defend Taiwan in the event China invades. Her answer is a word salad disaster that would even make Kamala cringe: <a href="https://t.co/jgfMWiSfmE">pic.twitter.com/jgfMWiSfmE</a>
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/2022477481576440253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Wire reached out to Ocasio-Cortez&#8217;s office, asking for clarification on her response.
Earlier during the panel discussion, Ocasio-Cortez said the wedge between the United States and China is more about &#8220;competition&#8221; than &#8220;conflict.&#8221;
&#8220;I think China is, of course, an ascending global power, growing very quickly, acting in its own self interests,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And oftentimes in Washington, there&#8217;s this frame between conflict and competition. I think sometimes depending on what&#8217;s happening, that rhetoric can get a little conflict-driven, and I think that it&#8217;s really a question of competition.&#8221;
In another panel on &#8220;the rise of populism&#8221; on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez <a href="https://youtu.be/rbmPHFIFC_U?si=I6QoD5oaxBNn8r8H&amp;t=2062">attempted</a> to describe President Trump&#8217;s shift to a new strategy on foreign policy and how the rest of the world has responded. Her remark, however, left people wondering what she meant.
&#8220;I think what we are seeking is a return to a rules-based order that eliminates the hypocrisies around when too often in the West, we look the other way for inconvenient populations to act out these paradoxes, whether it is kidnapping a foreign head of state, whether it is threatening our allies to colonize Greenland, whether it is looking the other way in a genocide. Hypocrisies are vulnerabilities, and they threaten democracies globally.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez was mocked over her answers on foreign policy and &#8220;the rise of populism,&#8221; with some commentators making comparisons to former Vice President Kamala Harris, who regularly made head-scratching remarks on the campaign trail and in interviews.
Both Ocasio-Cortez and Whitmer are viewed as potential Democratic presidential candidates who could compete for the nomination in 2028, but neither the governor nor the congresswoman seemed prepared to answer questions on important foreign policy topics during the Munich Security Conference panel.
In one <a href="https://x.com/Th_Midwesterner/status/2022681978911309884">exchange</a>, Whitmer was asked what she viewed as the solution to the war between Ukraine and Russia, but she tried to redirect the question to Ambassador Whitaker.
&#8220;No, please, I&#8217;d love to hear your answer,&#8221; Whitaker said after Whitmer asked him to take the question.
&#8220;The two that I am on the panel with are much more steeped in foreign policy than a governor is,&#8221; Whitmer said. &#8220;I do think that Ukraine&#8217;s independence, keeping their land mass and having the support of all the allies, I think is the goal from my vantage point. Go ahead, ambassador, do a better job.&#8221;

AOC Spits Out Word Salad When Asked About China, Refuses To Say If U.S. Should Defend Taiwan

China

Foreign Policy

Global Politics

Gretchen Whitmer

Taiwan

Far-Left New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Queens Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D) are finally calling out blatant antisemitism in the city, after much political pressure.
On Thursday night, protesters gathered outside a Queens synagogue and shouted their support for the terrorist group Hamas, chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here.”
The protests sparked the early closure of several Jewish institutions &#8212; including schools, daycares, and synagogues &#8212; due to safety concerns.
As video of the demonstration racked up millions of views online, there was swift political condemnation in New York City, which put a spotlight on the new mayor&#8217;s silence. According to Politico, Mamdani didn&#8217;t address the chants until he was pressed about it publicly by a reporter a day later.
“That language is wrong,” Mamdani <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/09/we-support-hamas-chants-put-mamdanis-israel-stance-at-center-stage-00720393">said</a> while walking to his vehicle on Friday. “I think that language has no place in New York City.”
Then on X, Mamdani posted: &#8220;As I said earlier today, chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
As I said earlier today, chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest. <a href="https://t.co/0J4GXWigiv">pic.twitter.com/0J4GXWigiv</a>
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/2009768025260437806?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
AOC, who has repeatedly <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/22/aoc-decries-unfolding-genocide-in-gaza-urges-halting-weapons-to-israel#:~:text=“This%20is%20a%20mass%20starvation,accusing%20Israel%20of%20genocide%20unfounded.">accused</a> Israel of &#8220;genocide,&#8221; said on X that the demonstrators were engaging in antisemitism. Her response came on Friday night.
&#8220;Hey so marching into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and leading with a chant saying &#8216;we support Hamas&#8217; is a disgusting and antisemitic thing to do,&#8221; she posted. &#8220;Pretty basic!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Hey so marching into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and leading with a chant saying “we support Hamas” is a disgusting and antisemitic thing to do.
Pretty basic! <a href="https://t.co/Zx4wJPCPfP">https://t.co/Zx4wJPCPfP</a>
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC/status/2009792314634580390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
Mamdani has been accused of promulgating <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-of-mamdanis-anti-nypd-anti-israel-rhetoric-resurfaces-as-critics-warn-of-dangerous-extremism">antisemitism</a>, both based on his past statements and his recent moves as mayor.
Back in 2023, for example, Mamdani tied his anti-police stance to Israel and the IDF. &#8220;We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-of-mamdanis-anti-nypd-anti-israel-rhetoric-resurfaces-as-critics-warn-of-dangerous-extremism">said</a>. &#8220;We’re in a country where those connections abound. Especially in New York City, you have so many opportunities to make clear the ways in which that struggle over there is tied to capitalist interests over here.”
Additionally, within hours of taking office, Mamdani signed an <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/content/dam/nycgov/mayors-office/downloads/pdf/executive-orders/2026/eo1-prior-executive-orders.pdf?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_name=&amp;utm_source=govdelivery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> revoking all mayoral directives issued after September 26, 2024, which, as highlighted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-first-act-as-nyc-mayor-dismantle-pro-israel-policies">The Daily Wire</a>, effectively axed several key protections for the Jewish community and measures aimed at strengthening ties with Israel.
Democrat Senator John Fetterman, who has consistently called out antisemitism, blasted the demonstrators on X.
&#8220;These a**holes in NYC proudly chant for Hamas in close proximity to a Jewish school and place of worship,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is menacing and intimidation. The Jewish community deserves relief and protection from these raging antisemites.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
These assholes in NYC proudly chant for Hamas in close proximity to a Jewish school and place of worship.
This is menacing and intimidation.
The Jewish community deserves relief and protection from these raging antisemites. <a href="https://t.co/yJdVT5Qnx8">https://t.co/yJdVT5Qnx8</a>
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenFettermanPA/status/2009635598672552052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdanis-first-act-as-nyc-mayor-dismantle-pro-israel-policies">Mamdani’s First Act As NYC Mayor: Dismantle Pro-Israel Policies</a>

Mamdani/AOC

Mamdani, AOC Finally Call Out Nasty Antisemitism At NYC Protest

Anti-Semitism

antisemitism

The White House did not publish an official &#8220;Naughty List&#8221; for 2025 — though whether they made one is anyone&#8217;s guess — a handful of lawmakers would have been shoe-ins for inclusion.
These people worked against President Donald Trump and his administration over the past year by holding up votes on Trump&#8217;s nominees and agenda, attacking the president on social media and in the press, and badmouthing him and his team in front of any microphone they could find.
They come from both parties and across the country, unified only in their opposition to the Big Man. Let&#8217;s take a look at which Grinches made the list.
<h4>LaMonica McIver</h4>
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was one of three New Jersey lawmakers who physically pushed their way into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding facility in her state. She and the others claimed that ICE agents had gotten &#8220;rough&#8221; with them, but body cam footage belied her account.
McIver was indicted for her trouble, on three counts of &#8220;forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.&#8221;
<h4>Marjorie Taylor Greene</h4>
President Trump&#8217;s former ally is the most recent lawmaker to incur Trump&#8217;s wrath.
After a series of criticisms from Greene — focused primarily on the Trump administration&#8217;s handling of files related to the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — Trump attacked the Georgia congresswoman in several Truth Social posts. Calling her &#8220;Marjorie Traitor Greene&#8221; in one instance, he cheered her eventual resignation from Congress as &#8220;good for the country.&#8221;
In the days since, Greene has given a handful of interviews — and they&#8217;ve been progressively less flattering to Trump.
<h4>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</h4>
The New York firebrand has been a more-or-less constant thorn in the side of Republicans since she was elected, and 2025 has proved to be no different. With the policies championed in her proposed Green New Deal languishing under the weight of Trump&#8217;s regulatory reform, she has turned to jabbing at members of the administration and those who support it via social media.
One such barb was aimed at former collegiate swimmer — and staunch advocate for women and girls — Riley Gaines, who pointed out the dangers of embracing socialism as AOC has.
&#8220;Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referencing the 2022 NCAA championships where Gaines had tied for 5th place with trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas.
Gaines was unperturbed, replying, &#8220;It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a ‘gotcha’ by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman *in the nation* yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol. Misogynistic dunce.&#8221;
Ocasio-Cortez also took to social media to crow about a poll that showed her besting Vice President JD Vance in a potential 2028 match-up. What she didn&#8217;t mention was that the poll was taken in Canada, where socialism has already taken hold — and where no one can vote for her, anyway.
<h4>Mark Kelly</h4>
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined five other members of Congress — all of them veterans of either the Armed Services or the Central Intelligence Agency — to make a video encouraging members of the military to question their orders in real time. Nicknaming them the &#8220;Seditious Six,&#8221; Trump said his administration was prepared to investigate Kelly in particular because, as the only member of the group who retired from the military, he is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and can be recalled to be court-martialed for his actions.
<h4>Chuck Schumer</h4>
Senate Minority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-roast-chuck-schumer-over-shutdown-deal-we-need-new-leadership">Chuck Schumer</a> kept members of his party in line through the longest government shutdown in American history — and despite the fact that he and his party got nothing for their trouble, they still managed to inflict a significant amount of pain on people who either worked for the federal government and were furloughed or were dependent on government assistance.
When the shutdown finally ended, Democrats got none of the things they&#8217;d demanded, and members of Schumer&#8217;s party began to turn on him.
&#8220;Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced. If you can’t lead the fight to stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing for Americans, what will you fight for?&#8221; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said at the time.
<h4>Hakeem Jeffries</h4>
House Minority Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-catches-hakeem-jeffries-in-straight-up-lie-about-government-shutdown?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=CNN+Catches+Hakeem+Jeffries+In+Straight-Up+Lie+About+Government+Shutdown">Hakeem Jeffries</a> (D-NY) has almost constantly been at odds with the Trump administration — and his attacks have often been disingenuous at best. After claiming that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had refused to talk to him about bringing the shutdown to an end, Jeffries was forced to admit to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins that they had, in fact, spoken — and that Johnson had initiated the call.
On another occasion, Jeffries aimed his ire at Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Administrator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hakeem-jeffries-trashes-dr-oz-gets-hit-with-brutal-fact-check?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Hakeem+Jeffries+Trashes+Dr.+Oz%2C+Gets+Hit+With+Brutal+Fact-Check">Mehmet Oz.</a> He mocked the acclaimed cardiothoracic surgeon and claimed that no one should take him &#8220;seriously.&#8221;
Fox News anchor John Roberts laid out the fact check: &#8220;Just a quick fact check for the minority leader: Mehmet Oz: Undergraduate degree — Harvard; MD — UPenn; MBA — Wharton School; He was a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital before taking the leap into TV.&#8221;
Jeffries did praise Trump for issuing a pardon to Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hakeem-jeffries-sides-with-trump-over-pardon-for-texas-democrat">Henry Cuellar</a> (D-Texas), whose indictment was viewed by a number on both sides of the political aisle as politically motivated — but on balance, he more than earned the sombrero memes in which he was featured.
<h4>Chris Van Hollen</h4>
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was at first of many congressional Democrats who sided with dangerous criminal aliens over American citizens, attacking ICE agents for faithfully enforcing federal immigration laws. But when his party and their media cohorts effectively adopted MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia as their cause du jour, it was Van Hollen who took his activism to absurd new heights.
When the criminal illegal alien was deported and sent to El Salvador — an admitted mistake made by the Trump administration, which could legally have deported him to any country other than El Salvador — it was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-border-czar-tears-into-dem-senator-van-hollen-for-el-salvador-trip">Van Hollen</a> who took it upon himself to fly to El Salvador and demand to meet with Abrego Garcia.
<h4>Adam Schiff</h4>
Perhaps the naughtiest of them all, Schiff made the leap from the House to the Senate in January, and although he still hasn&#8217;t delivered the &#8220;evidence&#8221; he swore he had of Trump colluding with Russia, he has poured a fair amount of time and effort into being a bee in the Trump administration&#8217;s bonnet.
Just two days after Trump&#8217;s inauguration, Schiff <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-complains-bondi-isnt-doing-the-job-his-party-is-blocking-her-from-getting?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Complains+Bondi+Isn’t+Doing+The+Job+His+Party+Is+Blocking+Her+From+Getting">complained</a> in an X post that Pam Bondi — then Trump&#8217;s nominee for attorney general — had not given a thorough review to all of the January 6th pardons. He omitted the fact that his party had stalled Bondi&#8217;s confirmation process — and therefore it was ridiculous to expect her to already be doing the job they were preventing her from getting.
In the months since, Schiff&#8217;s statements have been an exercise in lacking self-awareness.
&#8220;That attitude that you can make a president or a party unsuccessful, no matter what damage it might do to the country, because it’s good politics — we have to get past that ruinous idea,” he said on a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-claims-lawmakers-shouldnt-use-politics-to-destroy-presidents?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Claims+Lawmakers+Shouldn’t+Use+Politics+To+Destroy+Presidents">recent podcast</a>, omitting his own history of doing exactly that to Trump.
When War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered strikes on narco-terrorists in the Caribbean, Schiff referred to men who survived the initial strike as &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-defends-narcoterrorists-claims-they-were-shipwrecked-survivors?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Defends+Narcoterrorists%2C+Claims+They+Were+‘Shipwrecked+Survivors’">shipwreck survivors</a>&#8221; and declared the strikes illegal. He later complained that Trump had only survived multiple prosecutions because then Attorney General Merrick Garland had not been &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/adam-schiff-complains-that-merrick-garland-wasnt-partisan-enough?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Adam+Schiff+Complains+That+Merrick+Garland+Wasn’t+Partisan+Enough">partisan enough</a>.&#8221;
Here&#8217;s hoping these naughty folks enjoy their coal — and learn to be nicer next year!

Eight Lawmakers (Probably) On The White House’s Naughty List

Eight Lawmakers [Probably] On The White House's Naughty List

Adam Schiff

Chuck Schumer

Hakeem Jeffries

Marjorie Taylor Greene

President Trump hosted a Hanukkah party at the White House on Tuesday night and spoke of his unwavering support of the Jewish people while calling out the antisemitism spouted by some lawmakers.
“As president of the United States, I will always support Jewish Americans and I will always be a friend and a champion to the Jewish people,” he stated bluntly.
He warned about the antisemitism among some members of Congress, specifically calling out leftist congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
“You have a Congress in particular which is becoming antisemitic. You have AOC plus three; you have those people like Ilhan Omar. She hates Jewish people,” Trump said.
“They hate Israel,” he continued. “And if you would have told me 15 years ago that that was possible, I would have said there&#8217;s no way. &#8230; You see what goes on in Australia or October 7. And then you have people that deny it ever happened. People deny the Holocaust, but you figure, well, that&#8217;s just many years; October 7 is not many years at all. And you have people that deny October 7. I saw tape; I wish I never saw it. But then they&#8217;ll say, ‘Oh, the tape was a rigged tape. It was a tape that never existed. They made it up. It&#8217;s just propaganda.’”
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Speaking of the antisemitism that has ramped up on university campuses and elsewhere, he declared, “I&#8217;m president, and the DOJ and Harmeet [Dhillon], we&#8217;re not going to let it happen.”
“We are deporting foreign jihadist sympathizers and terrorist supporters at record levels. We&#8217;re deporting them. We&#8217;re not putting them in jails,” he asserted.
“The story of Hanukkah reminds us that light will always prevail over darkness and faith [will] triumph over fear. Together, let us honor the eternal flame and the faith that has always protected the Jewish people. You are protected. You are special, special people,” he concluded.
Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who serves the Jewish community of Washington, D.C., said before he lit the menorah, “Mr. President, you know that I&#8217;m Jewish. You know that I&#8217;m American, but you may not know that a very large part of my family lives in Australia. That includes some of those who had escaped the attack and some who didn&#8217;t. And all I can say is listening to them on the other side of the world speak about you, you don&#8217;t just express solidarity, you practice solidarity with the Jewish people, perhaps in a way we&#8217;ve never seen before. We&#8217;ve had the strongest, deepest friend that Israel and the Jewish people have ever had here in the White House. &#8230; We&#8217;re going to light the menorah, which gives us a message of the victory of right over might, of justice over tyranny, of light over darkness. And it is especially in this time when the Jewish people has so much of a burden that we need this light. We need this strength. Not only from each other, but from you, Mr. President, who constantly remind the world that even if they all turn against us, God forbid, you never will.”

President Trump Hosts White House Hanukkah Reception

‘I Will Always Be A Friend And A Champion To The Jewish People’: Trump Shines At Hanukkah Party

Hanukkah

Ilhan Omar

Jews

Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo does not believe that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — or any of the Democratic Party&#8217;s &#8220;horses,&#8221; for that matter — truly love more about the United States than they hate about it.
Cuomo made the comments during a recent podcast conversation with progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, using his father — former Governor Mario Cuomo (D-NY) — as a point of reference.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨NEW: Chris Cuomo says he doesn&#8217;t think AOC loves America🇺🇸
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe AOC — any of your horses — I have a hard time believing they love the country. I think they hate more about it than they love about it.&#8221;
&#8220;I can&#8217;t think of the last time I heard AOC say something good… <a href="https://t.co/WOiQgyg7hD">pic.twitter.com/WOiQgyg7hD</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1995881240092647543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;What did my father have? Okay, I know I’m a white guy, okay? I know, I’m not saying anything but that,&#8221; Cuomo began, noting that his father had not been considered so. &#8220;My father was not considered a white guy. He was considered an ethnic, okay? He had that other thing going.&#8221;
&#8220;He was an other. And he hated it. And he hated the people who got to decide that, and who kept opportunities from him. So he was a real one, okay? But he loved the f***ing country,&#8221; Cuomo continued. &#8220;That’s the part that you guys, in my opinion, don’t get right. I don’t believe AOC — or any of your horses — I have a hard time believing they love the country. I think they hate more about it than they love about it. And that may be unfair. But if it is unfair, it’s because of how they’ve made their own case about themselves.&#8221;
Cohen pushed back, claiming that patriotism in the United States was largely performative and &#8220;jingoistic&#8221; in the way that kids are trained to repeat the Pledge of Allegiance. He explained that he&#8217;d taught in France, and said that the students there found the concept of such actions &#8220;foreign.&#8221;
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But Cuomo wasn&#8217;t finished. He went on to expand that because Democrats had pushed away from patriotism with such force, they&#8217;d effectively allowed the Right to take complete ownership of symbolic America.
&#8220;Here’s my point: Why are people surprised when they see an American flag on my truck, or in front of my house? Why were the Democrats okay with that becoming a party symbol for the GOP?&#8221; Cuomo asked, adding, &#8220;You are absolutely right, and every political philosopher has only agreed with you that dissent and criticism of your government is one of the strongest forms of patriotism. I don’t even think that’s really an open question.&#8221;
The problem, Cuomo argued, was that the Left had not found a way to balance dissent with patriotism — and the result was that they gave the appearance that they hated the country, whether that was true or not.
&#8220;What do you balance it with?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;When’s the last time you heard Democrats say something good about this country? That’s true, too. And I think it goes to your point about, hey man, you gotta play the game where it stands. I think that a real one who hates certain things that were done to them — systemic, cultural — and is fighting to change it because they believe so much in what this country can be, is, and is at her best. That’s the sweet spot. I can’t think of the last time I heard AOC say something good about the country.&#8221;

2017 Turner Upfront

Chris Cuomo Doesn’t Believe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Loves America

Chris Cuomo

Democrats

Prominent Democrats from across the country were campaigning for Tennessee Democrat Aftyn Behn on Monday night as the party hopes to pull off a &#8220;miracle&#8221; in Tuesday&#8217;s special election.
Behn, running against Republican Matt Van Epps for Tennessee&#8217;s 7th Congressional district seat, was joined on a Zoom call by some of the Left&#8217;s biggest names, including former vice president Al Gore, and far-left congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal. The virtual rally was the final event of Behn&#8217;s special election campaign and was attended by around 1,200 people, many of whom appeared to be hopping on Zoom from out of state based on their comments in the video call&#8217;s chat.
Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that it would take a &#8220;miracle&#8221; for Democrats to turn the Tennessee district blue, but added that Behn&#8217;s position in the race has shown that &#8220;miracles still happen.&#8221; The democratic socialist from New York urged Democrats in Tennessee to remain hopeful that politicians like Behn can successfully push leftist policies in deep red states as the Democratic Party looks ahead to the pivotal 2026 midterm elections.
Behn is hoping to win the deep red district despite pushing leftist policies in the past, including voicing support for abolishing police departments and saying that she was &#8220;fearful&#8221; for &#8220;trans communities&#8221; after a trans-identifying shooter killed three Christian schoolchildren and three staff members in Nashville.
Behn&#8217;s Republican opponent was rarely mentioned during the rally, as the Democratic speakers focused much of their attention on attacking President Donald Trump and his administration. Democrats are positioning the Tennessee special election as a referendum on Trump&#8217;s agenda, as the party is optimistic that Behn is within striking distance in a district that went for Trump by 22 points in 2024.
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The virtual rally got off to a bumpy start when Gore was introduced by Behn&#8217;s campaign manager, with the former vice president nowhere to be seen. After a few quiet and awkward moments, Gore&#8217;s face appeared on screen and he was introduced for a second time. Gore kicked off the rally by doubling down on that focus and painting the Trump White House as one of the most evil and corrupt administration&#8217;s in U.S. history.
Earlier on Monday, big name Republicans also gathered in the district to push Van Epps as the GOP and Trump emphasize the importance of the special election. At the Van Epps rally, Republicans were confident that they would win on Tuesday, but also acknowledged that the margins could be closer than what Republicans have come to expect in the district, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-reputation-of-our-state-is-on-the-line-gop-begins-final-push-before-critical-house-election?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=%E2%80%98The+Reputation+Of+Our+State+Is+On+The+Line%E2%80%99%3A+GOP+Begins+Final+Push+Before+Critical+House+Election">reported</a>.
Republicans and Democrats have poured millions of dollars into the special House race, with Behn’s campaign raising over $1 million between October 1 and November 12, according to campaign finance records. In that same timeframe, Van Epps raised $591,000, but the Republican candidate is also getting a big boost from Trump-aligned outside groups that have spent over a million dollars on advertisements.
Over 84,000 voters cast their ballots during the early voting period, which lasted from November 12-26, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1169221962004705&amp;set=pcb.1169223325337902">according</a> to the Tennessee Secretary of State. A large chunk of Republicans and Democrats are still expected to head to the polls on Tuesday morning. Polling results from Emerson College and The Hill <a href="https://www.wsmv.com/2025/12/01/poll-shows-republican-van-epps-holding-slight-lead-over-democrat-behn-tennessees-special-congressional-race/">released</a> on Monday showed Van Epps with just a 2-point edge on Behn.
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Al Gore/Aftyn Behn/AOC

Big-Name Dems Make Final Pitch For Aftyn Behn, Hope For Tuesday ‘Miracle’ In Tennessee

Al Gore

Election

Republicans

Tennessee

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