‘Working-Class-Centered Politics’ Is Key to Defeating ‘Scourge of Authoritarianism’: AOC in Munich
“It is of the utmost urgency that we get our economic houses in order and deliver material gains for the working class.”
“It is of the utmost urgency that we get our economic houses in order and deliver material gains for the working class.”
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) listens as President of the European People’s Party Manfred Weber speaks at a panel on populism at the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 13, 2026 in Munich, Germany.
(Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Feb 13, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday made a pitch for a “working-class-centered politics” as the key to defeating the kind of authoritarian populism embodied by President Donald Trump.
Speaking at a panel at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that decades of government failures such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 2003 Iraq War had opened the door for demagogues such as Trump among working-class voters.
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The only way to defeat this, she said, is to reorient progressive politics around social class.
“We have to have a working-class-centered politics if we are going to succeed,” she said, “and also if we are going to stave off the scourge of authoritarianism, which provide political siren calls to allure people into finding scapegoats to blame for rising economic inequality, both domestically and globally.”
Elsewhere during the panel, Ocasio-Cortez elaborated on the way economic inequality fuels the demand for authoritarian leaders.
“We’re seeing, in economy across economy around the world, including in the United States,” she said, “that extreme levels of income inequality lead to social instability and drives in a sense in authoritarianism, right-wing populism and very dangerous domestic internal politics. And that is a direct outcome of, not just income inequality, but the failure of democracies over decades to deliver, the failure to deliver higher wages, the failure to rein in corporations.”
The New York Democrat argued that the situation had grown so dire that many corporate CEOs now had more power and influence than democratically elected leaders.
“When massive corporations begin to consume the public sector and gobble up public spending, they start to call the shots,” she said. “And we’re starting to see this with some members of the billionaire class throwing their weight around in domestic and global politics.”
Given this situation, Ocasio-Cortez added, “it is of the utmost urgency that we get our economic houses in order and deliver material gains for the working class,” or else “we will fall into a more isolated world governed by authoritarians who also do not deliver for working people.”
AOC to Offer ‘Perspective Not Often Heard’ at Munich Security Conference
The progressive US congresswoman “is expected to decry the influence of billionaires and oligarchic interests at the expense of the working class,” according to one journalist.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a rally at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas on October 1, 2024.
(Photo by Sergio Flores for the Washington Post via Getty Images)
Brett Wilkins
Feb 12, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Amid growing speculation that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could parlay her rising clout in the Democratic Party into a run for higher office, the New Yorker is set to speak Friday at a key annual international security summit in Germany.
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) will address the 62nd Munich Security Conference as one of numerous representatives of the Democratic Party. In addition to other members of Congress, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, two names frequently floated as possible 2028 presidential candidates, are also speaking at the conference.
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According to NBC News, the democratic socialist congresswoman is slated to speak on two panels—one concerning the “future of US foreign policy” and the other about the “rise of populism.”
Ocasio-Cortez is expected to offer a very different vision of US global leadership from that of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the latter of whom will lead the American delegation in Munich.
“She is expected to decry the influence of billionaires and oligarchic interests at the expense of the working class,” Washington Post reporter John Hudson said Thursday on X.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy an an informal adviser to Ocasio-Cortez, told the Washington Post Thursday that the congresswoman “brings an understanding of the way that oligarchy and corruption are part of the problem in our foreign policy and have been for a long time.”
“This is an opportunity to hear from a progressive leader who represents a perspective not often heard at the Munich Security Conference,” he added.
In a separate interview with NBC News, Duss said of Ocasio-Cortez:
Trump has obviously turned the US into an antagonist of Europe. We’ve seen right-wing populism grow in Europe and around the world. Since her first days in Congress, she’s been sounding the alarm that people are hurting. Governments are failing. When people can’t find jobs or afford basic needs like housing and healthcare, they will turn to easy solutions like blaming immigrants, blaming LGBTQ people. This is driving right-wing populism.
Last year, another progressive US lawmaker, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), spoke at the Munich Security Conference, urging his audience to “stand tall against right-wing extremism” in a sharp rebuke of Vice President JD Vance’s admonition to European leaders to accommodate far-right parties like the neo-Nazi-rooted Alternative for Germany, or AfD.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) welcomed Ocasio-Cortez’s trip to Munich, telling NBC News: “I’ve always said that she is a national and an international voice. She’s young, articulate, clear-headed, represents not only the present but the future.”
“I predict someday she will become president of the United States,” Espaillat added. “I’ve called her ‘madam president’ before.”
Ocasio-Cortez has faced mounting speculation and calls to consider a future primary challenge to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) or even a White House run.
The progressive US congresswoman “is expected to decry the influence of billionaires and oligarchic interests at the expense of the working class,” according to one journalist.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a rally at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas on October 1, 2024.
(Photo by Sergio Flores for the Washington Post via Getty Images)
Brett Wilkins
Feb 12, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Amid growing speculation that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could parlay her rising clout in the Democratic Party into a run for higher office, the New Yorker is set to speak Friday at a key annual international security summit in Germany.
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) will address the 62nd Munich Security Conference as one of numerous representatives of the Democratic Party. In addition to other members of Congress, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, two names frequently floated as possible 2028 presidential candidates, are also speaking at the conference.
‘This Is a Dangerous, Dangerous Moment’: AOC Warns Trump, Noem Laying Groundwork for Insurrection Act
According to NBC News, the democratic socialist congresswoman is slated to speak on two panels—one concerning the “future of US foreign policy” and the other about the “rise of populism.”
Ocasio-Cortez is expected to offer a very different vision of US global leadership from that of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the latter of whom will lead the American delegation in Munich.
“She is expected to decry the influence of billionaires and oligarchic interests at the expense of the working class,” Washington Post reporter John Hudson said Thursday on X.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy an an informal adviser to Ocasio-Cortez, told the Washington Post Thursday that the congresswoman “brings an understanding of the way that oligarchy and corruption are part of the problem in our foreign policy and have been for a long time.”
“This is an opportunity to hear from a progressive leader who represents a perspective not often heard at the Munich Security Conference,” he added.
In a separate interview with NBC News, Duss said of Ocasio-Cortez:
Trump has obviously turned the US into an antagonist of Europe. We’ve seen right-wing populism grow in Europe and around the world. Since her first days in Congress, she’s been sounding the alarm that people are hurting. Governments are failing. When people can’t find jobs or afford basic needs like housing and healthcare, they will turn to easy solutions like blaming immigrants, blaming LGBTQ people. This is driving right-wing populism.
Last year, another progressive US lawmaker, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), spoke at the Munich Security Conference, urging his audience to “stand tall against right-wing extremism” in a sharp rebuke of Vice President JD Vance’s admonition to European leaders to accommodate far-right parties like the neo-Nazi-rooted Alternative for Germany, or AfD.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) welcomed Ocasio-Cortez’s trip to Munich, telling NBC News: “I’ve always said that she is a national and an international voice. She’s young, articulate, clear-headed, represents not only the present but the future.”
“I predict someday she will become president of the United States,” Espaillat added. “I’ve called her ‘madam president’ before.”
Ocasio-Cortez has faced mounting speculation and calls to consider a future primary challenge to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) or even a White House run.
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