Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clapped back at Vice President JD Vance over mockery of her foreign policy remarks, saying his attempted joke fell flat with the audience.
Vance had taken a jab at the Congresswoman’s response to a question about China and Taiwan at the Munich Security Conference, claiming she froze before answering.
Speaking at an event inaugurating the Board of Peace before an audience that included President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, envoy Steve Witkoff and representatives from more than 45 countries, Vance said: “I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but after the president said that I was so smart and that I didn’t want to repeat our congresswoman, who froze for 20 seconds over in Munich.”
“Now, I’m tempted, sir, just to freeze for 20 seconds. And just stare at the cameras, and maybe they’ll say nice things about me, like they did about Congresswoman Cortez,” he added.
The Democratic Rep. replied on social media, mocking Vance and claiming his attempted joke fell flat. “The only thing longer than my pause to think was their silence to his joke,” she said.
The remark referenced Ocasio-Cortez’s response at the conference when she was asked whether the United States should commit troops to defend Taiwan if China invaded. She appeared to answer hesitantly, after a near 20-second pause.
“This is, of course, a very long-standing policy of the United States, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, 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,” she said.
The exchange led critics to slam AOC for a lack of foreign policy experience, while supporters argued the hesitation was minor.
Vance had already criticized her response earlier in the week, calling it “embarrassing” during a Fox News interview. “If I had given that answer I would say, ‘you know what? Maybe you ought to go read a book about China and Taiwan before I go out on the world stage again,” he said, adding that he hoped she would show “humility.”
Originally published on Latin Times
