I don't want to wait for our tabs to be over ...
🚨 HOLY SMOKES. Rep. AOC just SELF-DESTRUCTED while trying to represent America in Germany
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 13, 2026
"Should the US commit troops to defend Taiwan?"
AOC: "Um, you know, I think that, uhh, eh, this is such a, uh, you know, I th-I think that this is a, umm, this is of course a, uh, a very… pic.twitter.com/VfT98vKhZY
Ed: Democrats have gone from a senile old-school pol to an incoherent backbencher, and now ... this. Yikes. It's not like Taiwan is some esoteric part of US foreign policy. Remember when the media used to sandbag Republican presidential hopefuls by demanding the name of the head of state of an obscure state? Good times, good times.
===
Breitbart: “Uhm, you know, I think that this is … such a .. you know, I think that … this is a uhm…. this is of course a uh, a very longstanding policy of the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And, I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure 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,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
In response to the question, [Matthew] Whitaker stated that it “would be the President’s prerogative as to how to deploy our military.”
“I would just say we have to deter and defend, like we do here on the European continent,” Whitaker added. “And, most importantly — and, I think one of the things that President Trump was able to accomplish by having NATO agree to five percent of GDP on defense and defense-related items, is ultimately, that’s now the international standard.”
Ed: That's the difference between showing up and being prepared. And Matt Whitaker isn't trying to float himself as a potential presidential candidate.
===
She didn’t “hesitate.” She had no idea what to say, tried to vamp for a while, and eventually gave up in embarrassment while randomly stringing words together in a way that would have shamed even Kamala Harris. https://t.co/JLMUzsPYB0
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 14, 2026
===
NY Times: “We want Europe to be strong,” Mr. Rubio said, adding that the two world wars of the 20th century were a reminder that “our destiny is and always will be intertwined with yours.”
Mr. Rubio’s speech had a different tone than the one given by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich conference last year, when Mr. Vance scolded Europeans for sidelining far-right parties and accused them of limiting free speech. While Mr. Vance’s speech was met with stony silence, Mr. Rubio’s address prompted bouts of applause and laughter, and drew a brief standing ovation.
But as Mr. Vance did last year, Mr. Rubio issued warnings about the threat the Trump administration says mass migration poses to European civilization and the need to reform post-World War II institutions like the United Nations.
“We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West‘s managed decline,” he said.
Ed: This is exactly right. If Europe wants to attack free speech and throw away Western civilization in favor of "diversity," they can deal with the consequences. But also, the media was trying to set up the Munich conference was supposed to display the differing worldviews of Rubio and AOC, which is why she attended it. What it actually exposed is AOC's utter intellectual vapidity.
===
🚨 JUST IN: In Germany, Sec. Marco Rubio goes HARD against the globalists, scathing the United Nations for being utterly useless
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 14, 2026
"We no longer place the so-called 'global order' above the vital interests of OUR people and our nations!"
"We cannot ignore that today, on the most… pic.twitter.com/slQZyeRFGG
"We cannot ignore that today, on the most pressing matters before us, it has NO answers and has played virtually NO role!"
"It could not solve the war in Gaza. Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce. It has not solved the war in Ukraine. It took American leadership in partnership with many of the countries here today just to bring the two sides to the table in search of a still-elusive peace."
"It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran. That required 14 bombs dropped with precision from American B-2 bombers."
"And it was unable to address the threat to our security from a narco-terrorist dictator in Venezuela. Instead, it took American special forces to bring this fugitive to justice."
Ed: Allow me to translate that to a cinematic reference from "The Town." It won't play here in an embed because of its NSFW language, but it pretty much encapsulates the new foreign-policy view of the US under Trump and Rubio.
===
Bill Maher: “Doug Burgum, he’s the interior secretary. Listen to this… He said, CO2, carbon, was never a pollutant. He said when we breathe, we emit CO2.”
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) February 14, 2026
⁰“Okay, Doug, you know what? Let’s try this little experiment. Um, tonight when you get home, go in the garage, close the… pic.twitter.com/DyG8wK4hR7
Ed: Hoo boy, is this stupid, and Maher's getting rightly roasted online for it. Cars produce carbon MONoxide (CO), which is a legit pollutant and poison, not carbon DIoxide (CO2). We already regulate carbon monoxide for safety purposes, not climate change. Residences that rely on gas heaters now have to have CO monitors installed, for instance. That's the difference between a pollutant and a natural trace substance in the atmosphere.
===
WUSA9: How do you fix what is being called the largest sewage spill in the region’s history? That was the multi-million-dollar question facing Maryland lawmakers on Friday as they convened a virtual briefing to investigate the catastrophic failure of a 60-year-old sewage pipe in Cabin John.
It has been nearly a month since the 72-inch Potomac Interceptor pipe burst on January 19, spewing an estimated 243 million gallons of raw wastewater into the Potomac River. While DC Water crews race to complete repairs, the political and environmental fallout is only beginning to surface.
Ed: I don't think we've covered this as of yet, but it's being called the worst sewage spill in American history on the East Coast. Thus far, Washington DC has been pretty slow to deal with it, but it still isn't getting much national-news attention.
===
WSJ: Casey Wasserman is putting his eponymous talent and marketing agency up for sale, he said in a memo to staff Friday night. The move follows the release of suggestive emails he exchanged years ago with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and the departure of high-profile talent from his firm.
Wasserman told staff he felt that he had “become a distraction” to the firm’s work and had begun the process of selling the company.
He is chairman of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The committee organizing the games earlier this week voted unanimously to keep Wasserman as chairman, according to people familiar with the situation.
Wasserman’s decision to sell the firm he founded more than 20 years ago follows other fallout, including high-profile leadership changes, in the wake of the release of records related to Epstein. Over the past few days, a number of clients, including Grammy winner Chappell Roan and U.S. women’s soccer star Abby Wambach have said they were leaving Wasserman’s agency.
Ed: The Epstein Files Light Grenade keeps doing its work on the Left. We've seen them ruin people in progressive politics, Academia, the financial industry, and now Hollywood. I bet Democrats are just thrilled with the results of their McCarthyist campaign.
===
Ed: I wanted to include this in yesterday's Final Word, but I forgot it was up in a different window. Nate the Lawyer does a great job of dissecting this case of raging entitlement and utter incompetence. If someone posted a story like this on Reddit, people would reject it as utter ragebait. The best part comes at the end. Give Nate a follow on X/Twitter and subscribe to his channel if you enjoy this.
===
Christian Smith at First Things: My leaving Notre Dame might seem unusual. I’ve only just turned sixty-five. I am active in research, publishing some of the best work of my career. I loved teaching Notre Dame undergraduates. I held a Kenan endowed chair, which provided a nice research fund. I earned an enviable salary. Almost any faculty member similarly situated would continue working five, ten, or fifteen more years.
And I was an ideal fit, the kind of academic Notre Dame should want on staff: an accomplished scholar who won awards as a classroom teacher and student mentor. Over the years, I brought in $15 million in external research grants. I was dissertation chair for the best-placed PhD graduate in Notre Dame’s history, now a full professor at Yale. I was an enthusiastic proponent of the university’s Catholic mission. I was devoted to my discipline, sociology, but also engaged ideas in philosophy, history, theology, and political theory.
But after two decades, I left. Not happily, not with a sense of fulfillment or closure, but disappointed and vexed. Why? And what might my experience reveal about the bigger picture?
Ed: This is a very well-written, lengthy, and heartfelt essay that deserves to be read in full. Let me boil it down for you to four words: Notre Dame sold out. They sold out to the Left, they sold out to commercialism, they sold out to secularism, and they sold out intellectually. Professor Smith provides the details, but the fall of a once-great Catholic institution is now all but complete.
===
If Dems were smart they would run someone who has proven they can win in purple/red states, but Dems are not smart. https://t.co/84YKlA3PDC
— Brad Todd (@BradOnMessage) February 14, 2026
===
Happy Valentines Day! https://t.co/rSQvbpIRcl
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) February 14, 2026
===
Editor's note: If we thought our job in pushing back against the Academia/media/Democrat censorship complex was over with the election, think again. This is going to be a long fight. If you're digging these Final Word posts and want to join the conversation in the comments -- and support independent platforms -- why not join our VIP Membership program? Choose VIP to support Hot Air and access our premium content, VIP Gold to extend your access to all Townhall Media platforms and participate in this show, or VIP Platinum to get access to even more content and discounts on merchandise. Use the promo code FIGHT to join or to upgrade your existing membership level today, and get 60% off!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member