While all eyes and ears at the Munich security conference will be on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday, it was America’s Democrats who were able to enjoy their moment in the spotlight on Friday. The party was out in force: Californian governor Gavin Newsom, member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer were among the high-profile party delegates on panels at the Bayerischer Hof hotel, where the conference is held. Campaigning for the next Democratic party presidential primary isn’t expected to kick off in earnest for another year. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity for Newsom, Ocasio-Cortez and other rumored 2028 presidential candidate hopefuls to flex their credentials and demonstrate to voters back home – as well as US allies in Europe – what exactly fresh blood at the top of the Democratic party would offer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, with European delegations at the conference unsettled by the increasingly fraught relationship that has evolved between them and the administration of Donald Trump, the top Democrats seized their chance to bash the President.........

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