MUNICH — In the cavernous, high-security halls of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, a shadow government has emerged.
As the 2026 Munich Security Conference (MSC) unfolds, a high-powered delegation of U.S. Democrats has launched an extraordinary diplomatic counter-offensive, moving from suite to suite with a singular, blunt message for America’s oldest allies: “Hold the line. He’ll be gone in three years.”
Leading the charge is California Governor Gavin Newsom, who on Friday effectively positioned himself as the Democrats’ international standard-bearer. Standing before an audience of wary European ministers and heads of state, Newsom didn’t just critique President Trump’s “energy emergency” or his threats to annex Greenland—he treated the current administration as a temporary fever.
“I hope, if there’s nothing else I can communicate today: Donald Trump is temporary,” Newsom told a climate panel. “He’ll be gone in three years. Do not let three years of ‘doubling down on stupid’ destroy seventy-five years of shared destiny.”
The ‘Shadow’ Delegation
Newsom is not alone. Joining him in Munich is a “Who’s Who” of 2028 Democratic hopefuls, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Senator Ruben Gallego, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Their presence represents a stark break from the tradition that “politics stops at the water’s edge.”
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio used the main stage to offer an “emotional but conditional” olive branch—describing America as a “child of Europe” while demanding the continent abandon its “climate cult”—the Democrats were in the corridors offering a different vision:
- The Newsom Doctrine: Reaffirming California’s subnational climate pacts and signing a direct “resilience memorandum” with Ukraine.
- The Ocasio-Cortez Critique: Warning allies that “grovelling to Trump’s needs” only fuels the “age of authoritarianism.”
- The Gallego Pledge: Assuring NATO partners that a Democratic Congress is working on “stabilizing guardrails” to prevent a total U.S. withdrawal from the alliance.
‘Knee Pads’ and Cold Realities
The rhetoric has been unusually caustic. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, Newsom famously quipped that European leaders should have brought “knee pads” for their meetings with Trump. In Munich, he doubled down, urging European leaders to stop their “pathic grovelling.”
But for the Europeans, the Democratic reassurance is a double-edged sword. While figures like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have expressed “rising horror” at the U.S. descent into what the MSC report calls “competitive authoritarianism,” they cannot afford to bet purely on a Democratic return in 2028.
“Nostalgia is not a strategy,” noted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been one of the few leaders to openly break with Trump over Greenland. “We cannot live in the warm bath of complacency. Europe must stand on its own two feet.”
The 2028 Shadow Campaign
The MSC has effectively become the first unofficial primary of the 2028 election cycle. By treating the Trump presidency as a brief “interregnum,” Democrats are attempting to freeze global alignment in place.
However, the “three-year” promise faces a grim reality. With the Trump administration moving to purge the “Deep State” and rewrite the rules of federal air pollution and international trade at breakneck speed, the Democrats’ “wait-and-see” approach may be asking for more patience than Europe’s crumbling security architecture can provide.
As the conference concludes, the divide is clear: Rubio is asking Europe to join a “New Western Century” on Trump’s terms, while Newsom is asking them to wait for a “return to normal” that may never come. For the diplomats in the middle, the “three-year” clock is ticking—but in the age of “wrecking-ball politics,” three years can feel like a lifetime.