Munich 2026 awards: Kaja Kallas’ poker face, Lindsey Graham cursing and Mark Rutte talking to a dog

From the memorable to the meme-able, here are nine moments to remember from the world’s premier military-security jamboree.

MUNICH — After three days of serious politics, POLITICO is here to lighten the mood.

The 2026 Munich Security Conference saw Europeans forced to admit the relationship with Washington is on the rocks and that World War III is closer than ever.

Our backhanded awards salute the politicians, power players and public figures who distinguished themselves in less existential ways.

Here are POLITICO’s nine awards for the most memorable (and meme-able) moments.

Cheekiest fashion moment — Wolfgang Ischinger

On this wintery February weekend, Munich Security Conference Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger began his speech by donning sunglasses — now officially the hottest summit accessory of 2026.

It was a jovial homage to French President Emmanuel Macron, who set tongues wagging at the World Economic Forum last month when he wore a slick pair of shades on stage to hide a burst blood vessel in one eye. In the parlance of the internet, Ischinger mogged Macron.

An honorable mention in the fashion category goes to U.S. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who — during a session on stage at the POLITICO Pub — realized he was wearing Abraham Lincoln socks. Make of that what you will.

“I didn’t pay attention to the socks that I was putting on this morning but it occurs to me that [they feature] President Abraham Lincoln, who presided over our Civil War,” he said, adding the choice was unintentional.

Most colorful language — Lindsey Graham

“Who gives a shit who owns Greenland?” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham wondered at the POLITICO Pub, before answering his own question: “I don’t.” 

Only a few years ago such language from a senior American lawmaker would have been unthinkable. It wasn’t just the coarse speech that caught our ear, however, with the Republican lawmaker issuing multiple zingers.

“If you’re nervous — have a beer, go see a doctor,” he said in reference to European anxiety about Trump’s rhetoric on NATO and Greenland.

“Every now and again someone in history comes along who’s NUTS,” the Trump ally said about Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And this gem: “Nobody washes a rental car” — an attempt to explain why Trump feels so strongly that the U.S. needs to own Greenland.

Worst poker face — Kaja Kallas

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, couldn’t contain her skepticism when U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz started bragging about Washington’s claim to have ended multiple wars.

Pursing her lips and puffing out her cheeks, Kallas’ reaction quickly went viral and has come to symbolize European exasperation with the Americans.

Biggest fight No. 1 — Kaja Kallas vs. Mike Waltz

That testy panel saw Kallas go toe-to-toe with Waltz on everything from Trump’s controversial Board of Peace for Gaza to Washington’s attitude toward its allies. “When, for example, Russia goes to war, they go alone because they don’t have allies; when America goes to wars, then, you know, a lot of us go with you, and we lose our people on the way,” she told Waltz as applause filled the room. “That means you also need us to be this superpower.”

She also lambasted Trump’s Board of Peace for its lopsided power structure, arguing it doesn’t treat countries as equals. “That is, I think, the difference [in] how we see the world,” she said, once again pointedly addressing Waltz. 

In another eyebrow-raising moment, Waltz gifted the panel a blue baseball cap emblazoned with “Make the UN Great Again,” which Kallas took and set down without a word of thanks.

Biggest fight No. 2 — Radosław Sikorski vs. Petr Macinka

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski schooled Czech Deputy Prime Minister Petr Macinka on the workings of the European Union.

Macinka, who represents the populist Motorists’ Party, attacked the EU for not being democratic, alleging there are no connections between voters and Brussels institutions. Sikorski retorted that the European Parliament is democratically elected and that commissioners are chosen by “democratically elected governments.”

The killer blow came when Sikorski reminded Macinka that, much like EU commissioners, Czech ministers are also not directly elected. “I don’t say it isn’t a democratic system,” Macinka mumbled as an amused Hillary Clinton looked on.

Weirdest anecdotes — Mark Rutte

NATO chief Mark Rutte made the world squirm last year by using the term “daddy” to refer to Donald Trump.

The former Dutch prime minister finally explained himself as he sat down with POLITICO in Munich. “I have to ask: Where did ‘daddy’ come from? Do you have some daddy issues, Mr. Rutte?” POLITICO’s Dasha Burns joked to Rutte at the end of the live interview.

Rutte said the gaffe had been unintentional and blamed it on English being his second language. “I said that he sometimes has to be tough. And of course later realized that ‘daddy’ has a lot of connotations,” Rutte said sheepishly.

In another peculiar moment, Rutte recalled meeting a dog in Ukraine and described in some detail how the canine — who helped emergency services recover bodies from rubble — looked into his eyes and told him that he would never give up. The story was designed to celebrate the fortitude of Ukrainians enduring Russia’s war, but Rutte’s zoophilist telepathy (whether he was being serious or not) just sounded weird.

Biggest ego boost — Alexander Stubb

MSC has its own small bookstore located just off the “smoking corridor,” a walkway between the summit hotels linking the Bayerischer Hof and Rosewood.

The book flying off the shelves was the “Triangle of Power” by Finnish President Alexander Stubb. (Ominously, the only classic on sale was George Orwell’s 1984.)

Stubb — an occasional golf buddy of the U.S. president and one of Europe’s Trump whisperers — was keen to use his time on stage at the conference to emphasize that American foreign policy has changed.

“I think we brought down the temperature in the transatlantic relationship,” Stubb said, noting he had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for roughly half an hour after Rubio’s main stage speech.

But Stubb told POLITICO that Europeans should have a clear-eyed understanding of the Trump-led American shift, including the new hierarchy among Washington’s priorities: “No. 1 is the Western Hemisphere, No. 2 is the Indo-Pacific, and then No. 3 is Europe.”

Most notable diss — Giorgia Meloni

The Italian prime minister wasn’t present at this weekend’s conference, instead embarking on a diplomatic tour of Africa — a notable absence given her efforts to carve out a place on the world’s diplomatic stage.

That didn’t stop her from being forced to admit she didn’t see eye to eye with some European leaders that were present — telling Italian media she doesn’t agree with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s declaration that “the culture war of the MAGA movement” is not European.

Meloni’s absence was also a reminder of where the real power lies in European defense. While Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka did get on stage, much of the attention was reserved for the old military powers: the U.K., France and Germany.

Biggest standing ovation — Marco Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio used his Munich keynote to rhapsodize about the shared history between America and Europe. “We belong together,” he said.

The fact that his tone was more conciliatory than U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s speech last year at the same venue earned him a standing ovation.

That adulation started to look a little awkward less than 24 hours later when European leaders digested the actual words — Rubio having repeated several MAGA criticisms of globalization and migration during his speech.

In a sign of how bad the transatlantic relationship has become, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted she was “very much reassured” by Rubio’s address, calling him a “good friend” and a “strong ally.”