As the son of their dear leader attacked a freshman congresswoman from Queens and the Bronx, the crowd at Donald Trump’s Michigan rally last week started up a new chant they seemed to relish: “AOC sucks.”

This, channeling Fox News’ seemingly round-the-clock obsession with tearing down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, reveals something deranged about the Republican need to concoct new boogeywomen.

Ocasio-Cortez is an elected representative who is both dynamic and controversial. We’ve had our share of problems with her and her policies. We’re not much for socialism as she defines it.

But her uncanny ability to claim mainstream and social media spotlights, and her success in galvanizing support for the Green New Deal, do not change the fact that she has been in office a matter of months.

She does not sit in leadership. She does not chair a committee. She does not set the party’s agenda.

Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House. Chuck Schumer is Senate minority leader. Over a dozen Democrats, each of whom has already surely earned a nasty nickname from the president, are jockeying to be the party’s 2020 standard bearer.

If Trumpites must be personal, they ought to aim their fire at far more powerful politicians. Engaging in fearmongering about a new member of Congress only makes them look desperate to tear down a phenom, which winds up building her up.

Remember who else that happened to?

 

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Leonard Pitts: Sense of ‘one nation, indivisible’ receding further into our past

Next »

Our View: Maine’s new solar law is just a first step