The hypocrisy in all of this—the snowflake-haters getting outraged over clever YouTube videos, the fake news-busters creating fake news—would be amusing except for the fact that it’s not only unnecessary, but counterproductive. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political views themselves provide virtually endless opportunity for mockery: She ran a campaign based on Medicare for All, free college tuition, a federal jobs guarantee, and other programs that would cost north of $40 trillion. Her plan to pay for it would raise taxes by $2 trillion. Now that’s funny.

And the truth is, AOC doesn’t represent much of a threat to Republicans. She’s far more dangerous to Democrats. She’s energetic and attractive and charismatic. Those policy ideas she has? They are horrifying to Republicans, sure, but they also give most Americans—including those who vote Democrat—the heebie-jeebies.

Which is why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot down AOC’s first big initiative, the Green New Deal.