And therein is the perfect microcosm of who AOC is: a complainer and not a doer. One can’t simply say this person isn’t doing the job without offering up a successor. Pelosi isn’t right for the job? Fine. A decided majority of Americans regardless of political affiliation agree with that (Pelosi is at just 33 percent approval in recent polls). But without presenting herself or naming someone else as the heir apparent, Ocasio-Cortez is just another sports talk radio caller ranting about how horrible their team is.

From a legislative perspective, AOC also has no victories of note to her credit despite all the media hype. Her signature proposal, the Green New Deal, was shot down in the Senate 57-0. According to GovTrack, “zero of Ocasio-Cortez’s 10 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Ocasio-Cortez caucused with in 2019,” while she “introduced zero bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.” As for compromise, GovTrack shows AOC “joined bipartisan bills the 2nd least often compared to New York Delegation.” Not exactly a surprise.

So, with the inability to actually get things done and with no desire to guide the party via the House speakership, running the rudderless Democratic National Committee would be the perfect fit. A post-Trump era promises major challenges for the DNC, which benefitted from an anti-Trump wave in 2020 but struggled from a fundraising perspective in the non-election years before it.