It’s a wider problem on the right: We just can’t get enough of the Commie congresswoman from The Bronx. Her real political power is still blessedly minimal, yet the space she occupies in our conversations is infinite.

If we aren’t ceding power to her by publicly stating our rare agreement with her, like Cruz did, we’re picking on every silly thing she says. I’m as guilty as anyone else on the right. When Ocasio-Cortez said cauliflower was racist, I had to comment. When she said we should get rid of farting cows and rebuild every building in America over the course of a decade, I had to comment. And yes, when she said Cruz tried to murder her, I had to comment.

Dunking on her idiocies is easy, and it’s hard to resist doing it. But those of us who oppose socialism have to stop doing this.

History is instructive on this count. Then-candidate Donald Trump was on every station in 2016. He was mocked, he was laughed at, and then he was elected president. People who hated him swelled his profile, and he was able to capitalize on it. AOC is benefiting from the same dynamic.