Every time AOC does anything, the entire right descends into intensely cringey hysterics. She taps directly into their every neurosis & hangup & they are helpless to hide it. It is embarrassing to watch, in a fremdschämen sort of way. 
One enduring aspect of reactionary conservatism is that it's populated by people obsessed with those they perceive as the cool, popular kids. They always felt outside that circle, never get over it, & are gripped by alternating resentment & envy.
As in all things, Trump is the ultimate example. His entire life is built around his envy of the Manhattan inner circle that he could never seem to get inside, no matter how much money he accumulated. He "hates" the New York Times the way Magats "hate" AOC ...
... i.e., he allows it to set up shop in his head. He's obsessed with it, rages against it, wants desperately to be approved of by it, envies it, hates it for making him envy it, hates himself for envying it ... it's all out there on the surface, cringey as hell.
AOC is beautiful, young, smart as a whip, elegant but approachable, & beloved by young people. She's cool in a way that conservatives will never be and she does it without trying. It drives them absolutely insane, in the same way Obama used to. They hate what they envy.
This all brings to mind the strain of US conservatism in which awkward dweebs who have found their courage behind keyboards -- your Jonah Goldbergs & Ben Shapiros -- try to make "cool conservatism" a thing. "We can be cool too! We don't need them!" Good GOD it is cringey.
You youngs may not remember it, but Goldberg tried for *years* to convince people that the new generation of conservatives are cool because they like the Simpsons. (Seriously.) And then there was that time cons tried to make their own Daily Show ...
Wrapping this up: Chait has a good piece pointing out how surreal it is that we're once again having endless online arguments about symbolic class war when there's REAL class war unfolding in DC as we speak. nymag.com/intelligencer/…
In other words, AOC's populism isn't fake or symbolic -- she's working her ass off at this very moment to put into place policies that would massively transfer income downward, & her Republican opponents are working equally hard to protect the rich. Reality exists.
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