In the realm of ordinary politics in extraordinary times, this Politico story about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is causing no little buzz in and around the Intertoobz. Ever since she backed Nancy Pelosi for the speakership in the newly elected Democratic-majority House of Representatives, I’ve been telling people that she has natural political chops that it’s dangerous to underestimate. (Among the members of the Squad, AOC is second only to Ayanna Pressley in this regard.) Now, of course, some of the performative Left have their purity in a knot because she’s demonstrating this again.

Read the rest of Charlie Pierce’s piece at Esquire.