David Marcus of the Federalist urges caution for those who hope Democrats will rally around New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

I’ll never forget the moment I realized something bizarre was going on with American politics. It was February 2016 and I was at a Donald Trump rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. I wandered around the floor of the arena, chatting with attendees, and then it happened. A young man, maybe about 26, told me, “For me it’s a choice between Trump and Bernie Sanders.” Gobsmacked, I asked him to repeat his statement. Wouldn’t you know, I had heard him correctly.

On paper few figures appear more dissimilar than Trump and New York Democratic primary upset winner Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the self-described democratic socialist, but in terms of political style and temperament, the two have much in common. In fact, there is much overlap between these two neophyte candidates.

Both Trump and Ocasio-Cortez won primaries against the establishment in parties that didn’t want them. Both used social media as the primary tool to do an end-run around those party establishments. Both ride a wave of celebrity that propels them to larger audiences and relevance, and both espouse views that quite recently would have been disqualifying but no longer are. …

… The greatest fear conservatives should have about Ocasio-Cortez is that she will normalize Marxism in a way that even Sanders never could have dreamed of. Sanders’ socialism is also something of a different breed, one that at least nominally places value on individual rights. Ocasio-Cortez has not been clear about any fidelity to the Constitution and its protections. She may well believe in a central government that makes Sanders’ vision look like an Ayn Rand novel.