From Maureen Dowd today on Ocasio-Cortez

And through this black miasma, one small corner of the galaxy twinkled, offering hope, restoring an audacity, fight and sense of storytelling that had been atrophying in the Democratic Party.

“The Republicans galvanize their base by inciting a lot of fear; they operate on a lot of mythmaking,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “So we have to have something compelling. We shouldn’t be afraid to be bold.”

on Trump:

“I understand men like him,” the young woman who knocked off 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley told me in a phone interview Friday [....]

Recalling her days as a waitress and bartender slinging guac at a taco joint in Union Square just a few months ago, she continued: “Those were the people that I had to deal with so much in hospitality. He’s not just a figure. He’s a type of person. People like that say shocking things to gauge your reaction and to read if you flinch. I don’t flinch. I’m not going to flinch.”

She did not dwell on Trump in her campaign, preferring to offer a positive vision. “We get dragged onto his turf,” she said. “I feel like we should be catching up to the dice game by now, the Twitter distractions, the cries for attention.”

and

Ocasio-Cortez said it is “patently false” to assume she will join the group plotting to overthrow Nancy Pelosi. But she wouldn’t say she will back Pelosi, either. [....]

I asked Ocasio-Cortez about Steve Schmidt, the John McCain 2008 strategist, and others railing against her “dishonest progressivism” as simply a variation on “dishonest Trumpism,” citing her promises to provide job guarantees from the government, free college education and Medicare for all.

“It’s not like they expect improved and expanded Medicare tomorrow,” she said. “But we need to name our star so we can chart a course.”

The Boston University graduate [....] said she tries to move past sexism on the trail.

“Mentors of mine were under a big pressure to minimize their femininity to make it,” she said. “I’m not going to do that. That takes away my power. I’m not going to compromise who I am [....]