Socialist wunderkind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only burst onto the national stage a few weeks ago, but she’s already making it a frightening time to be a conservative, a libertarian, a Trumpkin, or anyone else who’s unconvinced that Marx had a point. As the Notorious AOC’s newfound army of fans keep reminding her critics, we only disagree with her because we’re scared. We only check her facts because we’re scared. We only laugh at her when she screws up because we’re scared.

We’re just scared, you guys. She’s so scary.

That’s why I was curious to see how Ocasio-Cortez would react when Ben Shapiro made this challenge the other day:

“Hi, I really wanted to make just a direct appeal to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ‘future of the Democratic Party,’ according to Tom Perez, head of the DNC. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, I’m really excited that you’ve been elevated to that position, and I would love to have a real conversation with you about the issues. You’ve noted you think Republicans are afraid to debate you or talk to you or discuss the issues with you. Not only am I eager to discuss the issues with you, I’m willing to offer $10,000 to your campaign today for you to come on our Sunday Special, and we can have an hour-long conversation about all the topics under the sun. Really probe your belief system. Frankly, if you want to raise charity and we’ll do it as a debate, we can do that too. However you want to do it, I am more than willing to talk to you. I would love to have this conversation. So let’s make this happen. Let’s make America a more civil and interesting place. Let’s do this thing.”

Now, of course, this is a trap. Nobody actually believes AOC could win a debate with Shapiro. Hell, she couldn’t even outwit Chris Cuomo. I repeat: Chris Cuomo. Considering this young lady would lose an argument with a houseplant, agreeing to sit down with Shapiro would be a huge mistake.

The smart thing for AOC to do would be to ignore Shapiro’s challenge. He’s not running for office, and she’s under no obligation to accept his challenge or even acknowledge it. Disregarding him would be the best move.

Here’s what she did instead:

Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions. And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one. pic.twitter.com/rsD17Oq9qe — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) August 10, 2018

Isn’t that wonderful? If you refuse a debate with Ocasio-Cortez, you’re just afraid of her. If you ask for a debate with Ocasio-Cortez, you’re basically “catcalling” her. She’s both a champion and a victim, simultaneously. Shapiro is harassing her by doing the very thing she says Republicans are too scared to do. She’s so confident in her platform that any challenge to it is sexist.

Ain’t doublethink great? Don’t you just love identity politics?

If AOC thinks Shapiro only made this challenge to drum up publicity for himself, it seems like a mistake to hand him a wonderful gift like this. Now he’ll just move even more of those “Leftist Tears” travel mugs.

It’s also a boon to actual catcallers everywhere. Now they’ve got some new taunts to throw at women walking down the street:

“Hey, baby, how ’bout some facts to go with that logic?”

“Did you fall from Heaven? Because you look like you might be interested in discussing Thomas Aquinas!”

“That’s a beautiful dress, girl. It would look great on my podcast!”

No woman should have to deal with such harassment. #StopDebateCulture!