Is a video arguing that Ocasio-Cortez isn’t a real politician but is instead an actress being used by hard-Left conspirators real or a conspiracy theory?

A conservative Facebook group to which I belong, one with several hundred members, has seen at least four people post a video in which a man calling himself Mr. Reagan, who has a fruity, game-show host voice, advances the theory that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka #AOC-ward, pronounced “awkward”) is not a ditzy Leftist millennial politician at all but is, instead, an actress. According to Mr. Reagan, Donkey Chompers is the pretty face for a radical Leftist group that wants to remake the entire Democrat party by defeating establishment Democrats using people just like #AOC-ward: telegenic and able to recite their lines.

Because people whose intelligence I have come to respect through years of following this Facebook group thought the video was important, I took the time to watch it. And you know what? I can’t decide whether it’s a brilliant insight into what’s going on in American politics or if it’s the sane-sounding ravings of a delusional man. Some of what Mr. Reagan advances makes absolute sense in a scary way; some of what he describes sounds more like the organic coming-together of like-minded people rather than a vast conspiracy; and some of it sounds as if it came out of a Hollywood scriptwriter’s conference.

The one thing the video does, which is true for both real conspiracies and conspiracy theories, is to make sense of several ongoing mysteries: (1) How a bartender could swiftly rise out of nowhere and defeat an incumbent who was bringing home the bacon for his community; (2) why #AOC-ward is undeniably one of the most telegenic politicians around; and (3) most of all, why #AOC-ward is an idiot when speaking impromptu but an effective political dynamo both on Twitter and when speaking in controlled situations.

Conspiracy theories can be both frightening, because they purport to reveal dark forces at work, and comforting, because they make sense of events that are both random and unpleasant. In the latter case, the events remain unpleasant but, insofar as they are no longer random, they make the believer think that, if he can just can convince enough people to believe along with him, working together they can take down those shadowy, nefarious forces.

What helps hold conspiracy theories together is that history shows that real conspiracies do happen. From Caesar’s assassination, to the Gunpowder Plot against James I of England, to the Steele dossier, people really do come together in secret to effectuate grand plans to overthrow government. Sometimes real conspiracies seek good outcomes (as when people tried to assassinate Hitler, although they failed), but more often the whole notion of a “conspiracy” implies dark and evil deeds.

Anyway, that long intro is my way of saying that I’m not sold on the following video and am therefore not selling it to you as the ultimate explanation for all things political in America nor am I endorsing it in any way. As far as I’m concerned, rather than looking for identifiable sinister forces, it’s just as likely that fifty years of hard Left influence in academia, media, and entertainment, along with heavy immigration from people who left behind totalitarian hells and then promptly started trying to recreate them in America, naturally gave rise to Occasional Cortez and her ilk. Either way — a sinister, well-funded conspiracy or the natural growth of America’s intellectual corruption — the outcome is bad for a nation once nicely governed by a now-forgotten creed:

I believe in the United States of America as a Government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a Republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it; to support its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend it against all enemies.

So to repeat my point, by posting the following video I’m just saying that I’m intrigued by it — in significant part, as I said above, because people who have shown themselves to be solid political analysts feel that the video has something important to say. And speaking of solid political analysts, I’m interested in all of your takes about this video. So please, if you have the time, watch the video and tell me what you think: