Part of the crowd at Thursday night’s Trump March 28, 2019 rally in Michigan started chanting "AOC sucks," referencing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), after Donald Trump Jr. criticized her ideas. After all, the president’s son is such an authority on American politics, and his father loves women targets, in particular.

“Think about the fact that every mainstream, leading Democratic contender is taking the advice of a freshman congresswoman who three weeks ago didn’t know the three branches of government,” the president's son told the crowd ahead of his dad’s speech. “I don’t know about you guys, but that’s pretty scary.”

After Junior’s remark — AOC calls him ‘Junior’ — the crowd broke into the "AOC sucks" chant. Read Charlotte Alter’s cover story 'Change Is Closer Than We Think.' Inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Unlikely Rise’. We hope that AOC will just ignore the chants, because they may be with her all the way to 2020.

The Trump crowd loves to denigrate smart women because females with brains that function on overdrive have a very small place in their universe. Daddy’s girl Ivanka Trump, Trumpsters embrace. Do you see a pattern here? I’m sure that Trump had a proverbial heart attack when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — hardly a member of the Trump family inner sanctum — showed up on the cover of last week’s TIME magazine.

“You guys, you’re not very nice,” Trump Jr. responded to the crowd shouting “AOC sucks”. “And neither is what that policy would do to this country.”

Junior is speaking about the Green New Deal.

The Senate on Tuesday blocked legislation to advance the Green New Deal resolution to the floor on a procedural vote, with most Democrats voting present. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up the vote to test Democratic Party’s unity over climate change.

It’s true that many Senate Democrats didn’t want to publicly back the resolution’s ambitious goals. Now, various supporters of the climate change measure, including Ocasio-Cortez herself, are focusing on new, smaller bills in an effort to get back on the offensive on climate change heading into 2020.

AOC is a quick study, in our opinion. The more that she’s made into the devil incarnate by Republicans, the more committed this AOC is to stand behind her. Now only do we share an acronym, but we share common values. Being older — if not wiser — we are more circumspect that the Bronx-Queens Congresswoman about creating change. But we need AOC’s passion, intellect and her voice. The Republicans can try to discredit the young Congresswoman, but we see major streaks of informed, truth-telling brilliance in her latest speech. Here’s a sample from the video below:

"When we talk about the concern for the environment as an elitist concern, one year ago I was waitressing in a taco shop in downtown Manhattan. I just got health insurance for the first time a month ago. This is not an elitist issue. This is a quality of life issue. You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist? Tell that to the kids in the South Bronx which are suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country. Tell that to the families in Flint whose kids, their blood is ascending in lead levels, their brains are damaged for the rest of their lives. Call them elitist. You're telling them that those kids are trying to get on a plane to Davos? People are dying!"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is having her feet held to the fire in a way she probably never anticipated. Unlike ‘Junior’ the young woman has a dedicated relationship with her constituents, and that IS HER JOB! AOC has a voice, and she’s willing to use it. Note that her national poll numbers are under assault, which is why this political rising star needs some steadfast support from established voices that offer her some cover. Anne of Carversville is such an example of blocking and tackling for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has not come quietly to Washington, even though she is the right-wing’s chief bogeyperson, as they track her every move. Writing for GQ, Jay Willis says in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter Presence Is a Blueprint for 2020 Democrats::

Now that she is a real-life congresswoman-elect and no longer the hypothetical embodiment of their worst nightmare, right-wing media's fixation on Ocasio-Cortez has metastasized from standard-issue fearmongering to a transparent, desperate obsession. Over the past few weeks, earnest dunk attempts from aspiring Twitter celebrities have centered on her correct opinion that Election Day should be a national holiday; her accidental use of the word "chambers" instead of "branches"; her reluctance to pay rent in two of the most expensive cities in America at the same time; and, of course, her possession of multiple pieces of cold-weather clothing, which was meant to suggest that she must secretly be rich, because as everyone knows, Merriam-Webster defines "working-class" as "owning only one coat."

Politico writes Monday that Ocasio-Cortez is leading a group of progressives very unsettled by the prospect of West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin assuming a minority leadership position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

At a Friday rally outside the Capitol, Ocasio-Cortez joined other Democratic lawmakers and other incoming Democratic freshmen, arguing that allowing Manchin to become the ranking member of the Energy committee would undercut the momentum behind their "Green New Deal" proposal that calls for transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy sources within a decade of initiating the plan.

“The vast majority of Americans believe that we should not be taking money from the industries that we are legislating and really presiding over in our committee work, but in D.C. that’s a controversial opinion,” Ocasio-Cortez said alongside youth climate activists from the Sunrise Movement.

Manchin, who has a 47 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters Joe Manchin has a steady — and expected position given that he’s elected to support voters in his coal country state — regularly accepts election campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.

Supporters of the Green New Deal say the activism that propelled candidates like Ocasio-Cortez to Washington underscores the citizen support for action on climate change. The argument gained momentum with federal scientists from 13 agencies last week issuing a report forecasting dire economic and physical consequences across America if greenhouse gas emissions continue rising.

“A decade ago it was a little easier to hide behind, ‘I’ve got a state where we can’t do this,’” Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) told POLITICO after the event, noting her Maine delegation colleagues Sens. Angus King (I) and Susan Collins (R) often side with Democrats on climate issues. “It may be hard for Joe Manchin to be there, but I think there’s going to be a lot of other colleagues who say, ‘Hey, this needs to be on our agenda, we’ve got to move forward with some legislation.’ And they could be on both sides of the aisle.”