Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is all about appearances, not reality.  But yesterday, a stunt she pulled off managed to alienate a powerful Democrat.  She (or her Svengali, Saikat Chakrabarti, whose Justice Democrats auditioned hundreds of people looking for House candidates who could play the role of charismatic social justice warrior) understands that as the old saw has it, "a picture is worth a thousand words."

Reality has no necessary relationship with the visual message the ingénue creates.  The now notorious picture of her weeping, her face in her hands, as she gazed upon...an empty parking lot is a good example.  (A bit of united hilarity is provided by left-wing hit site Snopes.com as it declared the pictures "false" and a "conspiracy theory" because of another picture they provide that also shows...an empty road that leads to a detention center.  I'm not making this up.)

Yesterday, Ocasio-Cortez's demand for a phony photo op was so egregious that even her committee chairman, Elijah Cummings, pointed out that it was not necessary.

At a hearing on migrant children and border security, @AOC is sworn in for dramatic effect.

"We usually don't require a swearing in, but you want to be sworn in?" --@RepCummings

"Yes." @AOC pic.twitter.com/lqeQrDoTT0

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) July 12, 2019

I'll give her this much: she has mastered the concerned-and-sad look.  I wonder how long she practiced it in front of a mirror.

(Twitter video screen grab.)

Ocasio-Cortez is steadily alienating other Democrats, including the vitally important Congressional Black Caucus.  Chairman Cummings did not argue with her on the swearing in, but you can be sure he was not pleased.