In all this punditry about how "socialism" cost Democrats the Senate, it should probably be noted that nothing @AOC proposed is actually socialism. Shouldn't that matter?

"Socialism" didn't cost Democrats anything at the polls.

Refusing to fight back against @GOP efforts to brand every single Democratic policy idea as socialism is what cost Democrats at the polls.

Criminal justice reform isn't socialism. The Green New Deal isn't socialism. Making multinational corporations pay a sane tax rate isn't socialism. Protecting our environment from the oil and fracking industry isn't socialism. It's just good government.

Here's a secret: Republicans brand healthcare reform, policing reform, racial justice and climate change as "socialist" to make their absolute failure to solve these problems into a virtue. That's it.