Last week I began to understand how the Democrats will lose the 2020 presidential election. The reality is that they are not a single party, but two: one liberal, one socialist. The former can beat Trump — but not if it is associated with the latter.

Socialism is a term for so long regarded as anathema in the United States that it used to be avoided altogether: Instead of “socialism,” one said either “progressivism” or “the s-word.” These days, however, the s-word is no longer taboo. In their eagerness to recruit a new generation of young voters, the Democrats have — not for the first time in their history — admitted a faction of radical ideologues into their midst.

Exhibit A is the “Green New Deal” unveiled on Thursday by the Bronx’s very own La Pasionaria, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and the rather less glamorous 72-year-old senator from Massachusetts, Ed Markey.