If you’re getting some “notice me senpai” vibes from New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez right now, you’re probably thinking it’s because AOC’s pride won’t allow her to lose a fight.

You’re partly right. She reeks of unearned hubris and the personal rage she feels upon losing a fight, especially to a popular capitalist, must cause the “literally shakings.”

But it’s not just that. In fact, losing a fight with Elon Musk isn’t just a threat to her ego, it’s a threat to her entire career path.

To recap, AOC decided she’d pick a fight with the Chief Twit after he announced that Twitter would be charging $8 a month for certain services, including getting a blue check mark. The socialist congresswoman “lmao’d” at Musk, claiming that Musk was making free speech cost money. This was answered by Musk, who thanked AOC for her input, then hilariously demanded $8 from her.

Musk followed up by simply posting a picture of AOC’s mech store where she charges over $50 for shirts.

(READ: Elon Musk Follows Up On His Response to AOC With a Hilarious Look at Her Hypocrisy)

From there, AOC mounted various defenses and attacks, including claiming Musk shut down her ability to see verified accounts that were tweeting at her. Needless to say, none of them made her look good. Everything she’s doing at this point against Musk has the backdrop of hypocrisy and desperation.

The reason she’s striving so hard to one-up Musk is that AOC’s job isn’t to be a congresswoman, it’s to be a symbol.

As I’ve previously covered in more detail, looking at AOC’s record in congress, she’s no success story. Sure, she got elected in a district that would vote for a dead rat if it had a D next to its name, but from then on, she’s done little to nothing. Her success rate when it comes to bills is nothing short of anemic. In terms of legislative effectiveness, she ranks 230 out of 240 in her party, and dead last when you narrow it down to New York politicians.

But that means nothing to AOC because passing legislation or helping govern her district was never her true job.

Her actual job is to galvanize the left’s millennial base and encourage ideological and party loyalty. Her entire appeal is hard-left dynamism that breathes fresh air into the “rebellion against the man” feeling the Democrat Party fondly remembers.

To be fair, she was very successful at the beginning of her career. She actually did capture the hearts and minds of many people in America and created a fanbase that other Democrats could only hope n’ change for. They definitely tried, too. AOC couldn’t blow her nose without people like Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke trying to do it just like she did. During the 2020 elections, AOC was so mimicked by Democrat candidates that there was talk about possibly making her VP.

But like most glittery new things the Democrats throw up as their way to energize the base, AOC’s shine began to wear off. Her inability to get along with other Democrats to the point of even threatening them for stepping out of her ideological bounds made her popularity in Washington fade among her colleagues. Her consistent hypocrisy and ridiculous suggestions caused more and more people to laugh at her. Her theatrics were more embarrassing than inspiring.

AOC’s career rests more on her ability to be popular than be effective. This is why major felonies in her district can be up a whopping 57 percent since she took office and her chief concern is still getting one over on a billionaire on Twitter. It’s because if she stops being that beacon of light to the radical left, the hard-left takeover of the Democrat Party falls apart. So long as her popularity maintains and no one points out that her proverbial emperor wears no clothes, she can continue to push the idea that socialism and social justice are the solutions to society’s problems.

Her attacks against Musk are a desperate attempt to keep that illusion alive, but from the looks of it, it’s a losing battle.

We may very well be witnessing the end of the age of AOC.