The 116th Congress was sworn in amidst the chaos of a government shutdown. The media hyped the now Democratic-controlled House of Representatives as the most diverse to ever serve. Amongst these newly elected faces is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a self-proclaimed socialist from the Bronx. In her short run as a candidate and now a representative, she has on numerous occasions made bold and disproven claims and proposed radical socialist ideas such as the “Green New Deal.” This has only been good for Republicans; they seem like the party of sanity.

Unfortunately, to see the results of this insane movement happening on the left, we have to suffer through two years of watching Ocasio-Cortez ramble and propose radical agendas with harsh consequences on Americans if passed.

To most people, it’s quite obvious we have a president who ignores facts. Thankfully, President Trump does not possess the legislative power of people like Ocasio-Cortez. She doesn’t even have her facts straight enough to ignore them. In a “60 Minutes” interview she said, on getting her facts wrong, “I think there’s a lot more people concerned with being precisely, factually and semantically correct than about being morally right.”

It is truly scary to know the people of District 14 willingly sent a representative to Washington who will create policy with the potential to make life much worse for them. As if it was hard enough to deal with a person in the Oval Office tweeting outrageous statements and insults, it can only get worse with a member of Congress who prioritizes her feelings on certain issues over facts.

Ocasio-Cortez, like many of her Democratic colleagues, employs identity politics to weaponize her womanhood and her race, for example saying to screenwriter and noted liberal Aaron Sorkin that “Men have ‘gravitas,’ [and] women get ‘likeable.’” Ocasio-Cortez put forward her socialist agenda as a candidate using this momentum.

Her plan, in addition to abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and strongarming the public into financing an expensive “Green New Deal,” includes a tax scheme that would tax top-tier earners 70 percent after $10 million annual income, according to the “60 Minutes” interview, despite the fact that the top three percent of earners already pay more than half the taxes for the country as a whole.

Most concerning of all is that Ocasio-Cortez’s tax plan, backed by many of her Democratic colleagues in the House, raises tax rates across the board, including on working class Americans. This will be in order to support a socialized government that will supposedly provide free college, housing and Medicare.

For the 33 percent of Americans who identify as independents, the idea of socialist policies that will increase their taxes is not one they would welcome, especially considering that 45 percent of Americans believe their taxes are too high. This large portion of independents, along with those who believe their taxes are too high and registered Republicans, could spell bad news for the Democrats in 2020 and beyond if they allow Ocasio-Cortez to become the new face of the Democratic party.

Republicans should take advantage of Ocasio-Cortez driving the Democratic party further towards radical leftism and remake themselves into the party of sanity. The president serves as a figurehead for the party, and if he continues in his Trumpian ways, more Americans would rather turn a blind eye to socialism than let a man with problems of his own continue as president for four more years.

The first thing Republicans must do is prioritize making President Trump presidential for the last two years of his term. If they can make him seem presidential, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will drive Americans to feel it is their duty to vote red. If that happens, it will be the best thing to happen to Republicans in a long time.