As ever-gracious southerners might put it, “Bless her heart — at least she tried.”

The Left’s new socialist darling, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is, to put it kindly … struggling.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo, showing some mercy for the 28-year-old political newcomer, made an effort to toss her a softball during a Wednesday night interview on “Cuomo Prime Time.”

“Do you recognize [Nancy Pelosi] as the leader for the House Democrats?” he asked.

Nice, easy one, right? Nope.

Not only did the Left’s much-lauded millennial primary winner drop the ball, she slid in the mud in a desperate attempt to catch it, spattering a wave of conservative mockery as far as the eye can see.

It wasn’t pretty.

“Of course,” she said.

So far, so good.

“I think absolutely right now, you know … ”

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Let’s face it: “You knows” rarely bode well.

“She, she is — she is the leader of, of … No, no. She, I mean she — um, um, Speaker — or rather — Leader Pelosi, hopefully … You know. We’ll see …”

Oh my.

But then, a ray of hope — a pair of back-to-back complete sentences!

“She’s the current leader of the party and I think that the party absolutely does have its leadership in the House. We have our leadership in the Senate as well.”

Alas, hopes dashed.

That hot mess comprised a mere 30-second clip from a longer, exquisitely painful exchange between Ocasio-Cortez and a befuddled Cuomo, who did his best — albeit unsuccessfully — to help the young candidate save some face.

Even Mediaite, traditionally very kind to liberals, could not resist a dig.

Check out this section of the interview in this video:

Ben Shapiro has already offered Ocasio-Cortez $10,000 to debate him, as multiple outlets have reported.

Even the staunchest of supporters and political pundits, after Wednesday’s performance, can see why that would not go well.

Some on social media were kind and measured, though honest, in their response to the flubbed interview.

Others were left with. . . questions.

But some chose not to mince words and, flat out, let ‘er rip.

Welcome to the midterms, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Better buckle in — looks like it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.