She's one of the very few people in congress who does not accept corporate or foreign donations. She's also hugely popular, especially among young people.
At the same time, Zohran is already delivering in NYC -- when 2028 comes around, he will likely be massively popular and AOC's association with him will give a ton of weight to the feasibility of a bold progressive vision to rebuild.
The corporate/ruling class is rightfully threatened by the possibility of an AOC presidential run -- whether you mean to or not, you're doing their work for them.
I know most people think RFK Jr is acting out of love of the game, but my theory is that Trump has some lever of control over him and is actively trying to test the boundary. Renaming the Kennedy Center, reversing this ban on glyphosate, hell even that picture on the plane where they're all eating McDonald's -- it all just seems designed explicitly to attack all the little points of pride RFK had before joining the administration and humiliate him into submission.
Ultimately I don't think it matters though. Regardless of whether RFK Jr is being controlled or is acting purely on his own volition, he's enabling and contributing to the destruction of the country and that's all that really matters.