Newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has lately attracted an unlikely group of fans during her rise to power in Washington: the populist right, as well as none other than President Donald Trump‘s former advisor Steve Bannon, according to a recent Politico interview.

That’s right, Bannon is among the group of right-wing public figures who have showered praise on the politically far-left congresswoman recently, dubbing her as a rising star in the Democratic Party.

“AOC has what I call ‘gameness’ or competitive heart — the combination of grit, determination, fighting spirit that you can’t coach,” Bannon told Politico. “You either have it or you don’t, and she has it big league.”

Bannon said despite the vast differences between Ocasio-Cortez’ policies and that of the right, the 29-year-old Democratic socialist can still cooperate with the populist right on a number of issues, including a stronger approach to dealing with China and stronger regulations on big tech.

Even Bannon’s former boss, Trump, doesn’t seem to mind Ocasio-Cortez calling him a racist, when he was asked about it earlier this month: “Who cares?”

Others on the populist right have similarly expressed positive sentiments about the freshman congresswoman, including pundits like Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Scott Adams, and Mike Cernovich, who has referred to Ocasio-Cortez as the Democratic Party’s “it-girl.”

“I aspire to be the conservative AOC,” said Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL) in a Politico interview, half-jokingly lamenting, “I can’t dance for shit.”

[image via screengrab]

from Mediaite http://bit.ly/2S0cWtt