Welcome to Power Players, The i Paper’s opinion series in which our writers and experts take an in-depth look at the key figures in American politics as the US reshapes itself and the world.
• The ‘swamp creature’ eclipsing JD Vance in the race to succeed Trump• The greatest hope of the Trump resistance is a 34-year-old immigrant• The 28-year-old Trump attack dog ripping up the Washington playbook• The ‘pro-white nationalist’ whose power over Trump grows every day• Trump’s military cheerleader who is learning about war the hard way• The high-flying lawyer who turned tradwife for JD Vance• The right-wing judge who put Trump above the law
On the day of the Capitol Hill riots in 2021, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – known as Sandy to her family, Alex to colleagues and AOC to the rest of us – hid in her office as pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the building in Washington DC. “I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive,” she earnestly told her millions of followers on a viral Instagram Live.
That mix of vulnerability and straight-talking candour – plus her ability to effortlessly deploy it on social media – are the superpowers that have turbocharged the rise of this 36-year-old Democratic congresswoman. Five years on, Ocasio-Cortez is now thought to be eyeing up a potential White House run in 2028. According to one early poll, 26 per cent of Democrat voters would back an Ocasio-Cortez bid for the presidency.
