‘Floored’ union leader called AOC new Springsteen after shock primary win, book says

New York progressive star among subjects of The Rebels, survey of the modern US left by Joshua Green

Donald Trump famously compared the New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Eva Perón, the Argentinian first lady known as Evita. But a new book reveals that when the young Latino left-winger burst onto the US political scene in 2018, one US labour leader made perhaps a more telling comparison – to Bruce Springsteen.

“I was floored,” Michael Podhorzer, then political director of the AFL-CIO, told the author Joshua Green. “The best comparison I can make is to the famous Jon Landau line: ‘I’ve seen rock’n’roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.’”