Trump said Ocasio-Cortez has ‘certain talent’ but ‘knows nothing’: book

President Trump reportedly praised Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for having a “certain talent,” going so far as to compare her to the former first lady of Argentina, Eva Perón. 

But the president tempered that praise by saying that the freshman lawmaker “knows nothing,” according to the soon-to-be released book, “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump,” The Guardian reported. 

{mosads}Trump reportedly said in an interview for the book that he first came across Ocasio-Cortez during her primary race against former Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and  told Politico’s Tim Alberta that he saw a “young woman” on the television “ranting and raving like a lunatic on a street corner, and I said: ‘That’s interesting, go back.’”

Alberta, whose book is set to be released on July 16, wrote that Trump said he “became enamored” and “starstruck” with the rising politician afterward, The Guardian reported. 

“I called her Eva Perón,” Trump said, referring to the actress who married former Argentinian president Juan Perón and who gained acclaim as an advocate for the working class. “I said, ‘That’s Eva Perón. That’s Evita.’ ”

Trump reportedly later reminded his advisers that he “spotted talent” after Ocasio-Cortez upset Crowley in a 2018 Democratic primary.   

“She’s got talent,” Trump said in the book, The Guardian reported. “Now, that’s the good news. The bad news: she doesn’t know anything. She’s got a good sense, an ‘it’ factor, which is pretty good, but she knows nothing. But with time, she has real potential.”

Ocasio-Cortez has become a rising star within the Democratic Party over the past year. The congresswoman has remained outspoken about numerous issues since being sworn into Congress and has repeatedly criticized the president. 

She said last week that the U.S. was heading to “fascism” under Trump after visiting U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities near the southern border. 

“Are we headed to fascism? Yes. I don’t think there’s a question,” Ocasio-Cortez told Yahoo News. “If you actually take the time to study, and to look at the steps, and to see how government transforms under authoritarian regimes, and look at the political decisions and patterns of this president, the answer is yes.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.