AOC Knows That if Paul Ryan Offers You Advice, Always Do the Opposite

It’s tradition for politicians departing Washington to offer advice to those coming in. But there are some politicians whose awfulness and ineptitude simply cannot outweigh their experience. Paul Ryan is one of those politicians.

Ryan spoke at a dinner in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin this week, and in the 45-minute interview in front of about 700 guests, he was asked about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. When Ryan began his time in Congress, he was very young, like AOC, and he talks about the energy he had then. I can only imagine how hard 28-year-old Ryan must have worked to screw over poor and sick Americans. He must look back on those days with dead-eyed fondness.

Anyway, he says he spoke to AOC and “gave her a few little tips about being a good member of Congress … Take it easy, just watch things for a while, don’t ruffle, you know, see how it works first.”

As Ryan notes, “I don’t think she listened to a thing I said.” And the room laughed.

Because sure, that’s funny. That is most definitely not how Ocasio-Cortez is approaching her new job. She’s not worried about making waves or shaking things up or drawing attention. But it’s less funny than Ryan seems to think, because it’s politicians like him that made it so the new batch of fiery lawmakers have to work so very hard to shake things up. When Paul Ryan stepped down as Speaker of the House last year, he left behind a legacy of ineffectualness, ethical disregard, and extreme partisan division and demonization. Paul Ryan is why AOC and other progressive legislators have to fight so hard to make progress on issues like climate change, healthcare, or ethics reform. Because Paul Ryan sat in his office for two decades and left behind nothing of value.

(via Mediaite, image: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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