Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims there’s one bright side to the shut down

The many downsides to the record-breaking government shutdown are well known, whether it be the 800,000 government workers going without pay, trash piling up in our national parks, planes not being properly inspected, and the list goes on and on. But Monday night on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was looking at the bright side. That being that she had the free time to chase down Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after he blocked a House-passed bill that could have reopened the government from ever reaching the Senate floor. Along with a few other freshman representatives, Ocasio-Cortez searched for McConnell at his Senate Majority Leader office, the Cloak Room, which she described as “kind of like a snack room for republicans,” the Senate floor, and his Senate office. They never did find McConnell, but they left letters at each place telling him to take the bill to the floor for a vote. Ocasio-Cortez also had the free time to teach some of her less tech-savvy colleagues a thing or two about social media, and her lessons were pretty simple. “Rule number one is to be authentic, to be yourself, and don’t try to be anyone that you’re not,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “So don’t try to talk like a young kid if you’re not a young kid. Don’t post a meme if you don’t know what a meme is.” She added, “Don’t talk like the founding fathers on Twitter. If you’re a mom that likes to garden, talk like a mom that likes to garden.” But one thing Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t have time for, shutdown or not, is to worry about the criticism coming her way, even from those within her own party. Some democrats have taken issue with her meteoric rise, others with how she intends to vote. But Ocasio-Cortez made it perfectly clear that she doesn’t care. To paraphrase Colbert, when he asked from none to some how many Fs she gives, the answer was, of course, zero.