The former Congressman for Wisconsin, Paul Ryan, recently spoke about the advice he said he gave Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she first started out at the House of Representatives and whether she took to heart any of it at all.
According to Ryan, when the AOC came in last year fresh from her winning her New York election, the former majority leader thought of giving the young representative some sage advice, as someone who had learned the ropes on being a successful public servant.
He was himself the second youngest House representative during his time which had compelled him to take Ocasio-Cortez sort of under his wing, the latter presently being the youngest member of the same.
At Tuesday's Forward Janesville dinner, however, Ryan made the observation that AOC had not paid any heed to his advice.
Speaking of the time he first met Ocasio-Cortez, he shared that he had "talked to her." He said he had given her some useful tips on how to just stay a "good member" of Congress, but he quipped, to the amusement of his audience, that he did not believe "she really listened" to any of the things he shared with her on how to get on as the youngest member of the House.
Ryan went on to share that he had asked her to just "take it easy," stay watching by the sidelines without provoking attention, "don't ruffle," and observe how things worked. This was nearly the same advice his mother had given him when he had been elected.
He pointed to "best advice" he said he gave himself which his mom as well as many others before him also gave him: to use his "two ears" and his "mouth" according to that proportion. He went on to share that even though one can be "ready to go," one needed to realize that it was not possible to "know everything."
According to Ryan, who now serves on the board for the Fox Corporation, there are loads to be learned from just listening, and then after, one may then apply what one learns. But Ocasio-Cortez seems to be made of sterner stuff, because not only has she ignored the free advice, she has embraced the total opposite of the listen-and-learn approach that Ryan espoused.
Unfazed by the criticism she invites for being straightforward and unapologetic, she has determinedly pushed forward her Green Deal, determinedly examined facts at the Michael Cohen hearing, and never miss a beat in taking her castigators to account.
That she blazed her path instead of heeding advice from Ryan has gone down well with some social media users like one who pointed out something "better" than AOC not "listening" to "what Paul Ryan" has said: "none" have to "listen" to anything he has to say "ever again."
