Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Simplifies the House Speaker Chaos on ‘The Daily Show’: Watch

On Monday night, Desus Nice took over guest hosting duties for The Daily Show and welcomed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House representative for New York's 14th district, to talk about the latest news regarding her chamber, which has been without a speaker for three weeks following the Oct. 3 ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the role.

When Nice asked the congresswoman to explain the turmoil in laymen's terms a fellow "Bronx-ite" could comprehend, she said bluntly, "Republicans kicked out their speaker, and now they can't find a new guy to run their group projects, and they're all fighting with each other about it."

Ocasio-Cortez warned of the consequences of the continued vacancy of the position to everyday folks, saying, "We've got a clock ticking on a government shutdown, and if this gets us to the point of a government shutdown, I mean, that's real. That's when we start seeing TSA and airports getting affected."

However, she warned that it should not be a snap decision by any means. "Also, we need to make sure that we don't have people like Jim Jordan or extremists because whoever takes over the House could potentially put our democracy in danger when it comes to certifying or recertifying an election and so on," she said.

For her part, Ocaiso-Cortez vowed to continue to vote in lockstep with her party for Hakeem Jeffries.

Elsewhere in the interview, she was asked about the vitriol that is routinely directed her way on social media, and she joked, "It's not that different than the 6 Train at midnight sometimes. So you get that practice in."

Monday marked Nice's first night taking over The Daily Show hosting duties as part of its ongoing series of celebrity guests, following the exit of Trevor Noah after seven years. Nice previously co-hosted Showtime's late-night comedy show Desus & Mero, which ran from 2019-2022. Nice is the second to take over temporary as temporary emcee of the Comedy Central tentpole, following Michael Kosta last week.

Future hosts for this season include Charlamagne tha God (week of Oct. 30), Sarah Silverman (week of Nov. 6), Leslie Jones (week of Nov. 13), The Daily Show news team (Week of Nov. 20) and Michele Wolf (week of Nov. 27).

The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central.