WASHINGTON – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took on what her life could be like in another world, in another time where Donald Trump was not the president.

While appearing on the premiere of Showtime's new talk show "Desus & Mero," Ocasio-Cortez was asked what she would have done if she hadn't decided to run for Congress, joining a large pool of women who ran in the midterms in direct response to Trump winning the 2016 election.

Mero asked if Trump hadn't become president, "would you have run for Congress?"

"I don’t know!" Ocasio-Cortez told the pair. "I could just be like teaching in high school right now."

She continued: "But you know, times of great challenge can also bring out the best in people, too, and so I think that's what we're really seeing, even though things are hitting the fan right now, we're seeing people activate and educate themselves."

Before running for Congress in New York's 14th district and beating out 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley, Ocasio-Cortez worked as a bartender at a restaurant. Her upset victory against Crowley gained national attention and put Ocasio-Cortez and some of her socialist policies, including a large hike in taxes on the wealthy and an ambitious idea to fight climate change, in the limelight.

Republicans have denounced the policies as radical and repeatedly pointed to socialist countries like Venezuela, which are failing and corrupt. They have pointed out the high taxpayer cost for her policies, including Medicare for All, and said her ideas seem to a glimpse at the future of the Democratic party.

More:Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's first days in Congress: Treated as intern, clothing criticized

More:Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star, to school House Democrats on Twitter use

Ocasio-Cortez was also asked about all that attention, especially from conservatives, and took on all the hate, trolls and memes that seem to follow nearly every one of her social media posts.

Desus pointed out that after they posted on Twitter about her appearance on the show, they also were exposed to the intense level of hate she gets on a daily basis and asked, when that stuff happens, do you regret getting into politics?"

"No, no. I mean it is heavy but in a weird way that stuff is validation that you're doing something real," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Because if you're just flying under the radar, just trying to like get your check, like not rock the boat, then what's the point of being in politics?"

She also joined the hosts in making fun of some of the memes that are often sent to her, dubbing them "so weak."

"It's like how do you have a computer that runs both Windows 95 and Twitter at the same time?" she said, sparking laughs in the audience.