The Speaker of the House, Rep. Paul Ryan (R, WI), has had a somewhat rocky relationship with President Trump. From the beginning, it seemed that Ryan wasn’t quite sure how to deal with him. At times he spoke very critical of him.
“Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan said at a press conference in Washington Tuesday to unveil a new anti-poverty plan. “If you say something that’s wrong, I think the mature and responsible thing is to acknowledge it.”
Politico
Of course, Trump never did acknowledge it or apologize for it. Ryan went on to say that Trump was still a better choice than Hillary.
On another occasion, after Trump’s “grabbing women by the p***y” comments were aired, Ryan dis-invited Trump from an appearance with him in Wisconsin.
“I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified,” Ryan said. “I hope Mr. Trump treats this situation with the seriousness it deserves and works to demonstrate to the country that he has greater respect for women than the clip suggests.”
The Daily Beast
Of course, Trump never treated it with the “seriousness it deserves” (just locker room talk, ya’ll) or demonstrated any greater respect for women. Yet, Ryan continued to support Trump for President.
Since the election, Ryan has taken on a strategy of avoiding “tragedies” with Trump.
I can look myself in the mirror at the end of the day and say I avoided that tragedy, I avoided that tragedy, I avoided that tragedy. I advanced this goal, I advanced this goal, I advanced this goal,” Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, told the Times over a series of interviews that were published in a Tuesday report.
CNN
Ryan would not provide the Times with an example of a “tragedy” he thinks he thwarted.
In an interview with S.E. Cupp on HLN (video on CNN), Ryan explained that he believes it’s better to talk directly with Trump about issues rather than speak out negatively in public. That’s the way to get things done and he believes that he and the Republicans have gotten a lot of things done that way with Trump. He then rattles off those things. To one extent or another, he’s not wrong on getting some policy done.
Responding to some of the flak he’s received in not speaking out against Trump in exchange for getting a tax bill passed, Ryan told the Times, “I’m very comfortable with the decisions I’ve made. I would make them again, do it again the same way.”
CNN
The House speaker also said that criticizing Trump too forcefully is an ineffective strategy in dealing with him.
“It boomerangs. He goes in the other direction, so that’s not effective,” Ryan said, adding, “The pissing match doesn’t work.”
But here’s the problem…
As the leader of the party that Trump belongs to, by not speaking out strongly against Trump’s constant buffoonery, you are then linked to it, as though you condone it. That ensures that Trump will be the face of the Republican party and conservatism in general.
Trump will do great damage to the conservative movement for many years. By pretending to be a conservative, and by many conservatives jumping on the train with him or simply not calling him out on a consistent basis, Trump will be the face of conservatism for the extended, indefinite future. Democrats and the media will make sure of it.
In the past couple of years, Trump has already erased decades of fighting against the stereotypes that the left has placed on conservatives.
The “tragedies” that Ryan has been working so hard to prevent are destined to happen precisely because Ryan and many others never took a stand. All of the accomplishments of the things they got done that Ryan rattled off, are on borrowed time because of this. They are temporary, feel-good accomplishments at best, as they will all be quickly reversed as soon as the Democrats take over.
The worst part? I think it’s quite obvious that Ryan knows all of this.
He’s not retiring due to old age.
He’s gettin’ out while the gettin’ is good. It’s a very calculated move that allows him to leave his options open for the future.
How? Because he will be able to leave the circus before the s*** gets blown out of the canon. He’ll be leaving while he can still rattle off all of the accomplishments that he was able to get done and then claim no responsibility when it all comes crumbling down and the circus animals scramble…because he will have not been there when that happens.
He will be able to say, “Hey, when I left, we were in great shape!”
He will be able to come back and suggest he is the one that can clean it all up again.
I, for one, will not forget how he and all of the others cowered in the dark shadows of Trump. Will you?