Is there a politician in America as craven as Paul Ryan? On Election Eve, he was again distancing himself from Donald Trump—after hugging the Republican nominee a little tighter for a few days.
“As a party leader, as the highest elected official in the party, I have always felt a duty to the process, to democracy, to the primary voter who must be respected. And he won this fair and square,” Ryan added. “But no one person controls this party. This is a bottom-up, organic grassroots party based on conservative principles.”
This is nonsense. If the Republican Party is a bottom-up, organic party, it’s Donald Trump’s party. Ryan’s hope of having it not be Trump’s party has one goal: for the party establishment to reassert control. Ryan’s not shy about why he’s doing the Trump dance.
“What do you think helps [Sen.] Ron Johnson and Mike Gallagher and all our candidates across the country more in the closing two days of an election: having party discord and having party leaders snub each other, or unifying the Republican Party and focusing and prosecuting our case against Hillary Clinton?" Ryan responded.
“I don’t care if our party’s nominee is a sexual predator whose campaign has embraced white supremacists—I want to win now!”
Any reporter who keeps giving Ryan credit for being A Republican Who Cares About Poverty or whatever nonsense he was selling from 2013 until the rise of Trump is a fool. Actually, make that any reporter who gives him credit for having any kind of principles beyond Republican victory.
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