Donald Trump’s attack on his own attorney general for indicting two corrupt Republican members of Congress is a spectacular statement of Trump’s intent to put Republican politicians above the law, and to find an attorney general who’ll help him do it. So what does Paul Ryan, the Boy Scout of the House, think of this clear-cut case of obstruction?
"Justice is blind, justice should be blind. It should have no respect with respect to political party. Look, I mean, that's the emblem of the Justice Department: blind justice," he said. "So I think it's very important that we respect the fact that justice should be blind. It should have no impact on political party, and I think the process is working its way as it should."
In short, Ryan’s position is that Trump is wrong … but he’s not willing to say so in so many words, let alone seriously call Trump out on it. Justice should be blind, and Trump wants it to be anything but, but Ryan won’t say the second part of that. Blind justice shouldn’t see political party, while Trump wants his Republican attorney general to protect Republican members of Congress in an election year, but Ryan won’t say the second part of that. The process is working as it should, while Trump wants to obstruct that process, but Ryan won’t say the second part of that, either.
Ryan doesn’t just want to avoid making Trump angry. He can’t admit how corrupt Trump is because it implicates House Republicans for not investigating Trump’s corruption, because it delegitimizes the things Ryan needed Trump to achieve. Paul Ryan is choosing the Republican agenda of tax cuts for the wealthy and service and healthcare cuts for everyone else over basic honesty and integrity, and if he criticizes Trump, his complicity becomes harder to ignore.
Justice may be blind, but not as blind as Paul Ryan pretends to be any time Trump does something outrageous.
This is why it’s so important to take back the House. Can you chip in even $1?
