If there’s one thing that most Americans can likely agree on, it’s just how low GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan has gone in appeasing the reckless President of the United States.
Throughout Donald Trump’s first four months in office, the Speaker has ignored each of Trump’s egregious assaults on U.S. institutions, all for a chance to cut taxes for the wealthy, further pollute the environment, and strip health benefits from millions of Americans.
A Republican who has spent a career boasting that his religion guides his political agenda, Ryan has shamelessly given the amoral ignoramus in the White House political cover on every single one of his transgressions.
But on Monday, after the president reportedly leaked highly classified intelligence to – who else? – the Russians, it’ll be hard for the spineless GOP leader to hide under a rock, hoping it blows over.
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This time, Ryan’s own words will be his worst enemy.
Let’s flash back to the summer of 2016 when the possible leaking of classified information really seemed to upset the Speaker.
Video:
Individuals who are “extremely careless” with classified information should be denied further access to such info. pic.twitter.com/0C76Ae95LD
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 7, 2016
Referencing then-FBI Director James Comey’s comments about Hillary Clinton’s email use, Ryan said this:
In Director Comey’s statement Tuesday, he said and I will quote: “This is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engages in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions.” And just this morning, he stated that there are often very severe consequences for mishandling classified information, so it stands to reason that individuals who are “extremely careless” with classified information should be denied further access to such information.
Once again, a Republican leader is on tape attacking the 2016 popular vote winner for something that doesn’t even register on the reckless endangerment meter. But when Trump is guilty of doing something far more damaging, the country is graced with the sound of GOP crickets.
We didn’t need another example to prove that Paul Ryan is a spineless hack without any real moral center. It’s all politics to him – no matter how much damage is being done to the country.
But today – after Trump so obviously committed what Ryan himself characterized last year as a disqualifying act – we get to find out how low the House Speaker will sink to defend Trump, the most dangerous president in history.
Will Paul Ryan finally stand up to Trump in a meaningful way? Don’t count on it.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
