Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Political Coquette Paul Ryan Stops Acting Coy, Surrenders to Trump

Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, got done playing hard-to-get. He finally swooned before the power of the Trump wave and endorsed Donald Trump.

Ryan, a Representative from Wisconsin, kept saying he really wanted to endorse the Big Egomaniac, if only the Volatile Narcissist would say the right words. Just reassure him.

But finally Ryan had to cave in, as the Republican cadres stampeded behind Trump. Ryan couldn't risk standing alone and isolated. (What, you were expecting maybe a Profile in Courage? A Man of Principle? Pshaw! This is a politician, baby!)

Trump didn't really say anything different. Just put on his Charm persona for a meeting with Ryan, Reince Priebus, he of the bizarre name (is that a type of amoeba or something?) the chairman of the Republican National Committee, played matchmaker and afterwards spread glad verbal tidings like he was strewing rose pedals.

Maybe Paul thought he could change the man after he married him. Married him politically, that is.

No sooner had Ryan let Trump politically deflower him, than already the ride got rocky. Trump insists on taking racist shots at the Federal judge hearing two of the civil cases in the Trump "University" swindle. Trump evidently knows he's guilty as sin, so he has been hollering about how unfair the judge is, on account of the judge is "Mexican," (a born-American of Mexican heritage- so by Trump's logic, we need to call Trump a German) and Trump is building a wall on the Mexican border, as he intones to interviewers, implying they are dense to not see the obvious source of the judge's "bias." Trump has to preemptively give himself an alibi for when he loses the case. He's going to gin up his ignorant followers into a frenzy of outrage, hoping to intimidate or at least pressure the judiciary.

Of course, whenever Trump doesn't get his way, a Terrible Injustice has been done to him.

Overgrown spoiled brat, anyone?

The Republicans have been justifying their embrace of Trump with the line that Hillary Clinton would be so awful as president that this terrible fate for the nation must be avoided no matter what. (Actually she's fundamentally the same as them. An imperialist, U.S. hegemonist, and corporate oligarchy servant out for herself. This is purely partisan politics, rival political gangs in a tug of war over who gets power, like two dogs snarling and pulling on the same bone.)

As Ryan put it in rationalizing his embrace of Trump, "This is about preventing a third progressive liberal term."
Yeah, Ryan thinks "Drone Man" Obama, he of the omnivorous secret police surveillance state, the man who deported millions of "aliens," more than any other president, ever, who is the terror of whistleblowers on whom he sics FBI raiders, who forced the medical insurance plan of the reactionary Heritage Foundation down our throats, is a "progressive liberal."

And he thinks Hillary Clinton, a militarist and aggressive imperialist, who with her husband enacted a myriad of repressive laws, helped increase the U.S. prison population to world historic levels, gutted welfare, waged vicious "drug war" on poor communities, blockaded Iraq and killed half a million children in the process, is also a "progressive liberal." Her most recent crime, as Obama's Secretary of State, was backing the Honduran coup, opening the way for the terror state that exists there now.

Ryan is slated to formally preside over the Republican convention, at which Trump will be officially anointed the GOP (Gang Of Plunderers) candidate for President of the United States of America. (Trumpets please.) He had demurely offered to step down from that role if Trump so desired, in the event the courtship hadn't come to fruition.

Ryan announced his intent to vote for Trump (not exactly a ringing endorsement) in the form of a column in his hometown newspaper. Plus some media appearances.

Ryan's published statement was so much guff, of the standard GOP type- regulations are "destroying" both jobs and the economy itself,  America needs to be "saved," there's going to be a great new tax system (how many decades can they keep promising that rainbow?), - and oh,his gang is going to put forward plans to fix all this "this month," meaning June. Also in June, "We’ll present the ideal national security and foreign policy to keep Americans safe," and "we’ll offer a better way to help lift people out of poverty and into lives of self-determination."

Really. All of a sudden you have brand new ways to remake the U.S. and turn it into a paradise for everyone!

You have to wonder, how many stupid people are there out there who believe this stuff? (Probably about the same number who are enthralled by the boorish demagogue Trump.)

One sentence struck me as ironic: "I’ve spent most of my adult life pursuing ways to help protect the “American Idea”—the notion that the condition of one’s birth does not determine the outcome of one’s life," Ryan- or an assistant- wrote.

So, Trump's birth, to a wealthy real estate baron, didn't determine the outcome of his life? I think it might have, Paul, to some degree. This "American idea" of yours sounds like an ideological fantasy, not reality. The U.S. happens to be a class society. And statistics have revealed that there is now more social mobility in 'sclerotic' Europe than in the U.S. 

But you know what Saint Reagan said: "Facts are stupid things."

And global warming is a hoax.

1] "Paul Ryan: Donald Trump can help make reality of bold House policy agenda," Janesville (Wisconsin) Gazette, June 2, 2016. Meaning, a Republican president will sign, not veto, any and all horrible laws a Republican Congress passes. Ugh.


The simpering Paul Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, second in line of succession to the Presidency of the United States after the Vice President.

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