Dan Drezner: The invisible heroism of Paul Ryan: "Back in March, I wrote.... 'Why, exactly, is Paul D. Ryan being so quiet? What does he hope to accomplish at this point? I don’t know. I would love to hear from someone who does'...
...Lo and behold, we get to hear from someone who knows—Paul Ryan himself.... “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”.... What to make of Ryan’s claims?... This dog won’t hunt. Ryan is not a White House staffer or a bureaucrat, he’s the goddamn speaker of the House, a co-equal branch of government, last time I checked the Constitution. If Ryan had said no on a few things, it was not like Trump could have fired him or forced him out. Sure, Ryan might have faced a more contentious House GOP caucus. It seems clear, however, that no one else who really wanted to be House speaker would have had the juice to oust Ryan. The very fact that Ryan talks as if he is Trump’s subordinate suggests the degree of supplication he has accepted in the Age of Trump....
Ryan could have said no... on tariffs, on Russia policy, on protecting the special counsel’s investigation, on whether the press is the enemy of the American people.... He could have stuck his neck out a bit more in the name of decency.... Instead, he chose a different path. He went along with all of Trump’s illiberal rhetoric for a budget-busting, growth-enervating tax cut. History will judge that choice harshly. I hope Ryan enjoys the extra pieces of silver he earned for making Trump’s political life more tolerable. Going forward, the rest of the country will have to borrow that sum many times over just to pay the bills...
#shouldread
