George Will gets it exactly right: Paul Ryan disgraced himself when he endorsed The Donald.
Some say in extenuation of Ryan’s behavior that if he could not embrace Trump, he could not continue as speaker. But is Ryan, who was reluctant to become speaker, now more indispensable to the nation’s civic health than Trump is menacing to that health? Ryan could have enhanced that health by valuing it above his office.
In March, Trump said of Ryan: “I’m sure I’m going to get along great with him. And if I don’t, he’s going to have to pay a big price.” Ryan has now paid a staggering price by getting along with Trump. And what did Ryan purchase with the coin of his reputation?
There are all sorts of things on Ryan’s agenda that I don’t like, but I did imagine him to be a man of (misguided) principle.
Alas, encouraged by Ryan’s capitulation (and so many others’), Trump has spiraled off to la-la-land, transmogrifying into a grotesque cartoon character. Wouldn’t it be a stitch if the Republican surrender of all principle, and even ordinary decency, had the result of freeing the “inner Donald” and inspiring the nationwide revulsion that he deserves?
There is this: Nobody can fail to see now how squalid, unprincipled, malicious and ignorant the Republican base really is since the party became the political arm of a religious movement.