Ryan’s moment of truth
Republican leaders are struggling to come to terms with Donald Trump. Some have embraced a man who mocks GOP orthodoxy. Some stand against an existential threat to conservatism. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he is “not ready” to endorse Trump, leaving open the possibility of acceptance after the two men meet Thursday.
A man of well-known principles, Ryan cannot genuflect before Trump without betraying the core of his expressed beliefs. Far worse, Ryan would surrender the high office he holds to a candidate whose very persona is unfit for the presidency of the United States of America.
Many of the perceived qualities that have won Trump 10.7 million votes out of an electorate of 130 million voters are the very characteristics that disqualify him for the Oval Office.
Supporters say Trump tells it like it is. In fact, he spins fables and tells outright lies with bravado.
Supporters say Trump will bring a billionaire businessman’s brilliance to Washington. In fact, he is a huckster who is trailed by accusations of fraud and who recently proposed destroying the world’s trust in the bedrock of U.S. government finance.
Supporters say can-do deal-maker Trump will demolish sclerotic Washington and deliver on his promises. In fact, he is a wholly unprincipled salesman who will say whatever he thinks will get him elected and then say exactly the opposite when the opposite seems more popular.
Trump is in extreme makeover mode with the hope of becoming more palatable to general election voters.
In the thick of the Republican primaries, for example, Trump kept faith with GOP opposition to raising the minimum wage — a position based on the idea that hiking the wage kills jobs. He went so far as to complain that “wages are too high.”
On Sunday, the neo-Democrat told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that “people have to get more,” flatly admitting that “it’s a change” in his position.
However, in the same interview, the neo-Republican refused to endorse a boost in the $7.25 federal minimum wage.
Similarly, where the neo-Republican had proposed slashing tax rates across the board, delivering an especially huge windfall to the wealthiest Americans, the neo-Democrat now said taxes on the wealthy will “go up a little bit,” adding “I have a feeling we may pay some more.”
Meantime, the self-proclaimed “king of debt” considered the certainty that near-zero interest rates will eventually rise, driving up the cost of U.S. borrowing. He broached the idea of trying to buy back outstanding bonds for less than the government owed on them — a scheme that is both a virtual impossibility and as close to defaulting on U.S. obligations as a would-be President can get.
Of course, he blamed the press, specifically the New York Times, for misunderstanding the plain meaning of his words, lunatically adding “you never have to default because you print the money.”
Millions could drown in the shallow pool of the man’s dangerously inconsistent ideas, electrified by his profoundly unpresidential temperament.
Trump supported the Iraq War before it started, then claimed to have been against it all along.
He said the war in Afghanistan was a mistake before he reversed.
He backed admitting Syrian refugees before it seemed politically inconvenient.
He had three different positions on abortion in two days.
He said he could eliminate the national debt within eight years — then pooh-poohed that goal.
He supported torture and killing of civilians in war, then didn’t, then returned to the illegal stands.
Meanwhile, Trump trumpets his signature opposition to trade; calls for disastrous trade wars; vows to build a wall on the Mexico border; pledges to deport every last undocumented immigrant, and vows to ban Muslims.
He repeats those stances like the chorus of a hit song because they are the only claims he haven’t changed. Yet.
Knee starting to bend, Ryan says he is only getting to know Trump. He knows enough and it is too much to stomach.