Fighting Trump's agenda a Ryan shame!

POWER corrupts, and in the case of House Republicans, it corrupted immediately. Their scam to rig the congressional ethics system couldn’t survive the light of a single day, but the smoldering debris offers a reminder that “me, me, me” remains the top priority of the political class.

Give Donald Trump credit for tweeting his disapproval of the late-night changes and setting the reversal in motion. It was an example of how the presidentelect’s pledge to “drain the swamp” has raised expectations for more honest government, and his quick response showed he’s not exempting the leaders of his own party. Bravo.

Although Speaker Paul Ryan (pictured) opposed the changes, he defended them after Republican members voted to gut the role of an independent watchdog by a vote of 119 to 74, behind closed doors and with no public debate. Ryan thus handed the Democrats and their leader Nancy Pelosi a New Year’s gift, and she wasted no time in charging that “ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”

Talk about your miracles — Ryan managed to unite the oddest of political bedfellows, Trump and Pelosi. For his next trick, maybe the Boy Wonder will get the House to do the people’s business.

In the grand scheme of things to come in these tumultuous times, the sorry episode will not be long remembered. But what it says about the self-serving arrogance of Washington and of politics in general should not be forgotten.

The attempt to gut ethics oversight was especially galling because it was the first business taken up by the new Congress. As Trump urged, Republicans should “focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!” It is outrageous that Ryan needed to be reminded.

Moreover, the action came a day after Barack Obama consigliere Valerie Jarrett boasted that his White House had been scandal-free for the last eight years, a claim which is itself scandalous. Obama’s politicizing of the IRS, intelligence gathering and the Justice Department mark corruption of the highest order, and the lie that four Americans were killed in Benghazi over a video passed without accountability only because the Democratic media turned lapdog instead of watchdog.

Besides, if the public agreed with Jarrett about the virtues of the Obama White House, Hillary Clinton would be president-elect.

Make no mistake, Trump’s election is very much about corruption at all levels of government. It’s not simply a matter of officials stuffing their pockets with illicit cash or other criminal acts, although there are more than enough of those to create public cynicism.

Rather, the most insidious corruption is the go-along, get-along routine of rubber-stamping special-interest requests, with winning and wielding power mostly about protecting alternate groups of sacred cows. In that sense, big business and government unions and even tax hikes and tax cuts are two sides of the same political coin rather than solutions to the problems facing hardworking Americans.

Ultimately, the Trump election was about the real world, and he offers the potential for a dramatic break from the tired warfare of left vs. right, Democrat vs. Republican. It was about making the country great by putting the American people first, many of whom have not benefited from the protection rackets that dominate Washington and most statehouses and city halls.

Trump’s approach sounds almost too simple to be meaningful, until you gird it with attitudes and policies and his force-of-nature personality. Already, he is paying dividends, including yesterday’s announcement by Ford Motor that it is canceling plans to build a new plant in Mexico and will instead invest in Michigan and add some 700 jobs.

That means 700 more families will get a shot at the American dream because the president-elect promises to fight for jobs. That’s change that matters.

Next to that fact, and in light of Trump’s earlier job-saving deals with Carrier and other companies, Ryan’s role in the House ethics scam should embarrass him and adds doubt to whether he’s up to the job. His challenge, and that of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is to work with Trump to shrink Washington’s reach while also making it more of the solution and less of the problem. It doesn’t mean they always must agree with him, but his agenda should be their agenda.

If they can’t do that, they ought to get out of town before voters throw them out. That’s the spirit of 2017.