Paul Ryan, once the darling of the GOP, has now become the face of the spineless Republican Party. Ryan, while on one hand decries Trump's racist rhetoric, still refuses to unendorse him. Yes, he is awful and racist and we know he is terrible for our country, but I still support him...because...I have no spine.
In an interview with George Stephanopolous on today's This Week, he was asked about a variety of topics, including Trump, Muslims, border control and mass deportation.
STEPHANOPOULOS: In your Program For A Better Way, 67 different proposals there. One of them having to do with immigration, protecting our borders. No mention of that wall paid for by Mexico. Do you think that's a realistic proposal?
RYAN: I think securing the the border is a realistic proposal. We can debate about how best to secure our border. We propose to secure the border a different way. If you talk to the experts on the border, there are places where walls are necessary. But there are places where fences and other kinds of things are necessary.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mexico paying for it?
RYAN: Well, I never supported that. That and the mass deportation is something I also spoke out against. Look, we're not going to agree with our nominee on everything. Mitt Romney and I didn't agree on everything and I ran on the ticket with him. So it's a little much to ask that everybody agrees on everything.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Not everything, but he talks about having Mexico pay for the wall in every speech. He talks about the temporary ban on Muslims in every speech. In your 67 proposals, no mention of that ban. He talks --
RYAN: Let me say why – because we don't agree with that ban. We don't believe we should have a religious test on people coming into this country. We should have a security test. So, we don't agree on that. That's fine. Good people can disagree on these things. What we do agree on, George, and what is part of our national security strategy, we really do believe we need to control who comes and goes in this country. If only for national security reasons, but for economic security as well. And so, yes we do need to secure the border. We can have a good debate about how to secure the border. But we agree on the goal of securing the border.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If you look at the big issues he talks about in every single speech. Those are all things that you’ve come out against. How can you say that the things you agree on outweigh the things you disagree on?
Ryan did a little tap dance, not really answering the question and instead offering some flaccid "we are kind of on the same page" explanation.
PAUL: Because the kinds of conversations I have had with him are about what our agenda is going to look like, where we want to go as a country and as a party. What our principles are. He agrees with our need to get people out of poverty and move people from welfare to work. We all agree on replacing Obamacare with patient-centered healthcare. We all agree with comprehensive tax reform to grow the economy. We agree we need to strengthen our military. We agree we need a better foreign policy. And on the big issues and the big questions of the day, we see common ground.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But it seems like you guys on parallel, but not touching paths. You're talking about one set of policies. He's talking about another on the stump.
RYAN: That's his right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But then you're not giving the American people the choice.
RYAN: Oh, I don't think that's necessarily the case.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You're rejecting the choice he's offering.
RYAN: We're just in the midst of rolling out an agenda that we're going to take to the people. We in the House, we're saying, here are the laws we want to pass in fulfillment of these principles to improve people's lives, to fix our government and our country's problems. That requires a president to sign them into law. So we believe that we can add substance to this conversation.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Doesn't it also require a president to campaign on them?
RYAN: It requires a president to be supportive of these things.The things that I've learned since doing my job is that you need to be up front with people ahead of the election about where you want to go so that if you win that election, you have the ability to go there. That, to me, is the kind of election that I've always wanted to have.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you're being up front with one set of propsals. He's being up front with another.
RYAN: Well, I wouldn't say that he's dismissing these things. Far from it, he's agreeing with these principles.
Again, he refuses to explain why the presidential nominee is campaigning on an entire platform that the GOP doesn't support. Spineless Ryan, good GOP soldier, falling into line yet again.
Trump is puppetmaster, pulling the strings to Ryan's mouth.
