When the president or president-elect of the United States openly promotes conspiracy theories, you would think that would be a major deal. But apparently it isn’t to Paul Ryan. The Speaker of the House told a national television audience that he isn’t all that concerned about Donald Trump blasting out outrageous lies on social media.
Ryan sat down with CBS News’ Scott Pelley in an interview that aired on Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes.” Pelley asked Ryan what he thought about Trump pushing the claim that he would have won the popular vote if not for massive fraud–even though there is absolutely no evidence of this. Ryan’s response was simply breathtaking.
“I don’t know. I’m not really focused on these things.”
Pelley was dumbfounded. The president-elect blasts out yet another in a long list of conspiracy theories, and he’s not really focused on it. Pelley wondered if Ryan had an opinion on the matter. Ryan admitted that he had “no way of backing that up” and “no knowledge” that any voter fraud took place. But just when you thought Ryan came to his senses, he started digging again.
“It doesn’t matter to me. He won the election.”
Um, Mr. Speaker? It absolutely should matter when Trump is blasting out blatant lies and conspiracy theories on Twitter. After all, it would only prove what we in the reality-based world said for over a year–that this man does not have the temperament to be the most powerful elected official in the world.
But Ryan doesn’t see it that way. Incredibly, he thinks Trump’s incessant tweets, even when they’re blatantly wrong, can be a good thing.
“The way I see the tweets you’re talking about, he’s basically giving voice to a lot of people who have felt that they were voiceless. He’s communicating with people in this country who’ve felt like they have not been listened to. He’s going to be an unconventional president.”
So let’s see if we’ve got this right. When Trump blasts out conspiracy theories, he’s actually giving a voice to the forgotten people of this country? I can’t even.
Unfortunately, it looks like CBS and Pelley don’t understand how staggering Ryan’s response was. Pelley actually interviewed Ryan on Friday, and teased it on that night’s edition of the “CBS Evening News.” Watch here.
Pelley dropped by “CBS This Morning” to discuss the interview on Monday morning. Watch here.
Notice what’s missing from either clip? Any mention of Ryan’s dismissal of Trump’s conspiracy theories. So the Speaker of the House admits that it really doesn’t matter when the president-elect openly promotes lies and conspiracy theories, and a major-network newscast doesn’t think that’s important to mention in promoting an interview with the Speaker? Unbelievable.
I know what some of you are thinking–Pelley was afraid of making this interview look like a hit piece. Bollocks. All Pelley would have had to do was present Ryan’s own words, and let viewers judge for themselves. There’s nothing biased about calling a spade a spade. Unfortunately, by not realizing this, Pelley may have taken another step toward normalizing the most unqualified president-elect in recent memory.
(featured image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
