While watching President Donald Trump’s shockingly coherent speech to Congress last night, a lot of people commented on his calm tone and optimistic message.
The press, even the ones who have been nearly at war with Trump for the past few weeks, wrote about his positive message. They wondered if they were seeing a performance or a real change in leadership style.
But none of them commented on the other pivot that was so striking last night. Throughout the President’s remarks, the TV view showed him flanked by Vice President Pence on one side and House Speaker Paul Ryan on the other.
Trump's first speech to Congress was the occasion for his most presidential performance to date, writes @NPRrelving https://t.co/E5HkfZIO5z pic.twitter.com/QFeDkBF38H
— NPR (@NPR) March 1, 2017
Watching the rapt and adoring face of the House Speaker would lead a person to believe that he’s been a yuge Trump fan for years.
The truth, of course, is that during the primary season, Speaker Ryan was one of Trump’s biggest critics. Remember that Ryan refused to endorse Trump even after it was clear that he would become the party nominee.
He spoke out against the idea of Trump’s proposed “Muslim ban,” pretty much calling it unAmerican.
And when the famous tape of Trump came out last October, the one where he bragged about his history of sexual assault, Ryan held a panicky phone call with member of the House. They were desperately trying to figure out how to react to the awfulness of their candidate.
Ryan told the members that he was going to concentrate on making sure that Hillary Clinton didn’t get a blank check from a Democratic Congress. In other words, Ryan was real sure that Trump was going to lose.
He told his membership that he wasn’t going to defend Trump.
So as recently as last October, Ryan was dead set against a Trump Presidency. These two guys were not friends.
But on November 9th, everything changed.
All of a sudden, Paul Ryan was much less squeamish about grabbing women by the p*ssy. He didn’t find the Muslim ban to be such a terrible idea. He was sure that he and Pres would be able to work together to dump Obamacare, no matter how many people lost insurance coverage.
Now that Trump had the power, Ryan wanted to get a bite for himself. The sucking up went into full swing.
Last night’s spectacle was a demonstration of pure hypocrisy in action. To see Paul Ryan’s adoring face behind Donald Trump was nauseating.
He looked like a puppy that’s been kicked so often that he starts to roll over and show his belly every time he hears his master’s voice.
Deplorable.
Here’s the whole speech if you didn’t have the courage to watch it last night. Just focus on Ryan’s face and you’ll see what I mean.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
