(These caricatures of Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are by the inimitable DonkeyHotey.)The following post is by Allen Clifton at his website, Forward Progressives.
Mr. Clifton writes:
While Donald Trump has dominated the news since the day he launched his campaign on June 18, 2015, I think it’s important to remember that he’s far from the only unethical, shady crook within the Republican Party. If anything, I’ll at least give him some (though very little) credit for being fairly transparent about the fact that he’s a vile, pathological liar. Of course he’ll deny that, and so will his supporters, but most rational people are well aware of the type of bottom-feeder Trump is based on his words and actions.
But I’ll argue that it’s those who are too cowardly to be exactly who they really are who I think might even be worse than Trump. For example, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI). Say what you want about Trump, but at least he’s an arrogant bastard who owns the fact that he’s exploited our system for his own benefit. He won’t word it that way, but when you’re a billionaire who avoided paying taxes for nearly 20 years, that’s what you are. Paul Ryan doesn’t do that. This is someone who lacked the courage to stand up to Trump during the primary. He found himself publicly condemning something his party’s candidate had said or done over and over again, only to still endorse him for president. Then we can’t forget about his speech at the RNC’s convention where he barely even mentioned Trump by name, then uninvited him to a campaign event in Wisconsin after he said he was “sickened” by Trump following the release of the infamous “grab them by the pu–y” video that was made public in October. Yet, despite all of that, Ryan has mostly backed Trump at every disgusting and shameful turn. Even when he was asked about Trump’s ridiculous claim that “millions” of people voted illegally in this election, Ryan took the cowardly approach by basically trying to blow off that our president-elect just used an asinine, unfounded conspiracy to claim that the entire 2016 election was tainted. As I’ve said before, Ryan is a spineless hypocrite. He’s someone whose sole purpose in life seems to be showing a disdain for the poor, supporting policies that help big business and worshipping the twisted economic principles of Ayn Rand to strip away any sort of social safety net many Americans use to survive. Paul Ryan is someone who’s been itching — for years — to take the first true steps toward ending Medicare and Social Security. And while it’s true many Republicans would love to get rid of Medicare and Social Security, Ryan’s stance on social safety nets is especially hypocritical based upon his history and his career choice. After Ryan’s father tragically died when he was a 16-year-old public high school student, Ryan received Social Security benefits until his 18th birthday — benefits he saved up to help him pay for his college education at the publicly funded Miami University. Since then he’s spent nearly the entirety of his adult life (aside from a few summers working as a salesman for Oscar Mayer) as a government employee whose pay and benefits are provided for him by the taxpayers. A man who’s built his political career on the greatness of the private sector — has spent nearly most of his life heavily benefitting from government benefits and pay. You can’t make this stuff up. This is also someone who publicly condemned President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, who then sought funds from it to help out his district. Though it’s important to keep in mind that, while he likes to present himself as some sort of “fiscal conservative,” Ryan’s voting record includes:
- Voted for both the Iran and Afghanistan wars.
- Supported George W. Bush’s stimulus bill.
- Backed Bush’s tax cuts while supporting two wars.
- Voted for the $700 billion TARP/Wall Street bailout.
- Supported the auto bailout.
- Supported trillions in defense spending.
