Paul Ryan has been living in a cave - By Dana Milbank
So now we know how House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has been staying sane during the Trump era. He has been living in a cave. Without Internet or TV. Out of range of cell service, newspaper delivery and carrier pigeons. With blindfold on eyes, cotton in ears and head in sand.
Late last week, Ryan was asked at a news conference whether scandal-plagued Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt should remain in office. “Frankly, I haven’t paid that close attention to it,” said the man who is second in line to the presidency. “I don’t know enough about what Pruitt has or has not done to give you a good comment.”
Even a casual consumer of news would be aware of Pruitt’s ethical tragicomedy, which has launched a thousand investigations: the Chick-fil-A application and the lobbyist condo, the soundproof phone booth and sirens, the Trump mattress, first-class and charter travel, raises for his pals, customized fountain pens, the Rose Bowl seats, Disneyland and his round-the-clock security detail helping him search for scented lotion from the Ritz-Carlton. How could the speaker be so unaware and so incurious?
For Ryan, and for Republicans generally, ignorance isn’t just bliss in the age of President Trump — it’s a means of survival. If they defend Trump, they look unprincipled or immoral. If they criticize Trump, the president attacks them. Professing — or feigning — ignorance is a way out.
The speaker averts his gaze so often from Trump’s mayhem that he is likely to get a stiff neck:
Trump congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his “election”?
“I don’t know the content of that conversation,” Ryan said.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-has-paul-ryan-stayed-sane-under-trump-with-a-blindfold-on/2018/06/18/7f619038-7335-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
