Elie Mystal: The GOP Can't Be Saved--And Neither Can Paul Ryan

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Elie Mystal
@ElieNYC
I have an idea: How about we stop letting Republicans and former Republicans control the narrative of how Republicans ended up being a threat to democracy.
Maybe instead we could listen to people who have *always known* what Republicans are all about.

The GOP Can’t Be Saved—And Neither Can Paul Ryan
Ryan has become the latest Republican to urge his party to relinquish Trumpism and return to its principled past. The problem is, that past doesn’t exist.
thenation.com
11:30 AM · May 28, 2021

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/paul-ryan-trump/

I am sick of letting Republicans mangle the narrative of how their party became a clear and present danger to American democracy. I am tired of the media lauding the few Republicans (or “former” Republicans) who belatedly speak out against the Trumpist cult of bigotry and lies that they themselves helped construct. Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, John Boehner—these people are not iconoclasts, they’re complicit. Long before Donald Trump, they greedily made a deal with the Devil and are now miffed that the bill has come due. Republicans who speak out against the threat that other Republicans pose to democracy are just dog whistle salesmen trying to claw back market share from the ascendant bullhorn industry.

The latest entrant into this field is former Congressman Paul Ryan. Most people will remember Ryan for his mewling cowardice in the face of Trump’s bullying and bigotry, despite being the Republican Speaker of the House. Ryan basically invented the “I didn’t see the tweet” defense. Now, he has joined the tiny rump of Republicans trying to wrest their party back from white domestic terrorists—the same people Ryan used to coddle in his own quest for power—by denouncing the GOP’s slide toward antidemocratic authoritarianism and urging a return to some made-up principled past.

In a speech last night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (of course), Ryan made a big show of warning that the Republican Party is at a “crossroads.” “If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or on second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere,” he said. He also warned that, should conservatives fail in future elections, “It will be because we gave too much allegiance to one passing political figure, and weren’t loyal enough to our principles.”

Given that the Republican party has now mainstreamed infection and insurrection, I get why mainstream media makers might think it’s newsworthy when any erstwhile Republican leader is willing to speak out against the party orthodoxy of lies and deceit. But let’s not make any mistakes about who Ryan still is and what his “principles” are. Before he debased himself into retirement, Ryan was an Ayn Rand sock puppet on a personal crusade to starve the government of resources so it could not deliver services. And the glory days he’s hoping to resurrect are nothing more than that: a return to the days where Republicans expressed their cruelty through charts and graphs instead of tweets and slurs. Ryan just wants the cult of tax cuts to reassert its dominance over the cult of Trump.

*snip*

[Poiuyt]

1. Very true!

[FalloutShelter]

2. WELL SAID!

Every word!
Note to MSM... you can't be fair and balanced about sedition, racism, and genocide.

[alterfurz]

3. Lyin' Ryan's entire political career in a nutshell

lather, rinse, repeat...

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

Last edited Fri May 28, 2021, 08:33 PM - Edit history (1)

A den of foxes repeatedly attacked a hen house. Each new attack causing more and more destruction. Deaths and injuries mounted with each new wave of assaults. The hens lived with uncertainty and daily life was disrupted. They feared losing the hen house would be the end of them all.

Several of the foxes that had been tossed from the den offered to help the hens against the other foxes.

Some of the hens said, "No". After all, a fox is a fox.

Some of the hens were happy to accept the offer. After all, who better understood a fox than another fox? With other foxes involved, the hens would have additional help in preventing more destruction. They could save the hen house.

The disaffected foxes were encouraged in their endeavor and began going back after the marauding foxes from the den.

Skirmishes began between fox and fox, with each blaming the actions of one group on the other.

If you had not attacked the hen house we would not be attacking you said the homeless foxes. You are a danger to our way of life.

If you had not joined in with the hens we would not be attacking you said the foxes of the den. You are not true foxes.

"See", said some of the hens - the decent foxes are helping us save the hen house.

"Just wait", said the other hens - a fox is still a fox.

The outsider foxes as allies, the hen house was saved and there was much relief.

With the offending foxes out of the way, the old guard foxes moved back into their former den, secure in having regained their power.

The next night - the foxes of the den attacked the hen house.