“I’m focusing on what’s in my control, and that is what is Congress doing to solve people’s problems,” Ryan said at an event in Delavan, Wisconsin, according to CNN. […]”I’m working on making sure that we make good on our promises and fix people’s problems,” Ryan said, according to CNN. “That’s what’s in my control, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
Putting aside the fact that Ryan isn’t fixing anyone’s problems — unless you consider it a “problem” when Americans have access to affordable health care — his line is unsatisfying because it’s wrong.He is, after all, the Speaker of the House, and it’s within his “control” to defend the rule of law, support an independent investigation of Trump’s alleged misdeeds, and conduct vigorous oversight in the face of serious White House abuses. And yet, Ryan prefers to take a pass.A year ago, hoping to make a media splash, Ryan used his powerful office to call on intelligence agencies to deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information, ostensibly because of his deep concerns about her email protocols from years earlier. At the time, the Speaker’s “focus” wasn’t on what he could “control,” so much as it was on scoring cheap points.Now, however, he’s abandoned the pretense, providing cover for his party’s president. The emperor has no clothes, but he does have a House Speaker who’ll carry a fig leaf.The New Republic‘s Brian Beutler had a great piece along these lines:
Should Ryan rediscover that the House he leads can investigate and appropriate in ways that force the executive branch to surface important information, there would be nothing extraordinary about it. The House has been doing that for centuries. What Ryan has done is surrender his own fundamental powers to Trump, knowing that people he likes and respects are telling reporters that Trump’s presence in the White House terrifies them.Republicans know that, one way or another, this could end horrifically. They know they will be complicit if it does. And they’re abetting Trump anyway.
The risk for Ryan isn’t limited to the mockery we saw on Saturday night. It also includes historical ignominy for the ages — he’ll be remembered as the Speaker who cravenly looked the other way in the face of a serious presidential scandal — and an electoral backlash, as Americans take stock of who enabled Trump’s offenses and who stood on principle.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."