Yesterday, on-line MAGAts flipped out when this photo (right below) of current Speaker MAGA Mike and former Speaker Paul Ryan emerged together from the Speaker’s Suite was posted on Twitter by Punchbowl News editor Jake Sherman. The MAGAts really hate Paul Ryan... and has nothing by disdain for them. He refers to the MAGAts in Congress as "enterainers" and "nihilists."
It was especially fraught because a Ryan video had just emerged as well. Now remember, this is the guy who predicted that if Trump is the nominee, Republicans will lose next year. He predicted Biden would beat Trump and said he thinks “leaders should endeavor to be honest, ethical, moral people who try to set standards for themselves and lead by example across the country. Donald Trump doesn’t try to do any of that. He does the opposite, frankly. So I just don’t think he’s fit for the job here… Do you think those suburban voters like Donald Trump more since Jan. 6? I mean, good grief. They didn’t vote for him this last time, they’re not going to vote for him again.” Nor was he excited about the congressional Republicans: “It’s nihilism, is what it is. We look like fools. We look like we can’t govern.” In the video below, he also predicted that if Trump is the nominee-- he will be-- the GOP will lose House and Senate seats. He's correct.
Mediaite published the video of Ryan slamming Trump again yesterday. Kevin Kajiwara asked Ryan how he thinks history will remember Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both Republicans whose political careers in the House of Representatives came to an end after they stood against the former president. Trump will go ballistic when he reads Ryan’s response:
Look, Trump’s not a conservative. He’s an authoritarian narcissist. So I think they basically called him out for that. He’s a populist, authoritarian narcissist. So historically speaking, all of his tendencies are basically where narcissism takes him, which is whatever makes him popular, makes him feel good at any given moment… He doesn’t think in classical liberal-conservative terms. He thinks in an authoritarian way. And he’s been able to get a big chunk of the Republican base to follow him because he’s the culture warrior.
And so I think Adam and Liz stepped out of the flow and called it out and, you know, paid for it. Paid for it with their careers. But I think, again, back to my earlier point, I don’t think he is really very good at these jobs unless you’re willing to lose these jobs. And there has to be some line, some principle that is so important to you that you’re just not going to cross so that when you’re brushing your teeth in the morning, look yourself in the mirror. You like what you see.
I think Adam and Liz are brushing their teeth, liking what they see. And I think a lot of people in Congress are good friends of mine who would take the vote back if they could, because I think a lot of these members of Congress, on the second impeachment, they thought Trump was dead. They thought after January 6th, he wasn’t going to have a comeback. He was dead, so they figured ‘I’m not going to take this heat, vote against this impeachment, because he’s gone anyway.’ But what’s happened is he’s been resurrected. There’s lots of reasons for that. But he has been. So I think there’s a lot of people who already regret not getting him out of out of the way when they could have. So I think history will be kind to those people who saw what was happening and called it out, even though it was at the expense of their personal well being.
I hope the DCCC and DSCC are going over this video with a fine tooth comb. On the Republicans in the House: “They’re not fighting to win; they’re fighting to fight… They measure their worth in clicks… Matt Gaetz is the chief among those. Matt Gaetz is not there to legislate. He’s not there to advance principles; he’s there to get famous. He’s there to entertain.” There’s plenty in there: