Take a wild guess who Paul Ryan is endorsing for president.
June, 2, 2016 · 3:18pm
On Thursday morning, Paul Ryan woke up, looked at himself in the mirror and saw the face of a man who has decided to proclaim openly what is probably the worst kept secret in Washington DC: He's voting for Trump.
If you dare, you can read his reasoning for this decision here, but be warned: To do so is to wander into a bog of existential despair, as Ryan attempts to justify his decision with obviously forced rhetoric about "common ground" and "optimism" that in no way apply to the man he's supporting for president. He writes:
"Sure, count us among the majority of Americans upset with the direction our country is headed. But that's not enough. We agreed that we must focus less on what we're against and more on what we're for. So, long before we knew who our nominee would be, we decided we would present the country a policy agenda that offers a better way forward. We know what we believe in, so let's bring it to the country."
Welcome to the endless waking nightmare of a man who has forced the idea that any of these things could possibly be true of Trump down his gullet. Ryan explains that he has a list of bills that he wants to be signed, and he knows Hillary Clinton won't sign them. That's flimsy reasoning for supporting a man who once expressed sexual attraction to his daughter for the presidency, but wait: It gets worse.
"We've talked about the common ground this agenda can represent. We've discussed how the House can be a driver of policy ideas. We've talked about how important these reforms are to saving our country. And we've talked about how, by focusing on issues that unite Republicans, we can work together to heal the fissures developed through the primary.
Through these conversations, I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people's lives. That's why I'll be voting for him this fall."
Notably, while Paul repeatedly references the House's policies and how Trump could make them a reality, he does not reference any of Trump's own policies becoming a reality. Whether that's because Paul doesn't care for Trump's policies, doesn't want to get into it, or is understandably too confused about Trump's endlessly shifting policy ideas to know what he'd be supporting is anyone's guess.
"The reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement," Ryan writes.
Hey, that brings up an interesting question: What shared principles can Paul Ryan find with Donald Trump?
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