Paul Ryan is having the worst day ever
Paul Ryan has an almost surreal history of failing upward. His failed financial legislation early in his congressional career somehow landed him a gig as Mitt Romney’s running mate. His failed performance in that election somehow landed him a gig as Speaker of the House. Now he’s failing to do anything to stop Donald Trump or save his party from the damage Trump is doing to it, yet he still survives. But today, karma is suddenly coming for Paul Ryan in spades.
Trump decided last night that he was too much of a coward to make a decision DACA one way or the other. Instead he’s ending the program on a six month delay, which means that Congress now has to decide whether to pass legislation making DACA permanent, thereby offending racist Republican voters, or do nothing and let the immigrant program die, thereby outraging moderate Republican voters. The trouble for Paul Ryan is that it’s a no-win issue for the Republicans, yet he’s already publicly taken a side.
Ryan may have unwittingly set himself up for this when he recently decided to publicly urge Trump to keep DACA. Now he’s married to the issues. If he moves forward with DACA legislation, Trump gets to make it his fault. Every Republican in the House who votes for DACA will run the risk of facing an extremist Republican primary challenger in 2018. Every Republican who votes against DACA faces the prospect of losing the moderate vote in 2018 to the Democratic general election challenger.
And then there’s Paul Ryan, who will be cast as a flip-flopper if he fails to follow through on his own recent public support for DACA. One way or the other, Ryan is the biggest loser on this. He’s historically been immune to his own litany of failures. We’ll see if that streak continues. But for now, Paul Ryan is having his worst day ever. If you’re a regular Palmer Report reader, feel free to make a donation.
