REMORSE: Former House Speaker Paul Ryan tells journalist Jan. 6 brought him to tears
Trump lied, and Paul Ryan cried. The former House speaker reported that he “sobbed” watching the Capitol insurrection unfold, according to a new book by journalist Mark Leibovich.
In the book, Ryan says that he “snapped.” The Fox News board member and 2012 GOP nominee for Vice President claims that “I was absolutely horrified.”
Leaving Congress in 2019, Ryan was often criticized for his relationship with Trump, who, by that time, the public knew was no friend of democracy. But according to Leibovich, the passive former politician still didn’t see the events of Jan. 6, coming.
“Ryan figured the president would bitch and moan and maybe make a big show of ‘fighting’ for his supporters for a while. Everyone could feel good and victimized. But eventually, Trump would just leave; hopefully, he would know to do this on his own. and everyone could then just get on with their lives.”
But as we all know, that didn’t happen. And it still isn’t.
Ryan has been relatively quiet since leaving political office. He did not stand up — or speak out — when Trump pushed conspiracy theories and lies about the 2020 election nor when hundreds of thousands of Americans died of a deadly virus.
Ryan stayed silent even while on the board of the media network that helped facilitate those deaths with false claims about Covid, with broadcasts urging their viewers to buck mandates put in place to help curb the spread, and with hosts spreading phony warnings about the perils of the life-saving vaccination for the disease.
In May of 2021, Ryan gave a tepid rebuke of the other virus that has infected his party – saying the GOP needed to “move past” Trumpism in a speech that he gave at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“Once again, we conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads. And here’s the reality that we have to face: If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or of second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere. Voters looking for Republican leaders want to see independence and mettle.”
But for those who can’t forget Jan. 6 — and Trump’s conspiracy to destroy this country’s democracy – it was too little, too late.
Paul Ryan’s tears aren’t irrigating anything but the grave of Republican integrity that died a long time ago when the party sold its soul to Donald Trump.
Original source Paul LeBlanc at CNN
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