Ryan supports Trump only when it benefits his agenda

Satire from Ted Block

AROUND THE BLOCK

News with a Twist

Ryan critical of Trump on trade war threat

McConnell: We got tax cuts, now “most important that Trump be a one-term president.” 

Paul D. Ryan, the Republican House speaker, criticized President Trump’s proposed steel and aluminum tariffs on Monday, saying they could lead to a damaging trade war.

“We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan said in a statement. “The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains.”

The statement was a dramatic departure for Mr. Ryan, a top leader in Mr. Trump’s own party, who worked in lockstep with the president to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut last year. 

Ryan’s spokesperson went on to say, “the speaker continues to support President Trump when the president’s words and actions are clearly beneficial to the speaker’s goals: tax cuts, the reduction of Medicare and Medicaid benefits, the elimination of any social safety nets for that matter and, of course, any hint of a movement to go against the 2^nd Amendment by restricting Americans' God-given right to buy and use any firearm of their choice.”

When reached for comment, Ryan’s top partner in the Senate, majority leader Mitch McConnell said, “Now that we’ve gotten the tax cut for the wealthy that we’ve dreamed about for all these years and now that we’ve put Obamacare on the road to oblivion by eliminating the individual mandate, the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Trump to be a one-term president,” echoing a statement he made during President Obama's first term.

Despite their statements, neither Ryan nor McConnell would address reporters' questions whether, given the president's erratic recent behavior, they would begin to support talk about impeachment. 

A spokesperson for Vice-President Mike Pence said the vice-president welcomed, but had no comment on the speaker’s or the majority leader’s statements, other than "God works in mysterious ways."