On Monday, reports surfaced about a phone conference that Paul Ryan held with House GOP lawmakers. He apparently pulled his public support for Donald Trump and urged his fellow Republicans to do what was best for their reelection prospects. This follows months of animosity between Ryan and Trump, who’ve gone back and forth, alternately stepping over each other’s lines in the sand like defiant children. But Ryan finally had enough after witnessing footage showing extremely lewd comments about women. The House speaker declared that he was “sickened” and disinvited Trump from a joint weekend appearance.
Ryan’s current focus appears to be trying to maintain the House majority, and he’s understandably concerned about the Trump effect. That is to say, Ryan’s worried that voters will retaliate against Trump supporters, so not only could they lose the presidency, but also Congress. Of course, Ryan’s not bold enough to formally unendorse Trump, so he’s looking wishy washy.
Trump was, unsurprisingly, not impressed by these reports. He began Tuesday morning by trashing Ryan for his “disloyalty.” And he twisted the knife by declaring how Democrats have shown more overall loyalty.
Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Then Trump spun the situation to declare himself free of “the shackles,” so now he can fight for the American people in a total Trump manner.
It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016
Trump probably hasn’t thought about a fighting strategy. He’s just angry and popping off, but folks have seized upon “the shackles,” and they have released a flurry of responses. A few folks are curious about why the self-declared law-and-order candidate who claims stop-and-frisk isn’t unconstitutional wouldn’t enjoy the shackles?
https://twitter.com/nczeitgeist/status/785846102130094080
The fact that the deeply racist #Trump uses the term the "shackles" tells you everything you need to know.
— Catholic Democrats (@CatholicDems) October 11, 2016
Shackles? You're the worst person in the world. https://t.co/QGETwT68v8
— Imani Gandy (Orca’s Version) ⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) October 11, 2016
Other users took the opportunity to frame Trump as the movie or television character of their choice. Here’s a whole lot of madness and chaos coming your way.
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) October 11, 2016
Donald Trump has been campaigning with the shackles on this whole time, apparently. Now he's letting loose: https://t.co/bIVYzM51LV pic.twitter.com/qHfPl3Wikr
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) October 11, 2016
#TrumpKong
THIS OCTOBER THE SHACKLES COME OFF. pic.twitter.com/ZeAeKSR9vN— Culturess (@CulturessFS) October 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/drewmagary/status/785848967653392384
https://twitter.com/thesuperficial/status/785846054637961216
https://twitter.com/lukeoneil47/status/785852431607488513
"It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me…" ~ Trump, in a tweet today.pic.twitter.com/eT6US7ECsp
— Nina L. Diamond (@ninatypewriter) October 11, 2016
I'm glad Donald Trump has cast off his shackles & will finally feel free to say & do whatever the trash bag of bees in his head tell him to
— John Hodgman (@hodgman) October 11, 2016
Final seal broken. Let the oceans boil. https://t.co/NfDAitedKQ
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 11, 2016
#UnshackledTrump humps chairs without protection.
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) October 11, 2016
Remember when some random poor people threw poop at Joffrey and he just screamed "KILL THEM ALL"? https://t.co/dXaH4XLRho
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) October 11, 2016
If Trump was holding back before today I expect him to literally shoot someone on 5th Avenue this afternoon and leave his wife for Ivanka. https://t.co/dXaH4XLRho
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) October 11, 2016
Finally, some people think Trump could simply use more shackles.
.@realDonaldTrump PUT THE SHACKLES BACK ON. ADD MORE SHACKLES. BETTER SHACKLES
— sweaty five dollars (@iscoff) October 11, 2016
You say shackles, I say human decency.
— Mike Monteiro, cisgender male (@monteiro) October 11, 2016
