Poor Paul Ryan has gotten a lot of flack for endorsing Donald Trump for president. It wasn’t so much that people were upset and angry with Ryan’s capitulation, it was that they were very, very disappointed, and showed that through a variety of hilarious, but appropriate gifs. Then, Ryan perhaps felt the consequences of his decision for the first time post-endorsement, when he criticized Trump for making “racist” statement about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over his Trump University lawsuit. Now the Speaker of the House has canceled a Wednesday press conference, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is trolling Ryan with a fake press release, saying he made the cancellation to avoid more hard questions about Trump.
According to The Hill, Ryan is currently hosting India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, and canceled a customary Wednesday press conference because of Modi’s address to a joint session of Congress. In response, Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, posted this mock press release on Twitter:
.@SpeakerRyan in hiding today pic.twitter.com/NdCwZZfnY9
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) June 8, 2016
With lines like the one below, the mock press release is a hilarious break in decorum among our representatives:
“Speaker Ryan has cancelled his regular Wednesday press conference so you don’t ask him about Donald Trump’s racist commentary against a federal judge, and why, ahead of their national security agenda rollout tomorrow, the House GOP wants to hand the nuclear codes to a person who engages in textbook racism.”
To add insult to injury, Pelosi’s office calls Ryan’s endorsement his “surrender to Donald Trump.”
To be fair, Ryan did call Trump’s comments against Judge Curiel racist, instead of trying to spin them to make himself look better for choosing to support Trump. In fact, Ryan promised to speak out against Trump when appropriate. He at least did so on Tuesday, but perhaps he now understands how much “speaking up” he’ll have to do if a wildcard like Trump reaches the Oval Office.
As for why Nancy Pelosi has done what she did, she’s likely taking a leaf out of Elizabeth Warren’s book. Since Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, our legislators are no longer messing around.
(via The Hill)