Aprin 15
This week, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan held a news conference where he emphatically stated he is not seeking (and will not accept) the Republican nomination for President. Because everyone knows that if you really don’t want to do something… Naturally, you should give a nationally televised speech to attract more attention to it.
Makes total sense to me because there is clearly more than meets the eye here.
For weeks now, the buzz surrounding the possibility of a Brokered or Contested Republican Convention has been gaining in volume. Several names have been thrown around as possible ‘dark horse’ candidates that could wrestle the nomination from Ted Cruz or Donald Trump in the event that nobody gets to the coveted 1237 delegates.
The media has floated names like Condoleezza Rice, Scott Walker and Mitt Romney, however, none have generated more traction than Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Recently, this buzz has gotten so loud that it forced Paul Ryan to give the national press conference that he would not accept the nomination.
Deja vu all over again?
If you recall, last Fall Paul Ryan repeatedly declared that he was not running for the Speaker seat, nor would he accept the position if offered. Of course, this was all before actually becoming the Speaker of the House, which Ryan stated he did out of a sense of ‘personal duty.’
In politics, many times you have to read between the lines to get to what is intended rather than what is actually said. This appears to be one of those times.
Obviously, there are several possibilities here. If Paul Ryan is indeed being sincere and will not accept the nomination, the fact that the Ryan fever was so strong that he had to give a speech to stop it, speaks volumes to the fears that the ‘Republican Establishment’ is trying to covertly control the end result.
Another, more likely possibility, is that he is posturing to come swooshing in from the heavens to be the ‘hero’ of the party in a chaotic election year. In other words, Tuesday’s speech was likely the largest ‘trial balloon‘ in the nation’s history.
In either case, this doesn’t bode well for the Republican establishment and what is happening behind closed doors. If the party does end up selecting someone other than Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, there will surely be a mass exodus from the party.
Making matters worse, throughout this distraction, Republicans are losing sight of the true priority, keeping Hillary Clinton (or Bernie Sanders) far away from the White House and keeping Republican majorities in both houses of Congress.
Paul Ryan and the rest of the ‘elite’ establishment should take pause and consider the consequences of their actions. The arrogance being displayed is deafening and We the People are sick of it. Like it or not, our choices should be Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, because that is what millions of people have said with their votes.
This is definitely proving to be a historical election year, the question is, how will the 2016 election be remembered? The year the Republican party infighting snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and handed the US Senate and Supreme Court to the Democrats, or the year we saved the Republic from the ravages of continuing the Obama legacy?
Choose wisely!
