Hours after a contentious second presidential debate, House Speaker Paul Ryan told Republicans Monday he will not be defending Donald Trump or campaign with him for the next 30 days and instead will focus on down ballot races. […]”You all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” Ryan said on a call with House Republicans.
Ryan spokesperson AshLee Strong added that the House Speaker “is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities.”And while I imagine this will draw some praise from pundits, it’s hard not to notice that Ryan’s new position looks an awful lot like his old one.Ryan will no longer be defending Trump? OK, but Ryan hasn’t defended Trump at all.. On the contrary, he’s repeatedly and publicly rebuked his party’s presidential nominee for a variety of valid reasons.Ryan isn’t going to campaign with Trump? OK, but the grand total of joint events featuring the two Republicans this year is zero.Let’s make this plain: Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump and that hasn’t changed. Paul Ryan intends to vote for Donald Trump and that hasn’t changed. Paul Ryan believes, in 29 days, Donald Trump should be elected president of the United States and that hasn’t changed. There’s nothing the least bit courageous or principled about his “new” position.Everything else is window dressing.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."