Donald Trump plans to visit Speaker Paul Ryan’s home town of Janesville, WI, for a town hall event next week.
Ryan spoke about American politics yesterday—both about what it is and what it ought to be.
As Michael Warren notes:
The barely concealed subtext of Ryan’s speech was that Ryanism, at least as an approach to the practice of politics, is a “clear and compelling alternative” to Trumpism. A day after Trump suggested he would reveal some embarrassing secret about the wife of his rival Ted Cruz, Ryan called for leaders to hold themselves to “the highest standards of integrity and decency.” In a race where Trump has made up schoolyard-style nicknames for his opponents and has called for punching protesters “in the face,” Ryan says, “We don’t shut people down. If someone has a bad idea, we tell them why our idea is better. We don’t insult them into agreeing with us. We try to persuade them.” Trump may be the least self-reflective person in public life, but in his speech Ryan rebuked himself for not always living up to the ideal he espoused.
