OPINION:
Say it isn’t so. In this awful time for our nation, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan has made things worse, demonstrating that he is just another politician rather than a man of character, decency and principle (“Donald Trump picks up Paul Ryan’s vote as GOP coalesces behind standard-bearer,” Web, June 2).
Mr. Ryan’s endorsement of Donald Trump is stunning and outrageous to fair-minded Americans of all parties who wanted to believe that Mr. Ryan is a patriot who would place the country first. Mr. Trump does not believe in the traditional tenets of the Republican Party. His economic “plan” is laughed at by economists, as it would throw the budget wildly out of balance and add trillions of dollars to the deficit — precisely what Mr. Ryan has made a career of railing against. More importantly, each time he opens his mouth, Mr. Trump has shown himself to be entirely unqualified to hold any office. The coarse, crude, vulgar man who seeks to insult his way to the presidency now has the imprimatur of one of the most powerful Republican leaders in the nation.
I would not have reasonably expected Mr. Ryan to urge Americans to choose Hillary Clinton for president — though Mrs. Clinton is by far the lesser of the two evils — but he could have made a powerful statement and remained true to his principles by refusing to make an endorsement. Instead he’s hitched his wagon to the candidate of hatred and intolerance.
Mr. Trump is not taken seriously. He is reviled by members of the electorate, who fairly process and evaluate all that he has done to render himself public enemy number one. Mr. Ryan now should suffer the same fate. How does he now look at himself in the mirror? How will he explain to his children that he espouses the election of the proverbial bull in the china shop, the epitome of the ’ugly American’ in every way, the man whose potential election as president has shaken the free world?
Mr. Ryan and his party deserve to suffer a landslide defeat that will cripple the GOP for years. This has become a party wholly undeserving of the confidence of the American people.
OREN M. SPIEGLER
Upper Saint Clair, Pa.
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