Leadership: How Trump Saved House Republicans From Themselves on Ethics BlunderTownhall, Jan 3, 2017, Guy Benson
We've been following this story since it broke last night, the trajectory of which has been quite remarkable to track. House Republicans foolishly opened the new year with a surprise move to weaken an internal ethics watchdog office, drawing immediate and widespread criticism from virtually all quarters -- from Elizabeth Warren to Judicial Watch.
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If even a handful of low-level Republican scandals were on the radar in the lead-up to the 2018 midterms, Democrats would have had a handy, turn-key, national storyline to hang around Republicans' collective neck. Sources with access to internal deliberations confirm to Townhall that Paul Ryan and several members of GOP leadership spoke out against this idea, with the Speaker urging his caucus to hold off and forge a package of consensus reforms with Democrats.
But the rank-and-file, annoyed by what they've viewed as the office's abuses and lack of accountability, moved forward anyway, ushering in the first news cycle of the fresh year with a self-inflicted tempest.
Not wanting to hang his members out to dry, Ryan put out a statement seeking to tamp down concerns over the decision. Again, some of his points were fair, but the whole episode appeared to be spiraling into 'massive misadventure' territory. And that's when the President-elect weighed in publicly, via Twitter. Having campaigned on a "drain the swamp" slogan, and admonished allies for playing down that message in recent weeks, Trump voiced his opposition to the overhaul. He diplomatically allowed that his party's House majority might have been motivated by innocent intentions, but correctly decried the move as a total misfire in terms of priorities:
Donald J. Trump
✔ @realDonaldTrump
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it
10:03 AM - 3 Jan 2017
Donald J. Trump
✔ @realDonaldTrump
........may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS
10:07 AM - 3 Jan 2017
When the man's right, he's right. Shortly thereafter, Republicans abruptly shelved the plan for later consideration. Trump, who sometimes possesses an uncanny ability to read the electorate's overall mood, helped save his fellow partisans from themselves. With this episode now in the books, Paul Ryan owes Trump a debt of gratitude.
The Speaker realized how bad this would look, yet was unable to persuade his members to reverse course. With two tweets, Trump helped turn the tide -- and did so, as he likes to say,
quickly.
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