Thread by @pithywidow

Folks I need to pull a bunch of quotes from this anti-gaslighting tour de force nyti.ms/2GXIQBi

"a story that reflects badly not just on Ryan himself, not just on his party, but also on self-proclaimed centrists and the news media, who boosted his career through their malfeasance." To be clear: this r/t is an ENDORSEMENT

"Furthermore, the forces that brought Ryan to a position of power are the same forces that have brought America to the edge of a constitutional crisis." @paulkrugman you are correct sir

"Look, the single animating principle of everything Ryan did and proposed was to comfort the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted." INDEED

"Can anyone name a single instance in which his supposed concern about the deficit made him willing to impose any burden on the wealthy, in which his supposed compassion made him willing to improve the lives of the poor?" Mr. @paulkrugman and I are waiting.....

"The pretense of fiscal responsibility came entirely from “magic asterisks”..I called him a flimflam man back in 2010, and nothing he has done since has called that judgment into question."

Like Freudian psychology, the term "film flam" is due for a resurgence

"So how did such an obvious con artist get a reputation for seriousness and fiscal probity? Basically, he was the beneficiary of ideological affirmative action."

yes yes yes a thousand times yes take me to church @paulkrugman

"Even now, in this age of Trump, there are a substantial number of opinion leaders — especially, but not only, in the news media — whose careers, whose professional brands, rest on the notion that they stand above the political fray." Ummm hmmm

"For such people, asserting that both sides have a point, that there are serious, honest people on both left and right, practically defines their identity."

under normal conditions, the smugness of this pose would be maddening. But these are not normal conditions.

"the reality of 21st-century U.S. politics is one of asymmetric polarization in many dimensions. One of these dimensions is intellectual: While there are some serious, honest conservative thinkers, they have no influence on the modern Republican Party."

"The answer, all too often, has involved what we might call motivated gullibility. Centrists who couldn’t find real examples of serious, honest conservatives lavished praise on politicians who played that role on TV."

Not limited to politicians or TV. Or people who play serious

"Paul Ryan wasn’t actually very good at faking it; true fiscal experts ridiculed his “mystery meat” budgets. But never mind: The narrative required that the character Ryan played exist, so everyone pretended that he was the genuine article."

Hello, GASLIGHTING

"And let me say that the same bothsidesism that turned Ryan into a fiscal hero played a crucial role in the election of Donald Trump."

Correct and fasten seatbelts

How did the most corrupt presidential candidate in American history eke out an Electoral College victory? There were many factors....But it wouldn’t have been close if much of the news media hadn’t engaged in an orgy of false equivalence."

CANNOT BE SAID ENOUGH

"Which brings us to the role of the congressional G.O.P. and Ryan in particular in the Trump era."

PREACH @paulkrugman

"the principles they claimed..never had anything to do with actual goals....Republicans haven’t abandoned their concerns abt deficits, b/c they never cared about deficits; they only faked concern as an excuse to cut social programs." I mean also to cut taxes for the rich but yeah

"if you ask why Ryan never took a stand against Trumpian corruption, why he never showed any concern about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, what ever made you think he would take such a stand?"

"if you look at Ryan’s actions, not the character he played to gullible audiences, he has never [been] willing to sacrifice anything...—not one dime—on behalf of his professed principles. Why on earth would you expect him to stick his neck out to defend the rule of law?" 🔥🔥🔥

"So now Ryan is leaving. Good riddance. But hold the celebrations: If he was no better than the rest of his party, he was also no worse. It’s possible that his successor as speaker will show more backbone than he has—but only if that successor is...a Democrat."

It's fact, not partisan, to say this is true.

: 🏆