Todd Starnes Warns Paul Ryan Could Separate Trump From His Voter Base
n an interview with The Daily Caller, Fox News commentator Todd Starnes warned President Donald Trump about close association with House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying cooperation with the party establishment could erode the president’s base.
Starnes, a self-described “deplorable” who also says he’s a “gun-totin’, Bible-clingin’, chicken-eatin’ son of a Baptist,” gave the interview while he was in Washington, D.C., to give a speech to the Family Research Council.
When asked what the president needed to do “in the first hundred days or beyond” to make America great again, Starnes said that turning to the party establishment for support was the wrong decision.
“Well, if Donald Trump wants to make America great again, he is going to have to remember who brought him to the big dance,” Starnes said. “He needs to understand the Freedom Caucus. They’re not the enemy here. He needs to be very careful about partnering with establishment Republicans.”
Starnes also compared the situation to a very familiar fictional narrative.
“There’s a movie, one of my favorite movies, ‘The Godfather,’” Starnes said. “And I’m afraid that Speaker Ryan is going to pull a Fredo on President Trump. He’s going to betray him. And I suspect that’s what’s happening with this battle over repealing and replacing Obamacare.
“So I think that the president is going to have to understand who is on his side and who’s not. He’s going to have to stay focused. And I think that’s really our responsibility, you know, grassroots people need to get out there and tell the president when he’s doing a good job and let him know when he’s not doing a good job.”
You can see the interview here, with the relevant portion beginning around the 2:45 mark:
While noting the faultiness in Starnes’ memory (Fredo betrays Michael Corleone in “The Godfather Part II”), his remarks were otherwise on point.
Donald Trump ran against the GOP establishment, and the GOP establishment certainly ran against him — even after he became their nominee.
When the predicted Republican disaster on Election Night failed to materialize, and the hysterical angst of lachrymose Hillary supporters began to replace enthusiastic Democrat apparatchiks on the feeds of America’s major networks, the GOP establishment suddenly decided Donald John Trump was their new BFF.
Overnight, awkwardly-donned MAGA caps replaced establishment hand-wringing, and almost everyone in the GOP — especially Speaker Ryan — bought their tickets and boarded the Trump train.
Alas, Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act proved that a red baseball cap and a couple of warm words do not an overnight conservative make. In fact, it seemed to reveal a secret motive behind cozying up to Trump: hijacking the agenda while separating the president from his base.
As much as we acknowledge that Ryan’s job is to mollify and unite the conservative and moderate elements of the party, America elected Trump to resist compromise with the denizens of “the swamp.” If he forgets that, it’s going to be a very cold November for the administration in 2018 — and in 2020 as well.