Before a member of Congress can lawfully take their seat in the U.S. House of Representatives or the United States Senate, they must put their hand in the air and recite the following:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
It is Paul Ryan’s job to administer this oath of office to incoming congressional representatives. And yet, despite reciting it so many times, Paul Ryan seems to have a hard time adhering to it. Case in point, his unwillingness to say whether he would meet with a foreign adversary for the purpose of getting “dirt” on a fellow American. This morning he was asked by an ABC News reporter whether he would take such a meeting and listen to his absolutely cowardly, un-American answer:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had an equally weak statement after revelations Donald Trump Jr. eagerly sought to meet with representatives of the Russian government:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell deflected questions from reporters about whether he is personally concerned over the Trump Jr. revelations, and whether the latest developments make it harder to trust the president with respect to Russia. “The investigation in the Senate is being handled by the Intelligence Committee, and I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of whatever happened,” he said.
A real profile-in-courage, these two! Republican leadership, at the highest levels, have inexplicably abandoned America’s core values. Honesty, integrity, Americans first and foremost. One nation, indivisible. The Republican presidential candidate ran on a campaign of “America First” and yet time and time again, they put the Republican Party and tax cuts for the wealthy above all else. Why even bother taking the allegiance oath at all?
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