Should-Read: Ah. I remember the days when the extremely s...

Should-Read: Ah. I remember the days when the extremely sharp and mostly honorable Dan Drezner would write things like: "Kevin Drum has posted a must-read interview with Paul Krugman on his blog. As someone who's tangled with Krugman in the past, I was entranced by the interview's mix of defensible economic critiques and wild-eyed political paranoia..." Yet today Dan stands alongside the Black Pharaoh Nyar-Lat-Hotep in the most elite ranks of the Order of the Shrill Daniel Drezner: Saving Speaker Ryan?: "Now is normally the time when the hard-working staff here at Spoiler Alerts would bolster a counterintuitive defense of Ryan���s speakership...

...His margin is narrow and leadership requires followership and yada yada yada, Ryan is a wonk���s wonk and a decent human being. I can���t do it. Sometimes there are battles worth fighting and losing, because otherwise you lose yourself. Sure, Ryan finally got a budget-busting tax cut that he���s been dreaming about for years.

Honestly, however, there are too many instances��during the Trump presidency in which Ryan has done nothing.... The degree to which Ryan has prostrated himself to the cause of��� what, exactly? A unified GOP caucus? A president who articulates positions on immigration, trade, foreign policy, that are at variance with Ryan? A president whose rhetoric debased the national discourse on a daily basis? Why, exactly, is Paul D. Ryan being so quiet? What does he hope to accomplish at this point? I don���t know. I would love to hear from someone who does.

At this point, I do not blame Donald Trump for thinking that he can bully all of Washington. Paul Ryan is every bully���s dream. Some might call it pragmatic politics. I call it cowardice...