And yet he does protect him, by not using his office to push back.
His purpose is obvious. To use Trump as a useful distraction as he enacts his right wing policies.
The healthcare example of this is in process. Ryan is about the only one who is embracing the CBO report. 24m people lose their health insurance. It's all okay, because of the abstract thing called "choice". The joy of choice justifies the absence of protection for 24m people. Let the market decide.
But actually, if you build a system so perverse that 24m will "choose" not to participate in spite of the risk of not doing so, you have deliberately built a system in which the aim is to use choice to induce failure.
It's just this sort of blinding hypothesis which is what makes GOP ideas grotesque. It's not choice that matters. It's the outcome which shows that the idea serves the purpose of dismantling the existing system. It's the fact the damn hypothesis exposes millions and millions of people to vulnerability. It's the fact that his ideas will kill people who might have lived if a better system was employed. It's the fact that he so obviously loves his hypothesis more than he has compassion for human beings facing life-threatening risks.
Choice is great. But a system that gives folks realistic, affordable access to medical care is better. The system the US has in this category is called ACA. Improve it. Don't get rid of it.
Trump is so woefully ignorant, he has been enlisted to say how wonderful the House bill is. And Ryan is happy to have enlisted him. He protects Trump by saying nothing about his lies. There can be little doubt Trump has little idea what is in Ryan's bill.
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