David Cameron got his start as a youthful Conservative party reformer, seeking to move his party more towards the mainstream on issues like gay marriage. But in the end he gave in to the extreme right-wing elements of his party and agreed to hold a referendum on leaving the Union.
Somewhat similarly, on the national level Paul Ryan has at least made comments about civility and is certainly, much like Cameron, affable for a right-winger. He also to seems to sense the importance, of not being seem as extreme unlike others in his party. Unlike Cameron, however, and to his eternal credit, Ryan is not known to ever had sex with a dead pig.
And despite these seemingly decent instincts, Paul Ryan sold his soul by agreeing to endorse Donald Trump. Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the people’s House, was really the most powerful person who could have challenged Trump. Instead, he gave his nod, and now his party will move in a much different direction than that which Ryan intended, in the direction of racism and blind nationlism. David Cameron was the Prime Minister, and the leader of the largest party in the British House of Commons, and yet made his own deal with the devil to hold to hold the vote. Now he has been forced to resign and there is a good chance that his replacement will be a politician who could be a Trump impersonator who also hails from Manhattan. Will a similar tragedy befall Ryan, who is now surrounded by Trumpians and Tea Partiers plotting his demise? It is hard to see how it does not.