The general election hasn't even started and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) already seems to be tired of talking about his party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Ryan's spokesperson sent out an email begging reporters to stop focusing only on the speaker's meeting with Trump this week and to consider what else is going on in Washington instead. "You should know that Thursday's Ryan/Trump meeting is not the most important thing happening in D.C. this week," spokeswoman AshLee Strong wrote in an email to reporters. "While it's a busy week on the political front, it also happens to be an important week on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives."
A good replacement topic for the Trump beat, Strong suggests, is the upcoming vote on 18 bills addressing the nation's opioid epidemic. "While politics may have your attention right now," Strong wrote, "we hope you'll have time to review and write on this important and thoughtful action the House is about to take to tackle the disturbing opioid epidemic."
Hang in there, Paul — only six more months to go.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘Chess’feature Imperial Theatre, New York City
-
Political cartoons for November 26Cartoons Wednesday's political cartoons include a peace deal for Ukraine, constitutional oaths, and the I.R.S. explained
-
Vaccine critic quietly named CDC’s No. 2 officialSpeed Read Dr. Ralph Abraham joins another prominent vaccine critic, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
