‘His spine has been removed’: Watch Nicolle Wallace blast ‘incredible shrinking man’ Paul Ryan

MSNBC's Dateline: White House examined the extent to which President Donald Trump's alleged racism are enabled by Republican Party leaders -- in particular Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).

Anchor Nicolle Wallace played a clip of Speaker Ryan responding to Trump's alleged 'sh*thole' comments.

"Oh my God, did you say that? An ice storm is unfortunate, and we have friends from Africa? That's like 20, 40 years ago, when people would say, 'I have a friend that's a lesbian,'" Wallace suggested.

"I mean, what was that? What?" Wallace asked Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Phil Rucker.

"To me, that was the most outrageous thing that happened today," Wallace concluded. "What's wrong with him?"

"This is Paul Ryan, this is how he was during the campaign, it's how he's been all year," Rucker answered.

"He's like the incredible shrinking man," Wallace observed. "It's like his spine has been removed and he's trying to diminish himself as a moral human being, as a leader, by the hour, by the day."

"He sees himself as a moral leader," Rucker began to reply.

"He's not," Wallace interrupted.

"But he doesn't actually challenge this president and he'll say it's because he wants to advance the tax cuts or whatever," Rucker continued.

"Tax cuts have been passed," Wallace reminded.

"I know, but he just -- he can't bring himself to stand up to Trump and call a spade a spade," Rucker explained. "They all try to stroke Trump's ego and satisfy him and try not to enrage him and set him off. at the end of the day, Trump is the leader of their party, the Republican Party, and the Republican Party is defined by this president and his actions and behavior."

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