Well this is a peculiar thing indeed! Paul Ryan, leading member of the Ayn Rand cult of hating the poor, has had a change of heart!Via Raw Story: There was a time when I would talk about a difference between  makers  and  takers  in our country, referring to people who accepted government benefits. But as I spent more time listening, and really learning the root causes of poverty, I realized I was wrong. A Republican admitting they were wrong about ANYTHING is like finding a four leaf clover in the Sahara. Finding a Republican that admits they were wrong to demonize the poor in America is like finding one on the Moon. But Ryan wasn t done, he made it absolutely clear what he meant: Takers  wasn t how to refer to a single mom stuck in a poverty trap, just trying to take care of her family. Most people don t want to be dependent. And to label a whole group of Americans that way was wrong. I shouldn t castigate a large group of Americans to make a point. So I stopped thinking about it that way and talking about it that way. But I didn t come out and say all this to be politically correct. I was just wrong. While I WANT to believe that Ryan had a true Come To Jesus moment, I don t believe for a second that he didn t understand the root causes of poverty. He just didn t care until Trump threatened to utterly annihilate the Republican Party by telling the base that the rich don t give a damn about them.A few days ago, I wrote about the National Review, the right s premiere collection of thought leaders, dropping the pretense that the right-wing elites consider the rural poor to be the  real America.  Years of pent up hostility and derision come flooding out like a tidal wave of scorn. I wondered if this meant that the Republican coalition of the poor and the rich was finally ending. But then how would the rich hold on to power without their useful idiots to vote for them?Ryan s sudden reversal on poverty suggests that while the National Review is giving up on the poor, the Republican Party itself is not. By finally talking about poverty instead of spewing hate at the poor, Republicans may finally be ready to address the actual problem instead of simply trying to sweep it under the rug. They ll have to if they want to reclaim their base from Trump.It would be the absolute height of irony if Donald Trump forced the Republican Party to move away from the fringe in order to start governing responsibly again.Featured image via AI archives 