Vox Sentences: The Republican Party descends into Boschian nightmare

Paul Ryan tries to negotiate with Trumperists; America’s most lethal drug comes under stricter regulation; Turkey's prime minister resigns.

Vox Sentences is written by Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind.

TOP NEWS

The Unready

CNN

• Paul Ryan says he's "not ready" to support Donald Trump.

  [CNN / Eric Bradner]

• Ryan's position — which is somehow the closest any major Republican has come to declaring #NeverTrump, even though it's nowhere near that — is in part a reminder that Ryan still sees himself as the guardian of Republican principle. It's his party.

  [Bloomberg / Billy House]

• If you're being generous, you could see this as an attempt to distance Republicans from Trump's brand to protect them in down-ballot races (where many GOPers and donors are already focusing their efforts).

  [Time / Philip Elliott]

• But it's not clear what, precisely, Ryan objects to. Is it Trump's policies, or merely his style?

  [NBC News / Carrie Dann]

• If it's policies, is the problem that Donald Trump, say, wants to ban Muslims from entering the US? Or that he's overly flexible for Ryan's tastes on how much to cut taxes?

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• And does Donald Trump, who shot back that he's "not ready" for Ryan either, even want the validation Ryan represents?

  [Sabrina Siddiqui via Twitter]

• If Trump rejects Ryan outright, what the heck does Ryan — who will chair the Republican National Convention but has said time and again that he won't use his position to make himself the nominee — even do?

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

Smoke-filled rooms

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• The Food and Drug Administration finalized a regulation Thursday that classifies e-cigarettes as "tobacco products," bringing the $3 billion e-cig industry under government regulation.

  [USA Today / Jayne O'Donnell and Laura Ungar]

• In addition to requiring all e-cigarette providers to get FDA approval, the new regulations ban the selling of e-cigarettes (as well as hookah and other products) to minors and prohibit their sale in vending machines.

  [Vox / Julia Belluz]

• We don't actually know what the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are. We know that they might be better for your health in the short term than traditional cigarettes, but probably worse than not smoking at all.

  [Vox / Julia Belluz]

• Because e-cigarettes are healthier than the traditional kind, though, there's some concern that any regulations that make e-cigarettes too expensive to produce or purchase will end up shepherding consumers back to traditional cigarettes (which would be bad).

  [Washington Post / Jonathan H. Adler]

• What's still not clear is whether cities with smoking bans will extend those bans to e-cigarettes — an idea that was popular a couple of years ago and might pick up steam again now.

  [The Umlaut / Jacob Grier]

• Meanwhile, California has just raised its smoking age to 21 — tightening regulation on America's most lethal drug.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

Shoved out

Carl Court/Getty Images

• Turkey's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, announced on Thursday that he will step down.

  [The Guardian / Constanze Letsch]

• This isn't because of any sort of scandal. It's just that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (whom Davutoğlu succeeded as prime minister) doesn't like him much anymore.

  [NYT / Tim Arango and Ceylan Yeginsu]

• Traditionally, the prime minister has all the power in Turkey; the president is largely ceremonial. But when Erdogan became president, he started accruing power to himself. That just didn't leave room for a prime minister anymore.

  [New Yorker / Dexter Filkins]

• At least Davutoğlu is a member of Erdogan's party. The opposition party in parliament is currently trying to defeat a bill that would strip its members of immunity from prosecution — which would allow Erdogan's government to prosecute them for instigating people to hostility and membership in terrorist groups.

  [TRTWorld]

• The bill isn't quite as flimsy as it sounds; the opposition party does have ties to the militant Kurdish group PKK. (But it's still pretty shady to strip immunity from only one party.)

  [Al-Monitor / Mustafa Akyol]

• Debate over the bill has been heated, to say the least. A fistfight on the floor of parliament Wednesday resulted in several injuries to legislators.

  [Vox / Jennifer Williams]

MISCELLANEOUS

When he was nominated to the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland bragged about sending Richard Smith and his fellow gang members to prison for life. Now Smith is free. [Huffington Post / Ryan Reilly]

• PEPFAR, the federal anti-HIV program, is a fantastic, lifesaving institution. But its abstinence-only programs were a failure.

  [NPR / Michaeleen Doucleff]

• The evolution of the Billboard Top 5 singles list, from 1956 to the present, in one interactive.

  [Polygraph]

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the CW musical comedy beloved of many Vox staffers, is now free on iTunes. Get it while it's hot.

  [iTunes]

• The case against raccoons.

  [The Toast / Mallory Ortberg]

VERBATIM

"Today, alcohol-related traffic accidents likely will multiply by three as virtually all male Germans will get jointly drunk. It's traditionally the most dangerous day of the year to be on the streets in Germany because it is Father's Day." [Washington Post / Rick Noack]

• "How can I be compensated for my distress of having no alcohol drinks"

  [Anonymous Amtrak complainant via Muckrock]

• "[Darryl] Perry is a Free State project activist from New Hampshire whose campaign conducts business exclusively in Bitcoin and precious metals. (His cash on hand is two half-gram silver cards, four silver quarters, seven silver dimes, 1.75 ounces of silver, and 0.45427586 Bitcoins)."

  [Mother Jones / Tim Murphy]

• Secular morality is to a very great extent the secularization of Christian love.

  [Alexander Nehamas to the Atlantic / Julie Beck]

• "He truly gives zero [fucks] about what most people in Washington think. I think he’s always seen his time there as temporary and won’t care if he’s never again invited to a cocktail party."

  [Jon Favreau on Ben Rhodes to NYT / David Samuels]

WATCH THIS

Giving birth costs a lot. Hospitals won't tell you how much. [YouTube / Johnny Harris]

Vox / Johnny Harris