Back in December, Speaker Paul Ryan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he was unconcerned about then President-Elect Trump’s business conflicts. “I have every bit of confidence he’s going to get himself right with moving himself from the business guy that he is to the president he’s going to be,” Ryan said.
Enter Sarah Cannon – mom, Hoosier, middle grade author and my treasured friend. Cannon had a problem with Ryan’s comments. So much so that she decided to call him.
Not only did Ryan not pick up, but he also left her on hold for multiple hours.
“Congressional staffers say calls are the most effective means of communicating with congresspeople, so the fact that he has cut off access like this is very telling,” Cannon said.
At that point Cannon realized she’d probably never get through to Ryan – but that didn’t stop her. Being the resourceful person that she is, she kept calling for days on end, and she began live tweeting the entire ordeal.
What followed was an incredibly vivid saga (with FIVE installments) that she dubbed “Speakerphone,” which can be found on Storify and in which she shares the mundane details of her life in 140-character increments with America’s Speaker of the House as she waits for him to answer the phone – mundane details that include everything from helping her children with homework, to cleaning her house to shopping for instant pots.
No one but Ryan knows whether he has seen or will ever see the aforementioned tweets, but I sleep a little better knowing what he was subjected to by one particularly tenacious writer.