In the unlikely event that Donald Trump wins and becomes the next president of the United States, how will House Republicans stop him from being the authoritarian he promises to be?
The easiest way to stop Trump would be to drop their support for him in favor of a more reasonable alternative, but House Republicans aren't reasonable.
Given that repealing Obamacare is far more important to Speaker Ryan than preventing a fascist from rising to power, Ryan's backup plan is to sue President Trump.
“I would sue any president that exceeds his or her powers,” Ryan said.
It’s unclear, however, if Ryan thinks Trump enacting a ban on Muslims entering the country would actually exceed presidential powers. “That’s a legal question that there’s a good debate about,” Ryan said, pointing to the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.
As others have already pointed out, Ryan's plan to sue President Trump if he goes too far would probably be doomed before it even starts for the same reasons that states cannot block the Obama administration from resettling Muslim refugees right now. Matters of immigration are at the sole discretion of the executive branch.
I am skeptical that congressional Republicans would not give Donald Trump everything he wants or that they would actually file a lawsuit challenging his abuse of executive power. At no point did they challenge the Bush administration's abuse of executive power. On the contrary, they accused critics of being traitors.
In any event, explaining to voters that you will protect them from your own presidential nominee by suing him before he has even been elected seems like a really bad look to me.