Headed Home
Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan has given up. He has chosen not to run for re-election to Congress from the 1stDistrict of Wisconsin. He’s going home to Janesville: he’s had enough.
For the moment he will keep his Speakership, but a lame duck Speaker can do little to further legislation. Kevin McCarthy (California) and Steve Scalise (Lousiana), are the two leading contenders for party leadership maneuvering for his job. Ryan knows that Republicans face a debacle in the fall election, polling shows that the Democrats may well gain the majority in the House. The Republican leadership battle may be for Minority Leader, not Speaker.
Ryan has been a “rising star” for the Party since he was elected to Congress in 1999 at 29 years of age. He gained a committee chairmanship early, based on his special expertise in government spending, and chaired the Budget Committee from 2011 until he became Speaker in 2015. In 2012, he was the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States, running with Mitt Romney against Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
He has a “Boy Scout” image (though he was only briefly in the Scouts.) His dedication to his family (wife Janna and three children) is legendary, he almost didn’t take the Speaker job because of the time commitment to travel and fund raising that would take him away from Janesville, where his family still resides. He goes back to his family there almost every weekend.
So what happened to this “star” of the Republican Party? Why has he left his party and country at this most critical time in American history? As third in line for the Presidency of the United States, with a looming Constitutional crisis, why has he taken himself “out of the game?”
Many site his distaste for President Trump. Ryan’s “Boy Scout” image does not fit well with the President of Porn Stars, Playgirls, and Access Hollywood fame. Others claim that Ryan’s ultimate goal was achieved by re-writing the tax code. The tax cut bill passed, and so Ryan is done. And still others suggest that Ryan is disgusted with the compromises he has had to make, accepting a $1.6 trillion deficit in the last budget. Ryan has always been a balanced budget proponent, now as Speaker he has led a huge increase in the United States’ debt.
Paul Ryan failed to use his Speakership to defend the key values of the Republican Party against the short-term transactional deals of President Trump. He failed to stand for the values he claimed to believe in: from balanced budgets and reduced government spending on entitlements, to ethical behavior and equal rights for all citizens. Again and again, from the Convention in Cleveland, to Charlottesville, to corruption in the EPA; Ryan had the opportunity to standup for what the Republican Party believes. He didn’t.
Why: again and again why did Paul Ryan swallow his distaste and stand beside the President? Was the “Trump Base” so dangerous to the Republican Party that they must be coddled at the cost of the “soul ” of the party? Others in the Party took principled stands: John Kasich, John McCain and Jeff Flake among them. Why did Ryan make his “deal with the Devil,” a deal that clearly has cost him his title and career?
The answer does not fit the “Boy Scout” image. Ryan’s party raced away from him to follow Trump, and instead of standing for “something,” this supposedly principled man chose to follow instead of lead. He did so with the hope of gaining power, of using Trump to pursue his own agenda. What he found was that Trump, a rookie politician, out politicked the Speaker, and got what Trump wanted.
And Ryan and the Republican Party compromised themselves by accepting the same kind of Russian money that has so compromised the Trump family. While little has been said, millions from such figures as Oleg Deripaska (of Paul Manafort fame) found its way into Republican coffers (Dallas Morning News.) Perhaps they have little choice but to accept what Trump does, they are under the same influences as him.
Ryan was the “heir apparent” for Republican leadership after the 2012 Presidential election, he continued on that path to power by accepting the Speakership when John Boehner left. He has failed the Party, and his country. It isn’t because he didn’t prevent the takeover of the party by Donald Trump, he joins the many who were unable to see that coming and couldn’t prevent it. No, he failed by not standing for what he believed, and what he clearly thinks this nation needs.
He’s headed home to Janesville, a figure of failed promise. America needed his leadership before, and needs it even more today. But he’s taking his ball and going home.
This might be a little petty but I still haven’t gotten over Mr. Ryan’s lack of self-confidence causing him to misremember his marathon time as over an hour faster than it actually was.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.runnersworld.com/newswire/paul-ryan-has-not-run-sub-300-marathon%3famp
Dahlman—here is an interesting article with a take on this issue that argues that it is Trump that sold out mostly to Ryan, and not the other way around like you argue. What do you make of it?
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/13/17229156/paul-ryan-sellout-donald-trump
I read the article and I agree with some points. I think Trump came into the Presidency without a clue on policy. Whatever he said on the campaign trail was about votes — not reality (and Mexico will pay for it.) Ryan handed him an “orthodox” Republican policy; cut the Affordable Care Act, Taxes, raise the military budget. Trump didn’t really care as long as he “wins.” But I think Ryan sold out to Trump in two ways. First, Ryan the “Boy Scout” swallowed Trump without protest. Yes, that’s “style” not “substance” but style is a big part of the problem with Trump. Ryan was positioned to do something about it, and he chose not to. The phrase “look what he does not what he says” has grown very worn. Second, the final budget passage was a huge deficit increase. While I have no problem with the social services side of the budget (I do have a problem with the size of the military increase,)sure as hell Ryan should have. In that way, he sold out his own beliefs.
And now as Republicans bandy about a “balanced budget amendment” so that they can justify cutting the social programs that Ryan so badly wants to end, it’s as two-faced as it can get. While that won’t pass, it’s likely Democrats will be saddled with raising taxes when they get back in power, so that they can deal with social problems AND the increasing debt.