Paul Ryan is being treated with hate again.
The former GOP House Speaker and 2012 vice presidential candidate is now a unifying figure. Liberals have long despised him – wrongly, in my opinion. Anti-Trump conservatives are furious over his “surrender to Trumpism,” in the words of Charlie Sykes, editor-in-chief of Bulwark.
And of course, Trump’s true believers have long despised Ryan.
The latest batch of vitriol makes sense, of course. Ryan haters are simply following President Trump’s lead.
Late last week, Trump pointed out passages from Tim Alberta’s fascinating fresh book, “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump,” that angered him. Ryan’s quotes in the book are relatively tame and, significantly, few bother to debate their content. He accuses Trump of “knee-jerk reactions” and claims he “wanted to scold him the whole time.”
Trump, however, did not take this criticism lightly. In a flurry of tweets and on-camera comments, he sharply criticized the former speaker.
“Paul Ryan almost killed the Republican Party. “Weakness, ineffectiveness and stupidity are not exactly the characteristics that Republicans or CITIZENS of our country were looking for,” Trump wrote in one tweet.
As for the content, it’s more than a little questionable. As leader of the Republican Party and speaker, Ryan helped build the largest GOP majority in the House since 1929. When House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced his retirement, Ryan was the only Republican the caucus could rally around to replace him . Trump, not Ryan, cost the GOP seats in 2018 (you can look it up).
It’s also challenging to reconcile Trump’s weekend vitriol with his April 2018 congratulatory tweet on the news of Ryan’s retirement: “Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and although he will not seek re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that no one can question. We’re with you, Paul!”
But there was also a history between the two men dating back to 2016, when Ryan slowly embraced Trump. Ryan’s reluctance, of course, was widely shared by virtually the entire GOP leadership, especially after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape. Former Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus; Office of the Executive and Chief Budget Officer Mick Mulvaney; UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (who my wife works for); Sense. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell; and even Vice President Mike Pence took his time jumping on the Trump train.
Defenders of these and countless other Republicans are essentially saying, “Yes, but they went along with the agenda.” Yes, Ryan too, as he himself admitted. He tells Albert that he felt obligated to help steer Trump’s presidency toward productive goals because Trump “knew nothing about government.” By Trump’s standards, Ryan has been wildly successful in advancing the president’s agenda in Congress. The House passed a repeal of Obamacare, sweeping tax cuts, and a host of regulatory reforms.
Trump blames Ryan for not funding the border wall, but that’s nothing more than scapegoating – even though the president continually insists the wall is actually being built. Moreover, Trump forgets that Ryan came up with a border adjustment tax that would not only satisfy Trump’s tariff desires in a less destructive way, but also provide sufficient funding for the wall. Trump didn’t like it because it was too complicated, preferring his own approach to trade that sees disruption as a feature rather than a bug.
It seems that Ryan’s real sin was that he wasn’t good enough at hiding his decency and honesty. This highlights the strange convergence between Ryan’s “Always Trump” and “Never Trump” critics. Like the biblical Laodiceans, he was neither icy nor heated. Ryan signaled to Trump’s critics that he understands exactly what he is compromising and reminded Trump’s apologists what they are willing to overlook.
As Ryan told me and others, he felt an unwavering loyalty to House GOP members as he helped them navigate the choppy waters of the Trump presidency. Ryan’s problem was that ” [expletive] “Scout,” as Trump called him, couldn’t pretend to be excited about the mission.
This is the heart of the GOP transformation. In private, Republican Party officials are a lot like Ryan. But they are better able to fraudulent their enthusiasm in public because that’s what Trump demands.
Some sophisticated Trump supporters talk a lot about the need for transactional thinking with Trump. He’s taking care of his business, don’t you know? But helping him get things done is not what the president wants from his allies. They also need to celebrate him doing it. And for “[expletive] “Scout” was too high an order.
