Paul Ryan came close, VERY close to becoming the second most powerful man in the world. He fought a long, crazy campaign with Mitt Romney. Whether or not Paul has RINO tendencies, he did put forth a lot of effort. It’s understandable that everything after that experience pales in comparison.
The ongoing problem with Ryan is he was not truly a leader, and lacked the skill set, the overly inflated ego of those who do make more effective Speakers of the House. Someone like Newt Gingrich is often what it takes to herd all those cats.
That scumbag never had a real job in his life and he lost a debate to slow Joe Biden.
That should be carved on his tombstone.
[He fought a long, crazy campaign with Mitt Romney.]
Is MITT ROMNEY the ‘HEIR APPARENT’?
Good point.
Many Freepers are happy to just criticize and bandwagon without any depth of thought. Which is fine if that is what people need to feel relevant nowadays.
I'm not suggesting Ryan should stay. He should go.
But his full story is not, AT ALL, what people here often claim. He certainly did NOT come to DC to be a liberal RINO or anything like that.
Though few here recall, Paul Ryan came to town as the Donald Trump of entitlement reform!
He tried and tried to do the right thing. If what he proposed back then was law today, America would be Great Again already by now.
Very briefly, he wanted to turn entitlements back to the states where they Constitutionally belong (if anywhere) and where they can be continued or killed closer to home. In the meantime, keeping the current SS/MC boondoggles for everyone over fifty (I think) and who still wanted them. And giving the younger folks a more private-ized option - like actually owning the money you put into SS, etc. Which would allow the accumulation of inter-generation wealth, break the poverty cycles, etc.
Then, along the way he soured. At least in the sense that he gradually quit fighting hard for the drastic and more simplistic (always better) changes we really need at the federal level.
Essentially a guy who dove head long into the swamp to save us, then treading swamp for some years and eventually, from our current perspective, giving up and actually patching leaks in the swamp.
Not many at FR will like to hear this, but Trump is FAR worse than Ryan on these issues. The Don came to town actually promising NOT to fix the only problem which is at least as big as the immigration problem - ballooning entitlements.
If those two egos could have just meshed instead of mashed, then there would be so much freaking winning by now we would not know what to ask for Christmas by next year. Because:
If we did to entitlements what Ryan originally wanted, then lots of illegals would stop coming here. Which helps A LOT on the entitlement side.
...and...
If we did everything Trump wanted, then we have less votes coming here that favor more entitlements.
A win/win MAGA/MAGA!
I don't care what Ryan says, he's leaving because of Trump.
Ryan's (and conservative/libertarian America's) dreams of entitlement reform were already sinking because most of the R side of the Hill were too wussy to back him up. Then came Obama for eight years. Then Trump. To Ryan and the dream of SS/MC reform, the Don is essentially the third term of Obama. And, despite what the establishment thought originally after the miracle of 2016, Ryan now knows Trump has a good chance of winning again.
Ryan should have been dethroned as speaker about 10 minutes into the job. But he would probably never lose his House seat - he is well liked in his district. However, that should be a warning. His district is NOT super conservative like where I live several districts North of him in WI. It could easily flip in 2018 with him out of the race. But that is not good enough reason to keep him, he is too swampy smelling for me now.
His story is a tragic one really. Rather than pile on, the Freepers and Republicans should learn from it. He came to town good and is leaving town tainted. The lesson I'd suggest the fools on the Hill to learn is this:
KISS. Keep it Simple Stupids.
By the time we get to Ryan's speaker years, his plans became so arrogantly complicated (wrongly trying please everybody and hurt nobody) they had to be designed in the secret bat cave and rushed to votes before they can be digested. The 3-part HC reform scam that some here wanted to pass for the insanely short-sighted reason of having a 'win' for Trump was the worst example. And, worse, Trump would have signed it for the same anti-MAGA / pro-ego reason.
That plan was total fiction, as hard to read as it would be to swallow its thousands of pages. Basically it was: take poison today, expect some bureaucratic band aids till 2018 and then pray the next Congress passes the antidote phase.
Trump is fabulous in many ways. Better than any of the other candidates would have been on immigration, global warming, pro-life issues, trade and more. But he is nowhere near a conservative on legislative matters. Let's hope our next speaker (if we hold the House) is a real leader. Because Trump's philosophy of just simply advocating a totally subjective concept of 'winning' can be used to the advantage of conservative legislation. I think he'd sign things he promised not to sign on the condition he can call it winning, which it would be if it was similar to what The Trump of Entitlement Reform came to town for in the first place 18 years ago.
The Don could become Ryan 2.0 by his second term if he is not more vigilant in that regard than was The Paul.