Posted on 08/16/2016 1:33:14 PM PDT by cotton1706
Donald Trump’s blistering attacks on trade deals with Mexico and China, regardless of how simplistic and distorted, have placed House Speaker Paul Ryan in an awkward spot in part because of his own entrenched “free-trade” beliefs—and those of the Republican donor class he has so skillfully cultivated.
But Ryan’s position is most precarious because he harbors ambitions for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, he wants to avoid alienating the supporters of Donald Trump, whom he has continued to endorse despite mounting criticism of his support for the New Yorker. To balance his own fiercely held convictions on “free trade” and austerity policies with Trump’s contradictory economic direction, Ryan has been going through a remarkable set of contortions recently.
On August 9, during a visit to his economically declining southeastern Wisconsin district, Ryan made a carefully calculated concession to Trump’s anti-“free trade” position by reversing himself and coming out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership on vague technical grounds. (Around the same time, Trump made a long-delayed, pro forma endorsement of Ryan.)
(Excerpt) Read more at prospect.org ...
Paul Ryan, how many fingers am I holding up?
Wrong. Two. I am using BOTH hands!!!!
CREEP. No 2020 for you you globalist one worlder bastard!!
People are going to have to live with this now, the people of Wisconsin have spoken...hope they like what they did, course I haven’t met a person yet that has said they voted for Barky either, or Clinton in his second term...so there you have it...
Thanks Wisconsin, we’ll remember you...
That’s didn’t take long for him to revert to full RINO
The author is simplistic condescending twit.
Dump Ryan as Speaker and give a Xmas gift to the country
Ryan is a compromised paid off globalist agenda hack.
We’re talking Wussconsin, they’ll never dump Ryan.
Ryan is politically dead to me.
The perfect ticket for these people would be a Ryan/Cruz or Cruz/Ryan ticket.
Not with my vote!
“But Ryan’s position is most precarious because he harbors ambitions for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, he wants to avoid alienating the supporters of Donald Trump”
Way, way, way too F-ing late
We’re talking Wussconsin, they’ll never dump Ryan.
Yep. A vote for Ryan is a vote for Amnesty and yet still 68% of Wisconsin “Republicans” voted for him in his primary.
I went John Galt on products from Wisconsin some decade+ ago.
Love my imported cheese.
Ryan and his donors and Representatives are a powerful force and will destroy the Party to defeat Trump’s policies.
2018 will be a great year for the House Democrats if conservatives don’t prepare their own campaigns for House seats.
This article is more sympathetic to Trump and his supporters than I would expect.
It’s interesting that we have to turn to center-left sources like American Prospect to get a critical perspective.
Ha! Alienate Trump voters for 2020 run? He has long since done that, along with rest of GOPe crew. No more republican vote from me the way they have tried to sabotage Trump.
What was simplistic and distorted were the lies told by Ryan and others who've pushed these trade agreements for years, promising they'd open foreign markets for Americans products and create good paying jobs for Americans.
What they've actually done is export thousands of manufacturing facilities and several million manufacturing jobs while creating substantial increases in our trade (and budget) deficit year after year.
A few producers in agriculture and some other areas have benefited, but the trade deficits and exported factories and jobs tell the real story.
If Trump in president, 2018 could be a great year for primary defeats of any Rinos who try to fight Trump on the issues which would have made him president.
He’ll get less votes than yebbers!
“Thanks Wisconsin, we’ll remember you...”
I always wonder what the people in Wisconsin’s 1st district (Paul Ryan) and Ohio’s 8th district (John Boehner) are thinking. Both districts are overwhelmingly Republican and yet continued to vote for Boehner and Ryan knowing the damage that they were doing.
Are they unaware of the candidates record?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.