Before Donald Trump was elected president, House Speaker Paul Ryan had trouble saying the name “Donald Trump.”
Now, in addition to saying his name and singing his praises, he’s parroting his campaign slogan.
A Narrower Majority for Republicans Could Widen the House Divide
Some members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus met privately on Wednesday to discuss agitating for more clout, which could take the form of a challenge to Mr. Ryan, or a call for rules changes that the speaker is likely to oppose.
.. Nonpartisan analysts are forecasting that Democrats will pick up five to 20 seats next week, well shy of the 30 needed to retake control.
.. They also have been weighing rules changes they would like to see — within the party and for the House as a whole — largely intended to empower members with responsibilities typically reserved for leadership, including the selection of committee chairpersons.
.. Members of the caucus are also concerned about a push from more moderate Republicans to toss out the so-called motion to vacate the chair, a procedural move through which a single member can force a vote to remove the speaker. One member of the Freedom Caucus, Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, tried to use it to oust John A. Boehner from his speakership last year, prompting many — including Mr. Ryan — to criticize it.
.. Their latest discussions — and the fact that a narrower Republican majority would mean Mr. Ryan could afford to lose fewer votes to retain his speakership — have raised the prospect that the group could resort to political hostage-taking to fulfill their demands.
The Trump Demogorgon devours Paul Ryan
Ryan took issue with Trump’s talk about rigged elections and other remarks that could induce violence on and after Election Day. His office released a statement saying he is “fully confident” in election integrity. Trump swiped at Ryan in a series of tweets: “Paul Ryan, always fighting the Republican nominee! . . . Paul Ryan, a man who doesn’t know how to win (including failed run four years ago). . . . Paul Ryan does zilch!”
And it’s not just Ryan who lost control. Newt Gingrich, a Trump defender, tried to argue Sunday on ABC that Trump’s major complaint about the election being rigged “is not at the poll level” but with the media.
.. Even Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, can’t bring the monster to heel. “We will absolutely accept the results of the election,”
.. Trump’s depredations have left Ryan, the highest-ranking Republican in the land, in a no-win situation. He could revoke his Trump endorsement, but this would require resigning the speakership, because a majority of GOP caucus members are from heavily conservative districts where Trump is popular. They, like Trump and his legions, are already furious with Ryan, and his criticism of Trump only makes them angrier. I’m told Ryan considered resigning, but this would accomplish little beyond generating more chaos in an already ungovernable GOP caucus.
Their Dark Fantasies
In reality, murder is at a historic low, we’re seeing a major urban revival and net immigration from Mexico is negative.
.. Mr. Ryan is, of course, a media darling. He doesn’t really command strong support from his own party’s base; his prominence comes, instead, from a press corps that decided years ago that he was the archetype of serious, honest conservatism, and clings to that story no matter how many times the obvious fraudulence and cruelty of his proposals are pointed out.
.. According to him, it’s very grim. There will, he said, be “a gloom and grayness to things,” ruled by a “cold and unfeeling bureaucracy.” We will become a place “where passion — the very stuff of life itself — is extinguished.” And this is the kind of America Mrs. Clinton “will stop at nothing to have.”
.. Gallup finds that 80 percent of Americans are satisfied with their standard of living, up from 73 percent in 2008, and that 55 percent consider themselves to be “thriving,” up from 49 percent in 2008
.. So Mr. Ryan’s vision of America looks nothing like reality. It is, however, completely familiar to anyone who read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” as a teenager.
.. The people Mr. Trump represents want to suppress and disenfranchise you-know-who; the big-money interests that support Ryan-style conservatism want to privatize and generally dismantle the social safety net, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get there.