Two years ago, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan was the Republican Party’s indispensable man, uniting the party’s unruly congressional caucus behind an agenda of cutting taxes and shrinking the welfare state. Now Ryan (Wis.) is retiring to spend more time with his teenage children.
What happened? Ryan’s speakership began with strong support from rank-and-file Republicans, but that support eroded substantially as he struggled to distance himself from President Trump. His departure underlines the extent to which, as Robert Reich put it, “the Republican Party no longer stands for anything other than Trump.” CONT.
Larry M. Bartels (Vanderbilt U.), Monkey Cage