The Tragedy of Paul Ryan
I have always thought of Ryan a creepy man, someone who always thought he was better than others--a goodie two shoes.
The Tragedy of Paul Ryan
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/12/how-donald-trump-upended-paul-ryans-plans-217989
He began as a Jack Kemp conservative. He ended as Donald Trumps man on Capitol Hill.
By TIM ALBERTA
April 12, 2018
Paul Ryan came to Congress as a Jack Kemp conservative and will depart as a Donald Trump Republican.
Its more complicated than that, certainly. History requires nuance and texture. But legacies are reductive by nature. The House speaker announced his retirement Wednesday, closing a messy and mesmerizing chapter in the history of the Republican Party. And for the affable Wisconsin kid who moved to Washington a quarter-century ago, eager to make his mark on fiscal policy, the harsh reality is that he might be remembered more for accommodating the impulses of the 45th president than for crafting a generational overhaul of the tax code.
This is a political obituary of Ryans own writing. His silence in the face of Trumps indignitiesand his observance of exquisite presidential leadership, a line that will live in infamywould be less remarkable had he not first established himself as one of Congress good guys, someone whose sense of principle and decency informed his objections to Trumps candidacy in the first place. Indeed, the speakers habit of turning a blind eye to the presidents behavior is relevant and revelatory because it was not always so. There was hardly a tougher Trump critic during the 2016 campaign than Ryan, who felt duty-bound to combat the candidates dark rhetoric and the partys nativist drift. Yet there has hardly been anyone softer on Trump since Election Day than Ryan, who felt duty-bound to deliver on the policy promises made to votersand decided that doing so meant ignoring the ad hominem savaging of private citizens, the hush money paid to porn stars, the attacks on private companies, the attempts to delegitimize institutions and the innumerable other acts for which Barack Obama would have been impaled by the right.
This was Pauls deal with the devil, a phrase used by several of the speakers confidants in the days following Trumps shocking triumph. Reince Priebus, his old friend and the chairman of the Republican National Committee, had told Ryan on Election Day that Hillary Clinton would win the presidency, and Ryan was prepared to give a speech soon afterward divorcing himselfand the partyfrom Trump once and for all. Instead, the speaker found himself staring down a Faustian bargain. Republicans had seized total control of Washington. And he might, over the next two years, have a chance to pursue the legislation of his dreams: repealing Obamacare, rewriting the tax code, reforming entitlement programs and rebuilding the military. But it would be possible only if he partnered with the very man whose offenses were so manifest that Ryan disinvited him from his own Wisconsin congressional district a month before the election..................................
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)by the media than this two-bit telegenic ungrateful granny starver. There is nothing tragic about him, unless you count what he would inflict on this country if given the opportunity.
Nitram
(22,803 posts)critical of Ryan's metamorphosis into a Trumpist with not a single ethical or moral one in his body. NPR has often commented on the same thing. The same is true of the NYT. The post here quotes Politico saying that Ryan made a deal with the Devil - that doesn't qualify as indulgence in my book. Neither does this, "ignoring the ad hominem savaging of private citizens, the hush money paid to porn stars, the attacks on private companies, the attempts to delegitimize institutions and the innumerable other acts for which Barack Obama would have been impaled by the right."
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)Your point falls apart with the headline.
Ryan has consistently enjoyed good guy status despite an agenda that would deny ordinary citizens the type of support that helped get him through childhood. And thats just the start of it. Hes a shit and always has been. Find me the link for that.
Nitram
(22,803 posts)of the word. It doesn't imply sympathy, if that's what you thought.
1. an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe.
2. a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character.
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)JI7
(89,251 posts)Jack Kemp to compare that fool to him.
malthaussen
(17,200 posts)His flaws caused his downfall, such as it is. However, unlike most tragic heroes, he doesn't have a single redeeming factor to make his downfall piteous.
-- Mal
Liberalhammer
(576 posts)Good riddance. He's a terrible human being.
dalton99a
(81,513 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,608 posts)complicit in the Morton's destruction of this country for his own benefit...PARTY OVER COUNTRY is his motto! Unpatriotic, hate filled, greedy hypocrite. He is Catholic...that is a joke. He answers to no higher power but to the God of money and hurting the poor is not too "compassionate" in my book. Christian/Schmistian.
Paladin
(28,262 posts)Fuck Paul Ryan, for the spineless, heartless policy creep he always has been. I hope his family thinks he's as big an asshole as I do.