Ryan’s support of Trump public only
WASHINGTON — What’s so stunning about former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s new admissions regarding President Donald Trump is that his story is now so ordinary.
Ryan decided to leave Washington, as relayed in a new book, “American Carnage,” by Tim Alberta, rather than endure two more years of the Trump presidency.
The disclosures portray the once rising GOP star as deeply conflicted in the age of Trump, saying one thing in public but thinking another in private, as he tried — and ultimately failed — to serve alongside the president.
“I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government,” Ryan says in the book. “I wanted to scold him all the time. What I learned as I went on, to scratch that itch, I had to do it in private. So, I did it in private all the time. And he actually ended up kind of appreciating it.”
Ryan’s story is remarkable, but not rare. Trump’s critics in the GOP are increasingly unwilling, or unable, to speak their minds publicly about the president for fear of enduring his wrath, or that of his constituents.
The silence of Republicans takes on new significance as Trump seeks a second term, potentially deepening his hold on the party.
“Those of us around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions. All the time,” said Ryan, who stepped down after nearly two decades in Washington, in the book. “We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he’s making some of these knee-jerk reactions.”
Trump shot back Friday, lashing out at the former speaker as a “baby” and a “terrible speaker.”
Trump unleashed his criticism on one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons just before leaving Washington to visit the state, which he wants to win again in 2020. He called the retired congressman’s record “atrocious” despite Ryan’s work in securing Trump’s main domestic policy achievement, the GOP tax bill.
“Paul Ryan let us down. Paul Ryan was a terrible speaker,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “He didn’t know what the hell he was doing.”
This is the dilemma facing Republicans in the age of Trump. If they disagree with the president, they face consequences. If they stay close, they often must contort their political preferences to fit his unpredictable actions. If they decide to leave, as Ryan did, they lose their platform to influence and shape the White House.
One Republican congressman said Friday that on Capitol Hill and beyond, “everyone is in on the joke.” They take the good with the bad with this president, and find their own way in Trump’s party, said the congressman.
But the style and substance of Trump’s mercurial presidency has so disrupted political norms and standard operations that some of the party’s once ascending members are, like Ryan, taking leave.
“He’s not alone,” said former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who retired early rather than run for reelection alongside Trump.
“I could not stand on a campaign stage with the president when people shouted, ‘Lock her up!’ — and I’m not alone in that,” the Republican said by phone Friday. “The problem isn’t just Trump. It’s Trumpism. Unfortunately, it’s a virus that’s infected not just the Republican party, but the Democratic Party, as well.”