The Maui News - Weekender

Ryan’s support of Trump public only

- By LISA MASCARO and The Associated Press

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.”

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 ?? AP file photo ?? In happier times: The president and the speaker of the House in September 2018.
AP file photo In happier times: The president and the speaker of the House in September 2018.

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