In Defense of Paul Ryan
In what is probably one of the most anticipated books of 2019, Politico reporter Tim Alberta’s book American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump focuses on the story of how the Republican Party lost its way as the party of conservatism to a new party of populism, nationalism, and cult of personality.
The book gives the inside story of how the changes took place and has subsequently made headlines for the anecdotes contained within it. This has drawn the wrath of Donald Trump as the former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is quoted as being critical of the president: “I told myself I gotta have a relationship with this guy to help him get his mind right. Because, I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government…I wanted to scold him all the time.”
Alberta’s book includes stories of Ryan wanting to abandon Trump as the Republican nominee after the Access Hollywood tapes came out before the second presidential debate in 2016 and how Ryan viewed retirement as an “escape hatch” from having to deal with the president any longer.
Upon the release of this excerpt, President Trump immediately went to Twitter to attack Paul Ryan, tweeting, “Paul Ryan almost killed the Republican Party. Weak, ineffective & stupid are not exactly the qualities that Republicans, or the CITIZENS of our country, were looking for.” Later, speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump hit Ryan again saying, “Paul Ryan let us down. Paul Ryan was a terrible speaker. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing.”
Never mind the fact that Paul Ryan was central to getting Congress to pass tax reform (President Trump’s single domestic achievement) or the fact that when Ryan announced his retirement, Trump lavished praise on him and thanked him for doing an amazing job, “Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!”
Never mind any of those things.
Because American politics revolves around one man, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan will be criticized and mocked for his actions leading up to the 2016 election, all the way through to his retirement at the end of 2018. Furthermore, Ryan will be labeled weak, ineffective, and a “bad conservative” because he was either seen as too opposed to Trump, or too accommodating to Trump, depending on who you ask.
Ryan will also be criticized by some for not speaking out against the president as Speaker of the House, and for not being able to pass repeal-and-replace legislation for Obamacare or comprehensive immigration reform during the first two years of the Trump presidency (although in both instances that Ryan had detailed legislation addressing each issue, it was the House Freedom Caucus and the president himself who always threw a wrench in Ryan’s plans).
But when judging Paul Ryan, it might be important to ask these questions:
Was Paul Ryan a hypocrite for withdrawing his support of Donald Trump prior to the election and then going all-in for him on Election Day 2016? Probably, but it was understandable why he saw the election as a binary choice.
Was he a hypocrite for wanting to rein in the federal deficit spending while still allowing it to skyrocket under his watch? No, if his “Path to Prosperity” budget plan had been followed we would have decreased the national debt by trillions already.
Was he a hypocrite for not criticizing Trump when he should have? Maybe, but Ryan wanted to get things done and one tweet by Trump was more than enough to kill weeks of important legislative work.
Was he a hypocrite for constantly speaking out on the need for healthcare and entitlement reform and seeing neither get done? No, the reason why these reforms were not accomplished was because the House Freedom Caucus wanted to play political games and President Trump had no idea what he supported.
Is Paul Ryan a bad conservative or a “RINO” for his actions while in Congress? No, he was one of the most principled conservatives to have ever walked the halls of Congress.
The legacy that Paul Ryan leaves behind will always be up for debate depending on who judges it. However, for conservatives, and conservatism as a whole, Paul Ryan will go down in history as one of the most principled and most important conservatives to have ever been in Congress.
Ryan was a man of ideas, and his ideas remained largely the same when he left office as when he was first elected to Congress in 1998. He was also a man of principle who always fought for his conservative principles.
Moreover, he was successful in getting the Republican Party to at least acknowledge the need for entitlement reform and the need for decreasing the national debt. Ryan was one of the leading Republicans to address the issue of poverty and never gave up on preaching the importance of welfare reform that is still desperately needed.
He was the leader that the House Republicans needed in 2015, and his “Better Way” agenda was successful in giving the Republican Party a governing vision for the future. The Republican Party and the conservative movement need to be thankful for Paul Ryan, and they need to be thankful for his ideas and vision.
Paul Ryan’s retirement symbolized the death of a conservatism that supported the ideals and spirit of Ronald Reagan. Maybe Ryan was right when he told Tim Alberta, “The Reagan Republican wing beat the Rockefeller Republican wing. And now the Trump wing beat the Reagan wing.”