# Paul Ryan not running for re-election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 11, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210 "2018-04-11T12:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/81 "2018-04-11T22:57:45Z")
Or you can’t admit you’re wrong. How Trumpish. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/82 "2018-04-11T23:20:24Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > someone who genuinely tried to do the right thing For example … ? Maybe not his strenuous efforts to keep the working poor from having access to health insurance; that\* can’t \*be what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/83 "2018-04-11T23:59:25Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Or you can’t admit you’re wrong. How Trumpish. I don’t even know what you think I’m wrong about. Did I pee in your cornflakes? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/84 "2018-04-12T00:11:23Z")
Again, Ryan has not faced a difficult political situation. He’s facing a _really easy_ political situation. If he’s finding it difficult, that’s just evidence that he’s really incompetent at politics. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/85 "2018-04-12T00:22:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > This is very good news. Not in itself (he’s really just one more meaningless Republican), but for what it indicates: If even the Speaker of the House thinks the political winds are blowing that strongly against him, they probably are. The problem for Ryan and other veterans in the GOP is, it’s not clear that they have the support of the mega donors. There has been considerable talk that Ryan would have been facing a primary challenger this year, and even if he were to stave that off threat to his political career for another election cycle, it’s not clear if Republicans want him back as Speaker. At this point, he probably figures, he’s done all he can do. I’m not sure Ryan’s doing this because he fears a blue wave as much as he fears that he’s about to get fragged by his own soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/86 "2018-04-12T00:34:24Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Your post consists of a very strong disagreement with him about the issues. OK. Yeah, I disagree with him on his Randian, (currently denied Randian) approach to economics. However, Ryan’s failure to stand up to Trump on Trump’s dishonest attempts to bar selected Muslims (those with whom he has no business dealings) in order to appeal to the mob that Trump courted) and Ryan’s description of poor people as “takers” and Ryan’s (admittedly tepid) support for the Mexican wall boondoggle along with numerous similar events remove Ryan from any list of “fine” people. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/87 "2018-04-12T01:57:43Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The Congress is a co-equal branch of government. A member of Congress has no obligation to treat the president as a leader if he or she disagrees with the president’s policies. > > More important, if the member of Congress perceived that the president is harming the country by messing with democratic norms and institutions, he or she has a duty to oppose the president. > > There’s nothing in the Constitution that says a member of Congress is obligated to serve the president regardless of any other consideration. They’re equals. “The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.” - Theodore Roosevelt (1918) ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/88 "2018-04-12T04:27:43Z")
At least his tenure as speaker did a little to expose what a fraud he always was. Remember when the line was that he was this great genius and policy wonk? (Then there was that period, not that long ago actually, where he got people drinking some kool aid about how he just cared so much about eradicating poverty and his life’s mission was going to be helping the poor.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/89 "2018-04-12T04:48:27Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > At least his tenure as speaker did a little to expose what a fraud he always was. Remember when the line was that he was this great genius and policy wonk? (Then there was that period, not that long ago actually, where he got people drinking some kool aid about how he just cared so much about eradicating poverty and his life’s mission was going to be helping the poor.) No no, you got it backward. It was his mission to help \*poverty \*and eliminate the _poor_. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/90 "2018-04-12T04:51:43Z")
If Republican congresscritters from purplish districts are the casualties this November, his replacement will most likely be worse. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/91 "2018-04-12T04:58:25Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > If Republican congresscritters from purplish districts are the casualties this November, his replacement will most likely be worse. Nancy Pelosi? No, I kinda like her. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/92 "2018-04-12T11:10:28Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > _Ryan: Oh my god! The bus is out of control! We’re pointed straight toward the edge of a cliff! Who is driving? > Assistant: You are, Paul. You are sitting in the driver’s seat. You have the keys. You can steer, accelerate, and brake. Just make a decision and take action. > Ryan: Well, I guess the only thing to do is jump off and hope for the best. See you guys in 2020! Jeronimo! > Passenger: Did he realize the bus wasn’t in motion? > Assistant: It’s all a matter of perspective. > Ryan: Hey, guys, my mistake. We weren’t actually moving. Can I get back on the bus now? > Assistant: See what I mean?_ > > Stranger Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/93 "2018-04-12T11:40:23Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Brilliant! Not really. He never wanted to be Speaker of the House and only accepted it to keep the Republican cohort from splintering (further) into warring factions. Now he can spend a couple of free years drumming up funds for his run for POTUS while he hopes that the short public memory will not link him to the current disaster come 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/94 "2018-04-12T12:29:29Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > OK. But the bottom line is that you’re calling him “one of the most politically cowardly men in US high office in a long, long time” for failing to do something that has never been done by anyone, ever. [Impeachment process against Richard Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_process_against_Richard_Nixon#Culmination) > [@](#): > > During the late afternoon of August 7, 1974, **Senators Goldwater and Scott and Representative Rhodes** met with Nixon in the Oval Office and told him that his support in Congress had all but disappeared. Rhodes told Nixon that he would face certain impeachment when the articles came up for vote in the full House. Goldwater and Scott told the president that there were not only enough votes in the Senate to convict him, but that no more than 15 or so Senators were willing to vote for acquittal – far fewer than the 34 he needed to avoid removal from office.[106][107] They did not pressure Nixon to resign, but simply made the realities of the situation clear. **Goldwater later wrote that as a result of the meeting, Nixon “knew beyond any doubt that one way or another his presidency was finished.”** [108] ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/95 "2018-04-12T13:09:12Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Seriously? I didn’t claim I never addressed you. I wasn’t addressing you in the post you replied to. I was addressing a specific comment made by Ravenman. Get it now? This is why it’s a good idea to QUOTE the post you’re (the general “you”) replying to. Avoids this sort of “nyah-nyah” stuff. Only takes one extra keystroke to do that. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/96 "2018-04-12T13:11:30Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Personally I’m inclined to think that a president elected by “split decision” (where the popular vote goes one way and the electoral the other) should at least govern as if he were cognizant of that fact. (Of course, there appears to be so much that trump is not cognizant of that it’s no surprise that this is one of those things.) Emphasis added. It is futile to use the word “cognizant” when referring even obliquely to thump’s…um… _process_. “Cognizant” isn’t even in the room. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/97 "2018-04-12T13:13:28Z")
Late to the party, but joining the crowd gleefully dancing on Ryan’s political grave. (Note to **tomndebb** : his campaign for President won’t go far, assuming it ever gets started.) Not only was he an avid screw-the-poor, shovel-money-at-the-rich Republican, but the media had bought into his story that he was a deficit hawk and budget wonk, neither of which was true. Good riddance to bad rubbish. ETA: now he’s free to spend more time with his collection of Ayn Rand novels. And kudos to IronStache, aka Randy Bryce, the Democratic candidate for Ryan’s House seat. He’s raised a ton of money, and apparently Ryan’s polling wasn’t looking great. It’s not clear how much having to put up a serious fight just to keep his House seat affected his decision to call it quits, but it couldn’t have hurt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/98 "2018-04-12T13:26:46Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > This is why it’s a good idea to QUOTE the post you’re (the general “you”) replying to. Avoids this sort of “nyah-nyah” stuff. Only takes one extra keystroke to do that. Carry on. 😕 I did do that. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/99 "2018-04-12T13:37:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The Congress is a co-equal branch of government. A member of Congress has no obligation to treat the president as a leader if he or she disagrees with the president’s policies. > > More important, if the member of Congress perceived that the president is harming the country by messing with democratic norms and institutions, he or she has a duty to oppose the president. > > There’s nothing in the Constitution that says a member of Congress is obligated to serve the president regardless of any other consideration. They’re equals. ISTM that you’re playing it both ways here. You’re correct that Congress is a co-equal branch of government, but that works in reverse too. The president has certain powers that are his by constitutional right. Most of what people seem to be complaining about (WRT Ryan’s approach to dealing with Trump) is that Ryan didn’t use his power in Congress to trump Trump’s presidential power. Beyond that, while it’s true from a constitutional standpoint that the congress and president have delineated powers, the reality is that the president has traditionally been accepted as the leader of his party, and this has a force of its own. And further beyond that, the fact is that Trump continues to have considerable support from Republican members of congress and from the Republican electorate. Ryan, unlike Trump, was not elected by the people to a set term from which he could only be removed by impeachment. He was elected by the House, and could be removed at their pleasure. He simply didn’t have the ability to disregard the opinions of his colleagues and (by extension) the voters. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > [Impeachment process against Richard Nixon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_process_against_Richard_Nixon#Culmination) Per your own quote, those Republicans were simply messengers informing Nixon “that his support in Congress had all but disappeared”. It’s not like Nixon’s support in Congress disappeared because Goldwater et al bent Congress to their will. Nixon’s support disappeared, and these congresspeople recognized it one step ahead of Nixon, that’s all. That’s not at all comparable to the current situation, where Trump’s support has (unfortunately) not disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210/100 "2018-04-12T13:53:11Z")
So you’re saying, we shouldn’t blame Ryan; we should instead blame the members of Congress? I hate to break it to you, but that’s what Ryan is (a position to which he was, in fact, elected to for a set term and from which he can’t be removed early, just like you said he wasn’t). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-not-running-for-re-election/812210.md?page=6)