WASHINGTON — Tiring of the endless drama of the Trump era, anticipating the House going to the Democrats in next year’s midterms, and weary of the three-ring circus Congress has become, it’s small wonder that House Speaker Paul Ryan is ready to go.
House staff members and others familiar with Ryan’s thinking confirmed to the Herald reports he is privately considering hanging up his gavel after the midterms — or possibly even earlier, to avoid the headache of another re-election bid for himself.
On the record, Ryan denied to reporters that he’s headed for the exit.
“I’m not, no,” Ryan chuckled.
His spokeswoman AshLee Strong added yesterday: “This is pure speculation. As the speaker himself said today, he’s not going anywhere any time soon.”
But his predecessor, John Boehner, also vehemently denied rumors of his departure right up to his tearful farewell in 2014.
In some ways, Ryan’s situation is similar to the one that caused Boehner to walk away — warring factions from within his party that made even repealing Obamacare impossible.
But the person in control at the White House is another albatross for the Wisconsin Republican. President Trump’s push for a political win — even on an agenda issue he shares with congressional Republicans — tends to make things harder, not easier.
At this year’s Al Smith dinner a few weeks ago, Ryan joked, “Every morning, I wake up in my office and scroll Twitter to see which tweets I will have to pretend that I didn’t see later.”
But the reality is less funny. Trump’s mercurial nature and sometimes vicious social media outbursts — often aimed at Ryan and his Senate counterpart Mitch McConnell — have become as much of a drain on Ryan as trying to lead lawmakers in a chamber he reportedly compared to a “day care center.”
“The rest of the country does understand that it is hard as heck to herd 435 cats,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “Frankly there is no position, other than president of the United States, that is going the be harder than the position he has right now.”
Meanwhile, none of Ryan’s key agenda items — cutting government spending, tackling the debt, entitlement reform or even genuine tax reform (as opposed to the current bill to slash rates mostly for high-income earners) — have little chance of coming to fruition.
You can’t blame Ryan for planning an exit strategy event before the next election, where Democrats are generally favored.
Better to jump than be pushed.