Bon voyage, Paul Ryan!
Breaking news this week: former House Speaker Paul Ryan “found himself sobbing” during the insurrection on January 6, 2021. According to Mark Leibovich’s new book, Thank You For Your Servitude, Ryan explained that “something snapped in him” as he watched Trump’s mob infiltrate and desecrate his old workplace. Coming from one who had long been in a unique position to repel the growing threat Trump posed to democracy, that’s a bit rich.
We have seen government leaders get emotional when talking about the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. That weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fought back tears when, in an interview with Lesley Stahl on “60 Minutes,” she described the day as a “terrible violation of… the legislative branch by the President of the United States.” A month later, Rep. Jamie Raskin choked up at Trump’s second impeachment trial when recounting that after having promised his daughter that things would be different next time she came to the Capitol, she responded, “Dad, I don’t want to come back to the Capitol.”
Ryan was not in the mob’s crosshairs on January 6—he has been busy helping oversee Fox News as a Fox Corp. board member since leaving Congress in early 2019. As Speaker, Ryan could have taken the lead with other GOP members to rebuke Trump as the cretin continued testing every imaginable boundary. However, Ryan never found the courage to do so—not for the sake of his country and not even for the sake of preserving the “principled conservative” character of his beloved Republican Party.
Is the “something” that “snapped in him” regret? Pangs of guilt, perhaps, as Ryan realized the price of not stepping forward when he had the chance? Absolutely not, according to Ryan, who insisted to Leibovich he’s “very comfortable” with the decisions he made even as the insatiable Trump continued devouring the brains and souls of nearly everyone in his feckless party.
Ryan admitted that “some people” wanted him “to start a civil war in our party.” Yet Ryan insists — even after sobbing while observing the deadly consequences of his inaction— that such efforts would, apparently, “achieve nothing.” Ensuring a peaceful transfer of power certainly isn’t nothing. Digging in his heels, Ryan appears to claim perfection with his decisions, telling Leibovich “I would make them again, do it again the same way.” These new revelations further prove that Paul Ryan has spent the last three-and-a-half years exactly where he belongs — out of government.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month