House Speaker Paul Ryan – whose full title, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, is too much of a mouthful – has announced today that he will not be seeking re-election in the coming elections and will retire from his Congressional post at the end of the year. The Republican official from the state of Wisconsin has not been disgraced out of office via a sordid scandal or anything. He simply wants to retire so that he can spend more time with his family. Isn’t that nice?
Ryan told the press in Washington when he made the announcement that the post of House Speaker in the US Congress is “a big job with a lot riding on you,” and added that “this is not a job that does not last forever.” Although this double negative suggests that the job does in fact last forever, it can be inferred that what he means is that it does not last forever, because he’s retiring, and he said that he has realised in his time as the Speaker for the House that his tenure in the position makes up “just a small part of [American] history.”
According to Ryan, he initially took the job back in 2015 “reluctantly,” when he replaced John Boehner in the role of House Speaker, but did clarify to reporters that he does not have any “regrets” about the way that his political career has panned out.
He also said that he believes he has “done [his] part” in getting America onto “a better course” for the future, which is why he feels comfortable with hanging up his hat and handing off the job to someone else (whoever that might be).
Paul Ryan was the last hope in the Trump era – and now, he’s gone
Losing Paul Ryan is a huge blow to the US government. The rest of the Republican Party were relying on him to contain President Donald Trump’s madness. Whenever he proposes something crazy, Ryan was always the relatively sane and level-headed catalyst to stop it from becoming legislation, or at least watering it down or turning it into a more normal US policy. For example, he was responsible for some tax cuts recently.
And now, we’ve lost this guy.
Those tax cuts have been mentioned by Ryan as one of the key points of the legacy that he is leaving behind from his time in office. Now, he plans to give up the high-flying Washington political life, return to Wisconsin, and spend some quality time with his family.
When the Speaker was asked if the upcoming 2018 midterm elections had any part in his decision to announce his retirement, he said, “None whatsoever actually.”
Trump praises Ryan as ‘a truly good man’
Trump has often butted heads with the other Republican officials in Congress – and this includes Ryan – but even though the House Speaker has often acted as a barrier for a lot of the President’s policies and prevented his true #MAGA vision from coming to fruition, he has still tweeted out to commend Ryan for being “a truly good man,” who has now left behind “a legacy of achievement that nobody can question.” He concluded his post with the corny yet supportive line, “We are with you, Paul!”
Ryan decided to retire after some lengthy discussions with his wife Janna and his three children about what his next career move should be.
He has also discussed it with close work colleagues – a group of about six of them, to be exact – and they have come to the conclusion that ending his political tenure and retiring to live out his days back in Wisconsin would be the best move for the guy. This was not an impulsive or last-minute decision. This group of people – Ryan’s family included – have been mulling it all over for a few months now. It’s a huge decision for Ryan. He might have made the right one. The US government is a particularly unusual place to work right now under the current administration.
