Rick Wilson: Donald Trump Takes Out Paul Ryan, and 'It's Going to Be a Civil War'

[babylonsister]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-takes-out-paul-ryan-and-its-going-to-be-a-civil-war?ref=home

Donald Trump Takes Out Paul Ryan, and ‘It’s Going to Be a Civil War’
Everything Trump touches dies, and the speaker’s legacy is no exception.
Rick Wilson
04.11.18 7:06 PM ET


The news that Paul Ryan is retiring from Congress was received by grim-faced members of the GOP caucus finally realizing what they’ve done, and what’s coming. Ryan pulled the ripcord today after a 19-year career in Congress, declaring he would leave Washington at the end of his current term to spend more time with his existential angst over what he let Donald Trump do to our country.

The happy talk about holding the House is over. The spin for the press, the rubes, and the donor class just came to a shrieking halt. Nancy Pelosi is in her crone cavern, cackling with glee, knowing that the Democrats are now in play in almost 80 congressional seats. The general of the House Republican army just announced he’s leaving the field just as the tide of political war looks most grim.

Ryan and his caucus hoped to run on the tax cut, the economy, and infrastructure. All of these messages now will be swept aside. Ryan owns his share of the blame; too often, he behaved as if he was some deferential junior VP at a Trump resort and not the leader of the House of Representatives in a co-equal branch of government. The idea, popular among the House leadership, that a diet of ass-kissing and deference would make Trump into a normal president who didn’t need the political equivalent of Depends was always a strategic mistake.

Ryan is now paying the price. The rest of his caucus will pay in the fall.

The election season will now feature a Republican leadership fight with all the reality-TV tropes we’ve come to expect in this vulgar, stupid age as it inevitably devolves into a shabby bidding war over who will be more amenable and obedient to Donald Trump. The purity tests from Fox News, the screeching teenagers in the Donnie Trump Tiger Beat Breitbart Fan Club, and Trump himself will ensure this contest—like every damn thing in America today—is All About Him.

Ryan’s unfulfilled agenda, including entitlement reform, is now a dead letter, along with the hopes so many in the conservative movement had reposed in him. The Kochs and dozens of other free-market folks were invested in Paul Ryan’s future. Those investments were squandered like Granny’s Social Security check at the Trump Taj Mahal. Regardless of who replaces Ryan, the agenda of limited-government conservatism based on fiscal probity, personal responsibility, free trade, and limited government is as dead Donald Trump’s marriage.

snip//

History repeats, first as tragedy, then as Trump. This is the Watergate pattern writ large. In 1973, Republicans were screaming that the investigation was nothing but a Fake New Witch Hunt. They lost 49 House seats and eight Senate seats in 1974, two months after Nixon resigned.

Everything Trump touches dies, and Paul Ryan’s legacy is no exception.

[thbobby]

1. Paul Ryan legacy

was right-wing propaganda. His intellect is negligible and his Christian morality is a scam. He is a greedy user with an intelligence comparable to trump's.

[Cosmocat]

10. There is no greater fantasy today

Then Paul Ryan being some kind of great intellectual. Dude is dumber than a box of rocks, got by by being born to a privileged family, having a understated manner of communication in a day and age when Republicans are the modern-day equivalent of I was abducted by aliens and anally probed Lunes, and mildly bookish looks.

[Pepsidog]

39. Amen

[smirkymonkey]

50. +1000

Hear, hear!

[kysrsoze]

59. Agree. And lets not forget he pushed ACA repeal a couple dozen times

His legacy is being a human shitbag.

[Rainbow Droid]

60. Great response to a great post, you both win the evening for me! :)

[yonder]

68. well said, Cc

[maddiemom]

70. The most overrated politician in modern political history...

But then Joe Biden proved this in 2012.

[ailsagirl]

72. [phone]

[xxqqqzme]

74. Please forgive me but

than - introduces the second element in a comparison.

then is an adverb - next; in that case

Sorry, a pet peeve.

[Cosmocat]

81. I used voice text

the post was a smorgasborg of voice to text butchery, but I was on the run for a busy day and didn't have to time to mess with it ...

[dchill]

76. Being greedy and penurious is not a philosophy of government.

It's a sociopathic aberration.

[weissmam]

87. well said !!!

[Eyeball_Kid]

44. Ryan's big success is his marketing/branding campaign.

He's never been able to produce anything other than an image. Worse still, he's devolved into a leech permanently attached to Trumpy's ass. But the real reason that Ryan is getting out of the public sphere is that he's in Mueller's sights as a conspirator to launder money from Russians. Spending time with his family? Hah. He's going to have to make every minute count before he gets hauled off to prison. His proclamation that his GOP are "family" who won't discuss Russia's bribery methods in public seals the deal for him. Ryan is a piss-poor politician, Speaker, and an even worse criminal.

[Wellstone ruled]

56. No,Ryan's greatest success was

spending the Summer of 97' Campaigning the Oscar Mayer Wiener-Mobile to all the CUB Stores in the Mid West.

[NBachers]

71. "He's going to have to make every minute count before he gets hauled off to prison."

It will be interesting to see if he starts a large-scale moving-around of money and assets to family and offshore accounts to try & limit what can be taken from him.

[FakeNoose]

66. Rachel Maddow TRASHED him last night

It was awesome!

[xxqqqzme]

73. Lawrence O'Donnell

was awesomely brutal as well.

[onetexan]

67. Ryan is a beady-eyed con man just like the orange idiot he enables

The GOP didn't get here overnight. It was years in the making, culminating in the disgraceful wrecking ball that inhabits the WH. The likes of ryan who, despite their education, continually defy logic to lie and mislead simple-minded folk to vote for their brand of evangelical/conservative agenda, enabled the idiot to distract us all while he and his fellow con men screwed the US over.

[lindysalsagal]

2. Everything trump touches dies. Just quoted by Joy on Last Word.

It's that simple.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

46. Reverse Midas touch

[brucefan]

3. Sorry Rick

“Nancy Pelosi cackling with glee”?

[babylonsister]

5. ?? I bet she did. nt

[yardwork]

7. In her crone cavern? What the hell is that?

[spooky3]

8. The misogyny is strong with this one, even though

He’s a never Trump Republican.

[Farmer-Rick]

31. Nothing like mixing ageism and misogyny

When you insult a woman. You know because women are not supposed to get old and ugly like Trump and McConnell.

I don't see why this writer doesn't like Trump, he sounds just like him.

Besides has there ever been such a thing as a responsible RepubliCON since Dwight Eisenhower?

[flibbitygiblets]

34. !!!!!!!!!

Yeah, wtf?

[spooky3]

54. Exactly nt

[calimary]

97. Indeed we do have to look back to Eisenhower for that.

He’s the last true Republican with ANY integrity at all.

[True Blue American]

43. But still a nasty

Name caller. Wilson is just mad the party is going down the tubes. That was not nice.

[spooky3]

53. Agree. A lot of Republicans who have been critical

Of Trump are upset not because of his appalling policies and what they are doing to the country, but because some of his actions will make it harder for Republicans to win later.

[not fooled]

100. Yep

and his summary of the puke agenda as some sort of noble blueprint for the country is laughable.

We know it's just a smokescreen for transferring the nation's assets to the wealthy.

[Cosmocat]

11. He's a fun Anti Trumper but still an R.

Nm

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Yep!

[babylonsister]

12. I have no idea. Huddled

with her fellow Dems watching the show like the rest of us? Wilson is a rethug; I am sure he takes every opportunity to slam Dems, though his ire is necessarily directed at his own party.

[yardwork]

18. Misogynistic crap directed at the Democratic leader is the usual BS.

[MrsCoffee]

21. Yeah, there is no way to miss that.

Blatant in your face misogyny.

[Orange Free State]

32. Probably the older female equivalent of

a man cave. It’s where she hatches evil plots against Godfearing heterosexual white males. Location: the writer’s imagination.

[Grins]

41. You may like what he wrote, but remember one thing....

Rick Wilson is a REPUBLICAN!

A Reagan Republican!

[yardwork]

51. I don't like what he wrote about Nancy Pelosi at all.

[narnian60]

65. +100

[bigbrother05]

57. He's reassuring the RWNJ's that he's still one of them even though he trashes Trump

Reasonable Republicans died out with Rockefeller

[workinclasszero]

64. Republicans hate strong intelligent women

Makes their little elephant testicles shrivel up and hide!

Oh and fuck granny killer Ryan, I hope he gets whats coming to him eventually.

[LisaM]

80. There are some more benign definitions, including a wise woman...

though I think it would really be giving the benefit of the doubt to the writer to imply this is the interpretation he intended....

[OxQQme]

84. I've gotta jump in to this 'crone' subthread

The word "crone" is a less common synonym for "old woman", and is more likely to appear in reference to traditional narratives than in contemporary everyday usage.[1] The word became further specialized as the third aspect of the Triple Goddess popularized by Robert Graves and subsequently in some forms of neopaganism, particularly Wicca in which she symbolizes the Dark Goddess, the dark of the moon, the end of a cycle. In New Age and feminist spiritual circles, a "Croning" is a ritual rite of passage into an era of wisdom, freedom, and personal power. Some feminist authors have defined the crone archetype in a positive light, as a powerful and wise old woman.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crone

[yardwork]

86. I know. I'm Pagan. And Wilson's intention is quite clear.

As an older professional woman, I embrace my transition into the crone. Wilson's comment was meant to ridicule and demean.

I am not amused.

[Hekate]

103. This

Note name.

[yardwork]

108. Hi there!

[Hekate]

102. This

Note name.

[vlyons]

15. I bet she's not cackling

More likely, she's deeply saddened at the damage that these stupid Republicans have done to working people in this country, to our environment, to our reputation among nations of this world. More likely she's gritting her teeth to do what's necessary to clean up the vulgar mess that republicans have made.

[Scarsdale]

17. I agree.

It will take YEARS to clean up the mess this crew will leave behind. No gop member would be capable of cleaning up like a Democratic president will have to do. What took President Obama 8 years, has been torn to shreds in short order by an orange ass and his cohorts. The gop despises intelligent people, obviously. They treated Obama like crap for 8 years. Then they put the equivalent of the low rent John Gotti into the WH. Minus the looks, the style and the charisma of Gotti, here came the orange idiot and the gop saw opportunity to fulfill the wishes of their owners, the Koch and Mercer families. Not to mention Vlad.

[madaboutharry]

22. Very well said.

Nancy Pelosi cares deeply about the lives of Americans. She lives in a state that each day is becoming increasingly impacted by climate change. It must hurt her at the core to read the headlines in the foreign press.

You are correct. She isn't cackling. I am sure she is, as many of us are, terribly sad.

[True Blue American]

58. True!

I do not think anyone is laughing at the grave situation we are in with Trump and his enablers. And,that is just what they are!

[Mopar151]

85. The right conjures up a villan

Cruella Pelosi? Let Her have a little cackle, it only scares `em worse. Sadly, for them, the real Senator can lay their mistakes out on a legal pad in 20 minutes, and that should scare them more. But way too many of those goobers think wrestling is real, and the government's fake.

Maybe - just maybe - we can reach a few of the deluded by having Man Mountain Meuller cut a promo on Orange Oligarch#2's coming Loser Leaves Town Match with the Senate.

[Beartracks]

93. Right: "Trump sucks, but remember that Democrats are evil!!!!"

: eyes:

========

[Hekate]

104. Representative -- and gods willing, Speaker once more

[lunatica]

25. I bet she actually is laughing out loud

And she doesn’t care how they describe it. She didn’t make it in that man’s world by fearing their reactions to powerful women. They hate her because she just won’t protect their “fragile” egos the way she should and they can’t make her do it.

But other than that I thought this was elatingly bitter, sour, sour grapes. Elating to us, that is.

[Duppers]

26. I noted that too.

It tarnished this rant a bit for me - that and calling her a "crone."

Otherwise, great rant.

[Shipwack]

35. I took it the other way, at first read...

Crones are wise and experienced, no? I also thought that he meant that “the agenda of limited-government conservatism based on fiscal probity, personal responsibility, free trade, and limited government is as dead Donald Trump’s marriage...” was a good thing.

Then I realized the source, and figured out that crone was a misogynistic slur, not a compliment.

My bad.

[Duppers]

63. Yep, sorry.

"crone
krōn/Submit
noun
an old woman who is thin and ugly."

F that! I think she looks marvelous for a lady approaching 80! (She's 78.)

[hibbing]

36. Stuck out to me too, bad n/t

[riversedge]

40. I cringed when I read that

and there was another eye brow raising comment --sexist in my book. I was going to post this article but I thought his hits on

Pelosi was not needed!!

Link to tweet

[RandomAccess]

48. Oh, that's fabulous. Thanks for posting it.

[BSdetect]

45. What does it take to convert a repugnant to democrat? Nancy Pelosi is way too nice to be vilified by

such a crass comment.

[spooky3]

55. One Rep for whom I felt some fondness was Coburn,

Who confronted someone making a similar statement about Pelosi. He told him he knew Pelosi well, and she was a “nice lady.”

For more on Coburn, check out Al Franken’s stories told on a Colbert show.

[yonder]

69. As conservative as Rick Wilson is, he's a skilled writer and I generally like his style.

I'll likely continue to read him, David Brooks, George Will, etc. once the tide turns and they again start directing their focus our way. For now, his current crop of conservative crud rants are fun and usually worth reading.

[HopeAgain]

4. Lets not count our chickens yet...

there could be a lot of broken eggs before November. GOTV!

[Nitram]

33. War is always a panacea for failing political fortunes.

[FromMissouri]

90. Totally.

I have seen too many Democratic campaigns slump once the feeling sets in that this one is in the bag. Despite working for Her last time, I saw way too much confidence in my fellow campaigners. I had this deep seated feeling she wouldn't win. Too many people were celebrating before the election. They had no sense of the depths of ratfucking to which the Repukes will go... even to consorting with an enemy foreign power.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

6. It's not just that..

Ryan played a big part in knowingly letting the NRA fund gop congressional races w Russian money. His time 'in the barrel' is coming as well. Mueller is going full monty on the whole group I bet. We'll see.

[Ilsa]

9. We can hope. I don't want to see him in

2020, 2024, or 2028 running for the job he really wants. His complicity is not exposed enough. There needs to be a hauling of these traitorous through grand jury and court proceedings. I want him tainted or convicted in the history books.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

13. Doesn't

anyone remember that hidden phone camera, after the election where he had all the red congressmen in a room swearing their silence. He said something like.."we all have to keep quiet or else we all go down. We're a family." I sure do.

[Ilsa]

47. The true believers in republicanism

Will dismiss it like they did the Hollywood Access video.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

88. Maybe...

But that just proves what they do...tell you you have lying eyes. The tapes don't lie. It was pretty obvious to me. That's why Officers of thelaw wear them now. Videotape evidence isn't just nothing to most people. Most people=US/Democrats

[Hekate]

105. That will make a great campaign ad when he runs for POTUS

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

107. Heh heh...

As per EVERY post...I'm FAR from perfect, and, being an older American, my mind sure isn't as sharp as 40 years ago, but, I was shocked when I saw it. It was a flash in the pan story, akin to bushes 3 million emails disappearing RIGHT before the Congressional Inquiry on Iraq. Both stories lasted a day or two, and were gone like Elvis.
P.S....I mean no disrespect to any elder folk here bc MY memory isn't perfect. I have to say a good portion of the really on point posts are from folks who...studied politics, lived the years, and understand personal working man/woman economics. I have to clarify ALL of that bc I get the feeling sometimes folks can get real picky "uny' and even nasty about certain things. Surprisingly, when it involves a gop sympathetic factoid, which, gives me pause for ponderance. ANYhow, ty for the comment.

[duforsure]

20. I think you're right,

And next after they realize the Senate will also fall to the Democrats, which it will, Mitch will be on his way out also, and face investigations on him and Ryan , which will prove very damaging to their party, and others in their party. They've made their beds, now they have consequences, and the American people will vote these crooks out of office asap. Their ties to Putin and Russia will come back to haunt them. That's why trump is now so desperate to stop everything, he's knows they have enough information to bring them all down. If they do nothing if Mueller is fired, they'll be co-conspirators, and will also be given consequences , so they might just do nothing to replace Mueller, until the Democrats get full control and bring Mueller back to finish, which i think he will, no matter what trump does. trump's at the end of his rope now, so watch him start threatening others, and will include us eventually, that's how trump does. Corruption running wild out of this White House and administration . trump's reign of terror coming to an end . When their House leader is running from office you know its really getting bad for them all.

[Ligyron]

37. Thank gawd for thumb drives.

Worse comes to worse, all that info on trumpco will still be available when we take back Congress. The days of having to smuggle bulky files out to Xerox and replace before anyone can notice are over and the Interwebs are forever.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

89. I agree.

Only this time we stand up and fight instead of letting these weasels frame issues, etc. Everytime we just roll over and make it easy for them to cheat....they line up and do it again bc there's no consequences. And OHHHHHH the moneys good.

[JI7]

14. Paul Ryan was always an overrated piece of shit propped up by the shitty media

the same shitty media which propped up dumbass bush , failed in their reporting on iraq. failed in their 2016 election reporting and so many other things.

and which still tries to normalize trump .

[Locrian]

16. they didnt get everything...

but the trillions they got in the tax cut was mission accomplished.

[Mike Nelson]

19. Very...

...flowerily written - but amusing!

[kentuck]

24. ".. the political equivalent of Depends was always a strategic mistake"

He can turn a phrase.

[poboy2]

27. This is gold-

The idea, popular among the House leadership, that a diet of ass-kissing and deference would make Trump into a normal president who didn’t need the political equivalent of Depends was always a strategic mistake.

[Demsrule86]

28. The GOP acted like drunken sailors spending every damn time they got in office while insisting on

restraint if a Democrat is in office...deficits didn't matter to Reagan, BushII and now to Trump. So the actions never meshed with the rhetoric.

[bucolic_frolic]

29. Always wondered

what Trump had on Ryan.

[Hekate]

106. Or, since Ryan's on tape being so cool about Rohrabacher's ties to Russia...

"Let's just keep it in the family" -- like what? La Cosa Nostra?

[Demsrule86]

30. As a person who graduated High School in Ridgefield Connecticut...close to New York

and who lived in Connecticut for some years (hubs graduated from Manhattan), I can tell you Trump alway killed what he touched...he bankrupted several of my Dad's friends... he was a pig with women always. Trump was the kardashians of the 80's only not as smart. He lived on page 6 and of course the Howard Stern interviews were awful. My Dad who liked everyone hated Trump. My brother who worked with Trump on some deal hates Trump...he has always been a piece of shit and wore out his welcome in New York decades ago.

[gilligan]

38. ?

What legacy would that be.
Serve the wealthy.

[Cary]

42. Enter the radical left, stage left, to negate yet another Democratic advantage!

Watch as they sow discord and discontent with the help of libertarians and Russian trolls.

"Both sides do it," don't ya know?

[RandomAccess]

49. What are you talking about?

What radical left? Where?

[FromMissouri]

91. I'm a radical leftist.

I have never thought the Democratic party, its members, its supporters, or its sympathizers could even come close to the depravity, corruption, venality and whorishness we have seen for decades from nearly every member of the Repugs. There is no equivalence. You're either just wrong, or not paying attention.

[Cary]

99. Jill Stein. Susan Sarandon. Ralph Nader.

Cornell West. That dumb lady who shilled for Bernie Sanders.

There are plenty of ratfucker radical leftists and they cost us 2 elections in recent years. If you missed that fact you're in no position to accuse me of not paying attention.

[Denzil_DC]

52. Biden had his number.

I'll never forget that stellar VP debate pasting.

[DonCoquixote]

61. note the nice little sexist quote

or Nancy Pelosi is somehow cackling in a "crone cavern." Some people just can't get over the fact that for all of her flaws, she has been effective. Yes I wish he never took impeachment off the table, but the fact is she is effective now. Yet they still have to conjure imagery of her as some evil witch. Well, if she is a witch, may she have a nice hot cauldron to boil the souls of Donald Trump and the rest Republicans into steam. I myself, and many many of the Democrats will gladly be a part of that coven.

[JHB]

62. And here's the part where Ricky flim-flams as much as Donnie...

This week marked the final surrender of the GOP on the central economic issues of our time: the debt and entitlement reform. Did our talk ever truly match our walk when it came to the economy? Not as often as I’d like, and I’m sure Ryan feels the same.

Still, he was a fluent translator of Conservative to English, a bridge between Hayek and hope. He lacked the needy edge and insecurities so evident in this president and so beloved of the new GOP. Ryan had been the endpoint of a conservative philosophical movement that combined Jack Kemp’s optimism about growth, opportunity, economic freedom, and the value of work with a profound understanding of the painful need to reform how the federal government operates.

Ryan's reputation as a "reasonable" conservative intellectual was always a pile of crap. His budget proposals never, never, NEVER added up without plentiful use of handwaves, baseless assumptions, and accounting tricks. Just like several decades' worth of proposals from conservative think tanks.

Wilson faults Ryan for not bridging conservative hallucinations with reality. Nobody can, but Wilson remains the True Believer ... just like the voter base that he and his fellow conservatives spent their careers nurturing. He calls them rubes, but his complaint is that they used to be his rubes and now he can't have "nice things".

[LittleGirl]

75. Who is this guy kidding?

Ryan will end up on the Koch Brothers' payroll.

[FromMissouri]

92. for sale

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/furious-koch-brothers-sell-paul-ryan-on-ebay?mbid=nl_Borowitz%20041118%20Afternoon&CNDID=40254947&spMailingID=13293418&spUserID=MTgzNzEwODU0MzQxS0&spJobID=1380975479&spReportId=MTM4MDk3NTQ3OQS2

[LittleGirl]

95. LOL eom

[Initech]

77. The GOP is imploding right now and I must say I am enjoying watching the meltdown!

Maybe you guys will think twice before stealing an election again!

[Stuart G]

78. I join your club...this meltdown is great..the Republicans suck...

two boxes please..............

[OnDoutside]

79. Rick Wilson live earlier

Link to tweet

[smb]

82. Trump Has The Merde-Ass Touch

Everything he touches turns to shit.

[Honeycombe8]

83. Oh, Ryan's happy as a tick on a dog. He'll get a (or several) FAT board positions or jobs.

He probably already has one lined up. Corporate America is very thankful to Ryan for the YUGE TAX CUTS for them.

Ryan is retiring to become a very, very wealthy man. He kissed Trump's ass to get his signature on the tax cut bill. It was clear to me from the start that this was the golden goose that Ryan was working for. Once he got it, he breathed a sigh of relief, and checked out of Congress. No need to get involved in investigatins, who is head of the Intel Committee, Trump's tweets or unethical behavior, budgets and other lofty goals he once had.

He got the big kahuna: The YUGE tax cuts. He'll get millions from that alone. And now, because of that bill, his future as a very very wealthy man is secure, as he shops for board positions with Fortune 500 companies.

Ryan has no regrets, as the author of the article seems to think. He accomplished his goal.

[bdamomma]

94. K&R

nt

[Tatiana]

96. Hey Rick, I'm sure Boehner is cackling with glee, too!

He left the teenagers in charge and they've gotten drunk with power, totaling our nation's car.

Ryan hasn't begun to suffer the consequences he deserves for his traitorous behavior.

[SCantiGOP]

98. Excellent writing

[Hekate]

101. Blistering, and well deserved. Just had to get a swipe in at Nancy P, tho, didn't he? nt

[appalachiablue]

110. At the end, the Republican writer Wilson emphasized GOPs losses post-1974 Nixon

yet omitted the significant 1980 election of Reagan which ushered in the Republican Counter Revolution to dismantle the New Deal/Great Society, and decades of disaster and roll backs. The neglect is odd.