PAUL RYAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “To hear retiring Speaker Paul Ryan tell it, he presided over one of the most productive Congresses in recent history. Tax cuts. Opioids legislation. A fortified military budget. But as the Wisconsin Republican heads for the exits, the reality is he will be remembered with a far more controversial legacy. Ryan long fashioned himself as the moral compass of the party of Lincoln, a politician who tried to appeal to policymakers’ better angels. Yet as President Donald Trump has remade the Republican Party in his image, Ryan largely stifled his criticism of Trump in hopes of passing some of his top legislative priorities — what critics have referred to as his ‘pact with the devil.’ Ryan rebuked Trump on the campaign trail in 2016 for remarks he deemed ‘racist’ or for policy proposals — like Trump’s Muslim ban — that he believed were unconstitutional and went against the very fabric of American society. But Ryan muted his pushback the moment Trump won the presidency. When Trump tweeted controversial comments, Ryan said he hadn’t seen them. Even in the wake of the disastrous 2018 midterm elections, when Trump taunted moderate House Republicans who lost their campaigns, Ryan said nothing to defend his members.”
–Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan, “Ryan’s legacy can’t escape Trump,” Politico, December 19, 2018 4:18 pm