Rumors beginning to swirl that Paul Ryan may step down

Unlikely to actually happen, but some in the political media are reporting that there are rumors that the U.S. House Speaker may step down

HuffPost reported yesterday that there are rumors swirling within the House Republican Conference that U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) may step down from at least the speakership, if not resign from the House altogether:

As Republicans finish their long-sought rewrite of the tax code, some lawmakers are beginning to wonder just how much longer Rep. Paul Ryan intends to remain speaker.

[…]

The Wisconsin Republican has made no indication he’s quitting any time soon, but the possibility that Ryan finishes the tax bill and decides he no longer wants to continue in Congress has begun to loom over internal Republican conversations.

[…]

… lawmakers and aides who spoke to HuffPost on the condition of anonymity over the last week say they believe this is still a job Ryan doesn’t enjoy. On top of ruling over a GOP conference that’s just as unruly as when Boehner was speaker, Ryan has had to navigate Donald Trump ― a task that’s left him looking feckless to the left and like an enemy of the president to the right.

At this point, I don’t expect Ryan to step down, although I can’t completely rule out the possibility of that happening. I strongly believe that these rumors are coming from Republicans in the far-right faction of their party, who would want the next Speaker to be someone who is even more of a far-right Donald Trump loyalist than Ryan is. Remember, Ryan has been a total puppet for Trump and his fascist agenda since before Trump was elected president. If Ryan steps down from the speakership before the 2018 elections, I have no clue as to who Republicans would pick to be speaker going into the 2018 midterm elections, although I would assume that it would be a current member of the House Republican Conference.

If Ryan were to resign from the House altogether or otherwise not seek re-election to his House seat, my guess is that the Republicans would run Robin Vos, who is currently the speaker of a different legislative body, the Wisconsin State Assembly, in the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin, although I could be wrong about that. Vos is as right-wing as Ryan is, if not even more so, and he has been a total rubber stamp for Scott Walker’s far-right agenda in Wisconsin, including obstructing all efforts at meaningful redistricting reform in Wisconsin.

Randy Bryce is already running in a contested Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin, and he’s a great blue-collar progressive candidate. I believe that Bryce can defeat Paul Ryan, Robin Vos, or whoever Republicans nominate for Ryan’s seat.