Paul Ryan is the latest and most high profile Republican to quit. He faced an uncertain electoral fate at the hands of a steelworker who was showing some unexpected political chops and the impending doom of a blue wave. Speakers are unusually vulnerable to wave elections, and Ryan decided to flee the ship before it sunk.
Ryan's departure is obviously another sign that the political pros are not confused about what is going to happen in November. Ryan got what he wanted: a massive, regressive, debt-busting tax cut. Now he's going home to take a nice well playing sinecure at some Koch funded think tank, where he can furrow his impressive brow and worry about the poor rhetorically while working tirelessly to make their lives miserable.
The biggest question is whether Ryan will break with Trump, now that he doesn't face the wrath of the Trumpenproletariat. Ryan claims to be a moral person - policy evidence and voting record aside - and Trump has "deeply troubled" him from time to time. Now that he is free to act on his "principles" will he join Corker and Flake in the chorus of disapproval?
Or will he be the spineless lackey of the wealthy that he has always been?
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