It’s been about two weeks since House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he would retire, and a narrative has already emerged about Ryan’s legacy and why he wanted out. In short: Ryan had no place in President Trump’s Republican Party. Ryan is a standard establishment Republican, the narrative goes, uninterested in President Trump’s populist bromides […]
Former FBI Director James Comey has a lot to say about President Trump and the 2016 presidential election in his new book. The FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast crew sorts through which, if any, of his revelations are new or meaningful. The team also talks about the U.S. airstrikes in Syria and looks at what the public […]
House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Wednesday that he won’t seek re-election in 2018, marking the retirement of one of the two most powerful Republicans in Congress. In an emergency edition of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, Julia Azari and Perry Bacon Jr. react to the news. While it’s a big retirement, it’s not exactly unexpected. You […]
The rumors were true: House Speaker Paul Ryan is retiring from Congress. One of the most powerful political jobs in the United States will change hands next year, which will surely have a major effect on how the country is governed, but we’re here to discuss something slightly less weighty: the effect Ryan’s departure will […]
The news on Wednesday that House Speaker Paul Ryan won’t run for another term wasn’t shocking — it has been rumored for months. It’s also, weirdly, not shocking that Ryan is voluntarily giving up one of the most powerful jobs in politics. That kind of thing should be surprising. But he had several reasons for […]