In 1999, a 28-year-old man named Paul Ryan strolled into Washington D.C. as the newly elected representative of  Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district. After two decades of working tirelessly to strip poor people of the resources designed to help them pull themselves up by their bootstraps, so he could make the rich richer. He has decided to call it quits. House Speaker Paul Ryan announced on Wednesday that he would not be seeking reelection this November. Instead, he has opted to slither away into the sunset with the Republican party is on fire.

So how did Paul Ryan do as Speaker of the House? Simply put, Paul Ryan is like the uncle who fills the kids up on candy, only to leave once the sugar high kicks in and the kids start wreaking havoc and puking all over the place.

Paul Ryan will forever be remembered as the Speaker who presided over a Congress that enabled President Trump. He will not be remembered for sticking to his principles and fighting back when Trump gave into his worst instincts. Instead, he will be remembered for compromising to keep Trump happy so he could pass those tax cuts he has been dreaming about for twenty years.

He compromised by deciding not to defend the party of Lincoln when the country watched in horror as President Trump defended white nationalist protesters in the aftermath of Charlottesville, or when he re-tweeted Neo-Nazi videos and denigrated the African continent as shit hole countries.

Paul Ryan won’t be remembered for defending America’s top law enforcement agencies against unfounded, partisan, public attacks. Instead, history will show him as the leader that allowed people like Rep. Devin Nunes and Rep. Matthew Gatez to run around with matches and lighter fluid trying to burn them down.

Paul Ryan will, however, be remembered as the Republican policy “wonk” that claimed to be a deficit hawk only to blow up the deficit when his party was handed the reins of government.

He will be remembered as the man that put together a tax bill that added trillions to our deficit because he was hell-bent on doing things like doubling the amount you can pass down tax-free from 5.5 million (11 million if you’re married) to $11 million and $22 million if you’re married. Making sure big corporations got a permanent 14% tax cut and letting pass through companies get a 20% reduction.

In the end, I don’t believe history will be kind to Paul Ryan. For Paul Ryan though, this might not matter. He will probably take solace in the fact he was able to achieve his ultimate goal of rewriting the tax code and helping to further drive the income inequality gap.  Lucky for us, he has not been able to complete his final act of gutting healthcare for the poor and working middle class.

So, in honor of conservatives’ favorite policy “wonk”, Let’s send Paul Ryan off into the sunset with a clip of him getting schooled by former Vice President Joe Biden on his favorite subject tax reform.

And to Paul Ryan, I say, bye, Felica.

 

P.S. – If you would like to watch the full debate where former Vice President Joe Biden takes Paul Ryan to school, check out the link below.