There’s a lot of inside baseball in this article about the workings of the GOP House caucus, their various factions, their internecine struggles — and about Paul Ryan’s rumored plan to leave Congress after next year, and to cap his career with both a massive tax reform bill (likely, but by no means guaranteed, to succeed) and the brutal social program cuts that have always been Ryan’s highest calling as a disciple of Ayn Rand.
But a lot of what it says makes sense to me from my own observations of the GOP and Washington. And, if it’s accurate, next year is going to be a major high stakes war on what this nation means and whom it serves.
How much of it is true? How much of it will Ryan actually be able to make happen? Tune in a year from now when we’ll have all found out …
Paul Ryan Sees His Wild Washington Journey Coming to An End – POLITICO Magazine
I also wonder whether the whole story is made up, but a Ryan departure in 2018 would not be that surprising. Over the years, he's had to battle his own party more than the Democrats (between Christian suspicion of an Ayn Rand disciple, the Tea Party revolution which forced Boehner out of the Speakership, and of course Trump). Several other Republican Congresspeople have tired of the grind, and John McCain will probably leave office for other reasons. Even if he doesn't achieve entitlement reform (a hard task in a to-be-contentious election year), I'm sure Ryan would like to head out of Washington sooner rather than later.
+John E. Bredehoft That's part of what rings true here — his desire for home life and the "home visitation" clause he insisted on for taking the Speakership are well known. If he is able to take a run at his life's work, then get out of Dodge before the House possibly flips (or the Freedom Caucus turn on him), I think he'd be perfectly happy to do so (and make a lot of money writing books doing the speaker circuit, and serving on a few executive boards).