Hard to say what’s going on here. On the one hand, if he leaves office before the expected mid-term bloodbath, he’d be in a better position to launch a primary challenge against Trump, if Trump is still planning on running in 2020. I think there’s a non-zero chance that he’ll declare “Mission Accomplished” and resign before then.
Anyway, back to Ryan.
On the other hand, while Ryan helped to get the tax cuts for rich folks and corporations bill passed, that’s only half of what most of us have suspected he wants to accomplish in office. The second half of his agenda is, of course, dismantling the social safety net. Charlie Pierce didn’t nickname him “The Zombie Eyed Granny Starver From the State of Wisconsin” for nothing.
So, to sum up, fuck Paul Ryan.
In a radio interview Ryan claimed he had once run a marathon in under three hours; he later stated that he forgot his actual time and was just trying to state what he thought was a normal time. His one official marathon time is recorded as slightly over four hours.
Courtesy Wiki
There's a special place in Hell for people that lie about their marathon times. If Ryan would lie about that he'd lie about resignation plans.If Ryan resigns past the filing deadline, he is ceding his seat to the Democrats. But at this point, resigning at all is damn near the same thing. Because Randy Bryce’s campaign is for real, and has lots of money. Any republican coming into to replace Ryan is going to be a money disadvantage AND a name recognition disadvantage. Which is a horrible combination to have to face with just months to overcome.
And is Bryce wins, any retirement by Ryan will be viewed by the GOP as a surrender, and will plague him forever going forward in politics. It would also even be a problem going into lobbying…because a lot of GOP doors would stay permanently closed.
All that being said, I see the internal logic of “No more legislation this year, time is now to leave” makes sense. But I don’t think he will do it, if only because I don’t think he has the ability to self reflect and realize he is absolutely horrible at doing this job. The cost to him personally is too high to quit. Of course, losing to Bryce won’t help his ego much either, but rest of the GOP will get over that eventually.
That’s never going to happen. Ryan’s Presidential dreams died the moment he took up the gavel. Quitting now as Speaker makes it even more unrealistic. Every donor and big GOPer will lay the blame for the 2018 midterms squarely at Ryan’s feet if he quits.
EDIT TO ADD: One other key aspect that is being missed by this current articles. These rumors are coming from the GOP, not Dems. That’s not a good sign for Ryan even if he does stay on and somehow avoids losing to Bryce. 
Paul Ryan’s theme song–sing to ‘My Favorite Things’
Starve the all the grannies and gut old folks’ health care,
Put lots more comp’nies on corp-o-rate welfare,
Cut up the safety net fast as I can,
This is all part of my Grand Master Plan.
Tax cuts for rich folks and drug tests for poor ones,
Gut all the ACA’s key regulations,
I will become a much wealthier man,
This is all part of my Grand Master Plan.
Democrats hoped that this all would unravel,
But I’m the one who is wielding the gavel.
My smile is smarmiest when Congress can
Pillage the country with my Master Plan!
With the tax cut, I’m now richer,
Loving all that cash!
I’d better retire so I can avoid
A loss to the Iron 'Stache.
Another Nevada rep starting a rumor? Sen. Dean Heller recently claimed that Justice Kennedy was going to retire this summer.
I hope that Paul Ryan is brought to justice and held accountable for acting on behalf of Russian intelligence. He is the one who invited Sergei Kislyak and other FSB agents to the Republican convention. Paul Ryan arranged for the meetings where the Russian agents coordinated with their confederates in the Republican party including Trump, Ivanka, Cuck Kushner, Sessions, Kelly, Grassley, Tillorsen, Page, Broidy and others. This was where the plans to rig the vote tallies and alter election outcomes were polished.
Paul Ryan can always get work washing dishes in the prison kitchen.
The DCCC has identified about 30 Democratic candidates with a realistic chance of unseating a GOP incumbent. One of them is Bryce. That opens the door to even more money going forward.
I’m not convinced Ryan has it in him to continue as water boy to Trump. Maybe he’s looking at how happy his predecessor is now, and wants that for himself.
He’s in a Catch-22 if the House flips no matter what he does: they’ll blame him if he stays and they’ll blame him if he goes. Heck,they’ll blame him if he announces it’s time to “spend more time with the family.”
ETA: I’ll bet John Boehner is enjoying himself excessively.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is really heating up in the UK. Read this thread about earlier at Balloon Juice. Fascinating info here about Brexit and the influence in elections in this country. The republicans are interwoven in the whole sordid mess. If Ryan is involved…
And, just to keep our feet touching the ground, Ryan has over $10 million right now, Bryce has just a little over $1 million.
Enthusiasm is good, but we still have a LOT of work ahead of us to turn all this enthusiasm into more votes than the guys we are running against.
The next Speaker of The House will be Adam Schiff.
Take back our country!
Run for office- and run FOR something! Don’t just run against Trump. You’ll either be preaching to the choir or confirming, in some people’s minds, that ‘the elites’ are out to get their man.
Get REAL specific, too. You want to run on jobs or healthcare reform or the new landfill? You must have a plan. Show what’s needed and show how to make it work. THEN point out the differences between having a plan and vague promises to work on a plan “very soon”.
This site, https://www.runforoffice.org/, allows you to enter your ZIP code and see what offices are available to you and the filing window for that office. They also have a few video short-courses on running a campaign. In my state you file for office during a 1-week period in May.
Become a Precinct Committee Officer, sometimes it’s a Ward officer. Meet your neighbors and get out the vote. Find good citizens willing to run for office.
Run for School Board. Make sure Civics is being properly taught. Think a majority of America knows how government works? Just 26% of eligible voters in America voted for Trump, and half of all voters stayed home last November. HALF! Today’s 12-year olds will be voting for President in 6 years. Make sure they’re prepared.
Run for Mayor, City Council, County Commissioner, Borough Assembly. And get on your Planning Commission.
Run for State Legislature or Congress. The next census is in 2020 when we’ll redraw Congressional Districts. Make them fair and open. Trump is ALREADY trying to rig the census- talk about ‘voter fraud’!
Register people to vote. If you need to help people overcome the GOP-led voter-run-around campaign help them do that. This site, https://www.aauw.org/resource/organize-a-voter-registration-drive/, has a how-to on organizing a voter registration drive. Or even sitting outside Wal Mart with a folding chair and a card table. Yes, that’s the American Association of University Women. And while we’re here organize a League of Women Voters chapter in your community if you don’t already have one. Fair, honest and above board. Democracy functions better with them involved.
Civics, civility and civilization all share the same roots.
I wonder if Mueller’s sniffing around is getting too close to him. Resigning would perhaps spare the GOP the embarrassment of having a Russian-abettor as Speaker.
Has Ryan taken a public position on Walker’s plan to avoid interim elections?
I really hope he is forced to answer that question every day from now on.
Is this the smoking gun?
I don’t know if this is what will bring it all down, but it’s significant. I just hope it’s all stopped enough that the mid-terms are safer.
Following politics for many years now, I’ve learned that when such rumors go public, it’s because they are true.
My guess is he’s concerned about losing his election (as others have pointed out) as well as the turmoil surrounding Trump which is escalating, not receding.
I don’t picture Ryan as a serious POTUS candidate for many reasons, but then I obviously have no idea what real Republicans in the wild want.
So, in other words … he’s got one foot out the door and he’s leaving. He’s just finalizing details of his soft landing spot.
That’s easy. They want Hispanics gone, blacks to know their place, women back in the kitchen, gays and atheists back in the closet, and boots on the ground killing everyone that doesn’t speak English.
Oh, bonus points for anyone figuring out a way to execute public school teachers without causing an uproar.