Paul Ryan and the end of an era

The GOP establishment was always going to adapt to Trump. It’s what they do. If you are a transactionalist, it’s no big deal to move from free trade to tariffs, from an insistence that character matters to arguments that it’s irrelevant, from a pose of Tea Party fiscal conservatism to an embrace of profligacy. Ryan has never been that sort.

He was always more a creature of the conservative movement than of GOP politics. His departure punctuates the eclipse of that movement within the party.

Here’s the irony: As Trump consolidates his hold on the party, he’s losing his grip on the presidency. Even the strongest supporters of the president now quietly acknowledge fears of what comes next. White House staffers whisper that their boss appears increasingly unhinged. As one prominent Trump supporter recently put it to me: “It’s falling apart.” It’s a view echoed by a former top administration official, who said this week: “It’s never been worse. Nobody knows what to do.”