Paul Ryan, Enemy of the Right

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/paul-ryan-enemy-of-the-right.html

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The timing of the attack sure seemed telling.

On Monday evening, as people were taking in the devastating analysis of Paul Ryan’s health care plan, the right-wing publication Breitbart was leading its website with an attack on Ryan. The attack, which had nothing to do with health care, tried to create more distance between Ryan and President Trump.

The headline read: “Audio Emerges of When Paul Ryan Abandoned Donald Trump.” The story was about a tape of Ryan talking with other Republicans during last year’s presidential campaign.

In a smart piece in The Washington Post, Paul Waldman tries to explain what’s going on here and why Ryan — like his health care bill — has turned into such a punching bag on the right.

“You’ll notice that even though the GOP bill has the full support of the Trump White House, the conservatives are calling it ‘Ryancare’ as a way of tarring him with what they think will eventually be seen as a failure,” Waldman writes.

During the debate over Obamacare, liberal groups criticized specific parts of the bill but continued to support its passage strongly. Conservatives, by comparison, are engaged in vicious infighting that damages their ability to get things done.

Waldman argues that this infighting stems from the birth of today’s right, during the Obama years, when it defined itself as an ideologically pure opposition, uninterested in compromise. “They don’t view themselves as people with specific practical goals who are willing to negotiate and perhaps compromise to reach those goals — that’s for the corrupt insiders,” he writes. “Instead, they’re heroic revolutionaries, rousing the rabble and terrifying the establishment.”

The idea is related to my argument yesterday — that the Republicans’ strategy of mischaracterizing Obamacare worked well when they were out of power but also helped create the mess that the party is now in.

Waldman thinks the same dynamic will probably play out on taxes, abortion and other issues, because right-wing activists are better at winning elections and blocking policy than making policy: “They need an enemy to rebel against, and for now, Paul Ryan is it,” he writes.

You may also want to contribute to a live Times chat today at 12:30 EST on Trump’s conflicts of interest. It will feature four leading ethics experts, including one each from Barack Obama’s and George W. Bush’s administrations.