On 11 April 2018, Paul Ryan, 54th Speaker of the US House of Representatives, announced that he would not run for reelection in November. Ryan is not resigning, and will serve out his full term, but his political power and especially his fundraising ability, will be substantially eroded. Ryan stated as his predominant motive for the move that he wanted to spend more time with his family, particularly his three teen-aged children.
On September 6th, 2017 a stunned congressional GOP leadership exited the White House in the wake of their theoretical leader’s apparent dissing of their goals and adherence to the Democratic leadership’s plans for resolving an upcoming fiscal crisis.
At 3:31 PM EDT on Friday, 24 March 2017, Washington Post reporter Robert Costa’s cellphone rang. The number was blocked, but Costa took the call anyway, and was surprised to find Donald J. Trump speaking on the other end. “Hi, Bob. So, we just pulled it.”
