Bartleby the Speaker

Paul Ryan, like Herman Melville’s Bartleby, would prefer not to.

He would prefer not to stick around much longer in an increasingly toxic Washington. He would prefer not to have to drag himself through another cycle of fundraisers. He would prefer not to have to grapple with a splintered caucus and conservatives who periodically threaten to depose him. He would prefer not to risk losing the speakership, should Republicans lose the House in November.

Most of all, however, one gets the sense that he would prefer not to have to deal with President Trump.

Ryan, the speaker of the House, . The most charitable explanation is this: Ryan never wanted the speaker’s job anyway but was thrust into it when John Boehner retired. Who can blame him for not wanting to be the man standing between a volatile caucus, and a president whom he doesn’t like,