Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.com

Retiring Speaker of the House Paul Ryan will leave two distinct legacies: a weak Trump enabler, and a policy fraud.

Ryan simply lacked the moral and political courage to stand up to Trump and his reckless, dangerous, hateful ways.

Scared of offending Trump supporters, Ryan submitted and let Trump run wild, completely unchecked by the Republican Party or by the Congress Ryan runs.

As for the stunning dishonesty over his supposed signature concern about debt spending and deficits, Ryan revealed himself to be a complete fake.

Often hailed by the D.C. press as some sort of star “policy wonk,” Ryan instead has been a congenital liar his entire career about the two hallmark issues:

Paul Ryan rose to prominence by weaponizing Obama-era deficits and winning plaudits from centrists for his austere math.

He leaves office mere days after a CBO report finds GOP govt has, in a matter of months, increased deficits in the 2018-22 period by more than $1.2 trillion.

— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) April 11, 2018

It would be like if Barack Obama had run as a peace candidate in 2008, and then doubled the Pentagon’s budget.

Ryan announced his pending retirement just two days after the Congressional Budget Office calculated the GOP tax bill that Ryan so proudly shepherded through Congress — without a single Democratic vote — will obliterate all previous imbalances.

That’s because not only did the GOP ram through an unprecedented tax giveaway to the wealthy, but the party also OK’d massive, runaway spending increases.

Even some Republicans were shocked by the irresponsible legislation.

“The CBO today forecasts the budget deficit — the amount Congress spends in excess of what it takes in from tax revenues — for 2018 will be $804 billion, will once again cross the $1 trillion threshold starting in 2020 and will continue to climb through 2028 with no end in sight,” NPR reported.

Having obliterated the debt through a GOP tax plan that rewarded millionaires, billionaires, and corporations, Ryan still insists he’s a spending hawk. And that the way to control spending is to target the elderly and poor people.

“Over the long term horizon, we’ve got to get this debt under control and the only way to do that is entitlement reform,” Ryan told Fox Business this year. “That’s why we’re never going to give up on entitlement reform.”

Ryan’s jumping ship just as Republicans warn that control of the House may already be lost to Democrats in November, and that that the party’s pressing goal is to now try to save the Senate.