All the air has left the Freedom Caucus' “oust Speaker Ryan” balloon, but that doesn't mean the maniacs have calmed down or that they won't still be ready to fight him at every turn. This will be particularly true if Ryan continues to be at odds with the Donald Trump team, despite the Ryan-Trump show of unity last week.
“I haven’t heard from him what he wants to change — what’s going to be different the next two years than the last two years?” said Rep. Raúl R. Labrador (R-Idaho), a co-founder of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus. “So far, I’m not hearing anything about changing the way we do business here in Washington, so I’m not ready to support him yet.” […]
“I’m not going to relitigate the past,” [with Trump] Ryan said Sunday on CNN. “I’m looking toward the future.”
That show of unity has mostly quieted two groups of Republicans that have been vexed by how Ryan has handled Trump. One consists of early and enthusiastic Trump supporters who bristled at how Ryan kept Trump at arm’s length during the presidential campaign.
One member of that group, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), would not commit Monday to supporting Ryan as speaker and pressed for a delay to Tuesday’s election, but also said “everyone seems to be on the same page now.” Another, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), gave Ryan a full-throated endorsement Monday.
So on one hand there are the Trump enthusiasts, who will be watching Ryan very closely to make sure he follows the president-elect's lead and who will likely side with Trump when he doesn't. And then there’s the Freedom Caucus, being its usual blustery, pugnacious self.
Meanwhile, Labrador isn't alone in threatening to withhold support for Ryan in the speaker election.
Others, like Virginia Rep. David Brat, are clamoring for a delay in leadership elections. Brat says "a smart, rational conference would want to analyze an historic election like the country has never seen" before holding leadership votes. Because the Freedom Caucus is all about being smart and rational.
In the midst of all this disaster, there's a looming and kind of scary deadline: Dec. 9, when government funding runs out. Ironically, they're going to fight Ryan's and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to negotiate a year-long deal with President Obama. But that's one of the biggest gifts they could give to a Trump administration that is clearly and totally not prepared to govern—and won't be by Jan. 20. Having a year's worth of spending off Trump's plate would be a very good thing for everyone. So of course the maniacs will fight it, because maximum disruption is their only tool.
No, this isn't going to be any easier for Ryan, regardless of who's in the White House.