It's a blast from the past as two former Republican House leaders step up to try to squash the rumors about Paul Ryan being on his way out the door.
“The idea that he’s going to walk out of there in the middle of the fight is ludicrous,” said John A. Boehner, Ryan’s predecessor.
“Absolutely not,” said Eric Cantor, the former majority leader. “The notion that Paul Ryan is just going to abdicate and leave is preposterous.” […]
To Boehner (R-Ohio) and Cantor (R-Va.), the idea is blasphemy, both because of Ryan’s sense of duty and what it would say about the Republican chances in November.
“It would be a signal of surrender,” Cantor said, speaking from his Washington office of Moelis & Company, the New York-based investment bank where he now works.
“Paul’s a stand-up guy,” Boehner said from his condo in Marco Island, Fla..
This round of rumors started with Freedom Caucus guy Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) who said in an local news interview a few days ago that the rumor among Republicans was that Ryan was stepping down so Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) could step up. So now it's very interesting that these two former leaders, both basically deposed by the Freedom Caucus, are being called on to back up Ryan. Cantor was beat in a primary and Boehner essentially just worn down by the maniacs. Which makes you wonder just how much the civil war among House Republicans is heating up.
But all that speculation has netted a nice profile in Politico for Scalise, documenting his recovery from being shot last June along with his solidifying political clout among a certain group of House Republicans.
A cluster of House Republicans has privately encouraged Scalise to embrace his new star power and prepare a campaign for speaker, according to multiple GOP lawmakers. One member recently introduced Scalise to donors as "the next speaker of the House." And the talk bubbled to the surface this week when two GOP lawmakers—Reps. Mark Amodei of Nevada and Mo Brooks of Alabama—vocalized what others have whispered privately for weeks.
This was inevitable. Remember that Ryan only got 200 Republican votes for speaker, out of the 218 he needed to win the job. The core group of nihilists in the Freedom Caucus will not be happy until one of their own is installed in the job, never mind how one of them might be able to secure 218 votes. They're not really tuned into the reality side of things. But they are remarkably good at monkey-wrenching pretty much everything.
Maybe Ryan didn't call in Cantor and Boehner as back-up, and maybe he doesn't think the nihilists and Scalise are taking their slow-moving coup attempt public. But that's sure what it looks like from the cheap seats.