'His legacy will be nothing': Real Time panel lays into fake wonk Paul Ryan
After a long discussion about President Donald Trump's action against Syria Friday, Bill Maher's "Real Time" panel turned to talk about the announcement that Speaker Paul Ryan is leaving the House.
Maher noted that he looked back at some of the stories posted about Ryan when he first began to gain traction as a leader in the party.
"He's a wonk," Maher quoted. "'He's a numbers guy.' Oh, please. Is there such a thing in the Republican Party?"
"Well he has figured out how many poor people to kick the ladder out from under," Milano School professor Maya Wiley quipped.
Maher read the critique from TIME in 2012, which called Ryan as "deep" as former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is "shallow." The piece on Ryan called him the GOP master of the budget and head of their "ideas factory." He called it about as real as Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait explained that Ryan is an "idea guy," with only a single idea: Ryan wants to take money from poor people.
"He has reduced it," noted Wiley.
"And that's the only thing he's ever cared about his entire career," Chait continued. He went on to explain that Ryan isn't dumb, so much as he has values that most people disagree with.
Wiley explained that there was a difference between an idea and an ideology, where "an idea is worth talking about" and Ryan's so-called ideas are nothing more than an ideology.
"And your ideology is, 'I just want to say nice things about people who are struggling to survive and then make it very difficult for them to do it,'" she said of Ryan. "And I'll lie on my way to doing it."
She recalled that Ryan lies about the poverty rate and the impact social services have on bringing down poverty.
"So, he really was just an ass kisser," Maher said. "I mean, he was the one person who could have -- he was in a position to stand up to Trump and he didn't."
"But he was a true believer in the ideology of 'Feed the wealthy more of their own money and starve everyone else,'" Wiley said. "And he's been very consistent on that. And he's actually proud of that. For people who earn $700,000 a year are getting $85,000 back in taxes. While if you earn $40,000 you're going to get $300 back."
Former Missouri Secretary of State and war hero Jason Kander said that people seem to think Ryan is somehow virtuous for standing up for what he believes in and being willing to compromise on everything so he could get what he wanted.
"First of all, that's not virtuous," Kander said. "Second, he had a job to do. He had a responsibility to stand up to a president who is trampling on democracy, saying things that aren't true, hurting our country in the long run. And now he has an opportunity because there's this little club of Republicans in Washington who decided they're not going to run for reelection and they have grown -- kind of like spines. A little bit. And he has an opportunity -- he's the Speaker of the House! He could spend the next six months not just joining that club but leading it. And I'm disappointed knowing he probably won't. His legacy will be nothing."
Wiley said that she anticipates he will lead the club into tampering with Medicare and Social Security before he goes.
"Well, he's going to knock some people over on the way out," Kander said.
"He's going to knock some people over," Wiley shot back.
Watch the full segment below: