In 2015, then-Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced that he was retiring from Congress in the middle of his term, surrendering his position as the third-most-powerful politician in America to Paul Ryan and high-tailing it back to Ohio to smoke cigarettes and play golf. At the time, Boehner's abrupt resignation seemed like an acknowledgement that he’d failed as Speaker, unable to corral a growing ultra-conservative insurgency in his caucus. In retrospect, though, it appears he dodged the biggest bullet in American history: Donald Trump. With Ryan struggling to stay in step with the president, and the Republican-held government scrambling to pass any sort of meaningful legislation, Boehner's time as speaker seems downright tranquil in comparison.

Despite his remove, Boehner has been following Trump's ascendance with a critical eye. “Everything else he’s done (in office) has been a complete disaster,” the former Speaker told the Associated Press over the summer. “He’s still learning how to be president.” And as Politico discovered in a long-form interview with Boehner, the Ohio Republican is still haunted by the idea that he paved the way for Trump's takeover of the G.O.P. That idea may have some merit—he was, after all, part of the party's first wave of outsider populism when he was elected in 1994—but in over 18 hours of conversation with Politico’s Tim Alberta, Boehner, now golfing frequently and ironing his underwear in peace, opened up about his frustration with today's Republican party:

On Trump's impact:

When I ask Boehner whether the Republican Party can survive this, he cuts me off. “There is no Rep—.” He stops himself. “You were about to say, ‘There is no Republican Party,’” I tell him. He shrugs. “There is. But what does it even mean? Donald Trump’s not a Republican. He’s not a Democrat. He’s a populist. He doesn’t have an ideological bone in his body.” So who, I ask, is the leader of the party? “There is nobody,” he says.

On Ryan's legislative prowess