Paul Ryan, who built his personal brand around fiscal responsibility, proved himself to be a hypocrite when he exploded America’s deficit under the Trump administration, holds Derek Thompson of The Atlantic. For years, he preached about balanced budgets only to champion one of the biggest peacetime explosions of national debt in modern history. The increasingly large deficit is unhealthy for the US. Republicans accepted this cost for tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy and not the poor. Under Obama, Ryan fought tax cuts to create jobs tooth and nail. His legacy is tainted by this huge abandonment of principles.

Critics of Paul Ryan unfairly disregard the bad hand he was dealt under President Trump and a growingly factional Republican Party, suggests Megan McArdle of The Washington Post. Blaming him for the fiscally risky tax bill ignores the fact that he faced strong opposition in the GOP. Fighting it would have been an unnecessarily hard affair. It is easy to forget that another person might have done a whole lot worse of a job. Ryan tried to keep a highly divided country and government together. His replacement is likely to do a worse job than him. Politics is cruel and unforgiving, but Ryan did a good job, given the circumstances.