Ryan would have been crushed if he ran in 2016. Even if he ran instead of Scott Walker and occupied that country club lane, there was next to zero constituency for that in the 2016 iteration of the Republican Party. His platform would have been poison to them, and even if Trump hadn't been around as a contrast, somebody like Huckabee or Santorum would have risen in Trump's absence.
Ryan would have been crushed if he ran in 2016. Even if he ran instead of Scott Walker and occupied that country club lane, there was next to zero constituency for that in the 2016 iteration of the Republican Party. His platform would have been poison to them, and even if Trump hadn't been around as a contrast, somebody like Huckabee or Santorum would have risen in Trump's absence.
I don't really agree with you that someone would've risen in Trump's absence in his vein. If he hadn't been in the race it would've been some flavor of establishment type. I do think Jeb was probably DOA regardless. But Rubio or Cruz or Kasich and yeah Ryan if he had run. I actually don't think it would've been Ryan because I don't think particularly highly of his political abilities.
Regardless of any of that, what I'm much more certain of in this hypothetical is that if Ryan would've run in 2016 and lost that he was the losing VP candidate 4 years earlier would not have been the reason.
Ryan would have been crushed if he ran in 2016. Even if he ran instead of Scott Walker and occupied that country club lane, there was next to zero constituency for that in the 2016 iteration of the Republican Party. His platform would have been poison to them, and even if Trump hadn't been around as a contrast, somebody like Huckabee or Santorum would have risen in Trump's absence.
I don't really agree with you that someone would've risen in Trump's absence in his vein. If he hadn't been in the race it would've been some flavor of establishment type. I do think Jeb was probably DOA regardless. But Rubio or Cruz or Kasich and yeah Ryan if he had run. I actually don't think it would've been Ryan because I don't think particularly highly of his political abilities.
Regardless of any of that, what I'm much more certain of in this hypothetical is that if Ryan would've run in 2016 and lost that he was the losing VP candidate 4 years earlier would not have been the reason.
I am thinking it would have been either Cruz or Rubio(leaning towards Cruz)
agree completely; there would not have been a trump 2.0