Paul Ryan – a rock and a hard place, on two fronts

Paul Ryan is getting the blame for the failure of the Repeal and Replace Obamacare legislation to make headway in Congress as the two sides of the Republican Party refused to budge. One side said not enough, the other, mindful of their constituents, said too much. It almost certainly wouldn’t have got through the Senate even if it had passed; and it will make tax reforms and cuts more difficult since the money that was going to be freed up now isn’t there.

His relationship with Trump always did look to be hitting the skids with tr Neptune square the composite Saturn Mars conjunction from early April through till 2019. It was never a match made in heaven with Ryan’s Aquarius Sun opposition DT’s Pluto, Ryan’s Pluto square DT’s Sun; and Ryan’s Mars opposition Uranus hitting on DT’s Neptune. But no one else wants Ryan’s Speaker job so both are probably stuck with each other for the time being.

Trump meets the realpolitik of a system that all too easily gridlocks. And the Republicans wrestle with a not-very GOP president who campaigned on behalf of the forgotten poor – not that he probably meant it, just a useful vote catcher, but he does hate to be unpopular.