It's been a tumultuous road for President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Their problems started long before the president took the oath. Republican strategist Ed Martin points to the very beginning of the campaign as the source of the tension. The two men represent very different wings of a changing party. They stand divided on a broad range of issues. "This should not be underplayed," Martin says. "This is a fight for the party's position on globalism. "Martin says Ryan has proved he can't lead the caucus, and thus hasn't made the president's priorities his own.
The president has subsequently left Ryan out of major discussions from the debt ceiling to spending to immigration. "It's nine months of failure — nine months of failure to enact a Republican agenda," Democratic strategist Isaac Wright says. "It's pretty unusual to butt heads so openly, so publicly and so bitterly. President Trump has humiliated Paul Ryan more than a few times."
For now, Ryan's job is safe. He's less than two years into his term. However, incumbent Republicans are staring down a bitter 2018 midterm election cycle from members in their own party.
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