Paul Ryan, a member of the Fox Corporation Board of Directors, praised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for permitting Democrats to seize control of the House last week.
Democrats steamrolled Johnson by successfully pushing Biden administration’s agenda through the House. Johnson gave Biden “pretty much everything” Biden asked for “without having to concede much in return,” Punchbowl reported.
The Democrat victory was a reminder of how some Republicans often decline to use their capacity to push conservative policies popular with the base. Democrats often appear to use their power without qualms.
Johnson “found his footing, and his voice. … [H]e did it as a statesman, risking his own personal political fortune for the greater good that he believes in,” Ryan told Axios Tuesday.
The former House Speaker’s opinion appears to represent the mainstream establishment opinion of Johnson’s historic maneuver, but it does not represent many conservatives.
“A party unable to bring its agenda to the floor for a vote is no longer a functional majority,” Brendan Buck, a top staffer to Ryan, recently wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
Ryan’s comment comes as he holds significant influence within the Fox Corporation Board of Directors. Ryan, a board member since March 2019, serves as the chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee at the Fox Corporation.
His authority includes establishing “broad corporate policies,” setting “strategic direction,” and overseeing “management identification and management of risks,” according to Fox Corporation.
Ryan’s position raises questions about why his opinions are not disclosed to viewers during Fox News and Fox Business media coverage.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
