The speaker of the House listed just one condition when he granted People Babies access for a story on his family life: no questions about his party’s presumptive presidential nominee. But the contrast spoke for itself, showing the Republican Party what its future could look like.
Whereas Trump is a literal con artist and a textbook case of a deadbeat dad, Paul Ryan—for all his legislative shortcomings—is by most accounts an exemplary father. Ryan did nothing to dispel that notion in his People profile. He wants his kids to play sports, but he’s not “one of those yell-from-the-stands type of Dads.” He’s “not a sugar guy,” and operates under the principle that “[i]f it wasn’t a food 100 years ago, we don’t buy it or eat it,” but he’s not above treating his kids to milkshakes from Dairy Queen. The man even smokes his own meats, which is about the most Dad thing you can do. People played along, concluding its profile with this anecdote:
At a closing joking reference to Trump, Ryan says with a chuckle, “I’m hanging up now!” And then does.
But why even talk about Trump? Mission accomplished anyway.