(CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan announced on Wednesday that he will follow so many of his Republican colleagues' lead and leave Capitol Hill when his term expires at year's end. Word of Ryan's planned departure set off the expected round of exit applause (from GOP officials and conservative think tankers) and victory laps (by Democratic officials, candidates and liberal think tankers). A forensic examination of his relationship with President Donald Trump, whom Ryan has supported in all the meaningful ways during these past 14 months and three weeks, commenced immediately. If this is a time for drafting first editions of Ryan's congressional legacy, two clear narrative lines emerge from the thicket of instant reactions. The first and most consequential is rooted in what Ryan described at a Wednesday press briefing as his success in "normalizing entitlement reform."

Source: CNN April 12, 2018 00:45 UTC