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Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan (WI) left much of Washington, D.C. stunned Wednesday when he announced his retirement from Congress after over 19 years in office. But while ABC’s World News Tonight and CBS Evening News reported on his retirement and touched on GOP struggles in the midterms, NBC Nightly News almost celebrated it. Correspondent Kasie Hunt called it a victory for Democrats by declaring “Ryan couldn't escape the building blue wave.”
In his introduction to the segment, anchor Lester Holt played up the supposed direness of Ryan’s retirement. “While there had been rumblings of a possible retirement, the move still sent shock waves across the capital and to vulnerable districts all across the country as the GOP fights to hang on to its majority in the House,” he suggested.
“In a major blow for House Republicans,” Hunt asserted as her report began. “Speaker Paul Ryan rocking the capital with his decision not to run for reelection.” Ryan explaining how he wanted to spend more time with his teenage kids, how his father passed away when he was their age, and how he didn’t want to live with the regret later in life.
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