“I was just so surprised,” Ryan said, according to journalist Mark Leibovich’s new book, “Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission.” Insider received an advanced copy of the book ahead of its release on Tuesday. Ryan, the Republican Party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, said he was surprised that only “one man” could effectively rule the party out of fear. “The idea that just one man—one man could just Luca Brasi be afraid of you, and all those members would be so afraid,” Ryan said, referring to the mobster’s infamous soldier and executioner Vito Corleone in the novel and film “The Godfather” that could “scare the hell out of the devil himself,” according to “Godfather” writer Mario Puzo. “Luca Brasi did not fear the police, he did not fear society, he did not fear God, he did not fear hell, he did not fear or love his fellow man,” Puzo wrote. “But he had chosen, he had chosen, to fear and love Don Corleone.” Ryan brought up Brassey while telling Leibovitz how after he left Congress, a man approached him while he was at a Metallica concert with his family. “He said, ‘My wife likes you, but I’m conservative,’” Ryan said the man told him. Ryan replied that he was actually a conservative. But the man only replied, “Yeah, but Trump doesn’t like you.” Ryan refused to campaign with Trump, his party’s presidential nominee, in Wisconsin in 2016 after Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was released. Ryan later retired from Congress ahead of the 2018 GOP midterms. Ryan said the interaction at the concert would have spooked his former colleagues, who know that defying Trump by even one vote could have disastrous consequences for their careers. “If you’re a member of Congress, that scares you. The intimidation factor,” Ryan said, according to the book. “If you’re below 97 percent on the loyalty scale, Trump will come after you. It’s like a mass sociology experiment.” Brassey’s fate was not reported. Bracy is eventually tricked and strangled with piano wire. All he has left is his bullet proof vest wrapped around a dead fish signifying that he is sleeping with the fish. Reps for Trump and Ryan did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. It’s not his daughter’s wedding day.
