‘Last Man Standing’ Reveals How Ryan Is Coping With Donald Trump’s Presidency

In the Last Man Standing season seven premiere, President Donald Trump and the current political climate loomed large over the characters. This included Mike Baxter’s (Tim Allen) liberal son-in-law Ryan Vogelson (Jordan Masterson), who is so annoyed he planned to move back to his native Canada.

Just as many people feel in real life, Ryan is not taking the non-stop, constant stream of news alerts that define the Trump era all that well. When Mike visits Ryan, he is stunned to see Ryan serve his son fried chicken for dinner. After all, Ryan is the guy who once thought “chickens are people too!”

Ryan is now convinced that the “country is going to hell” and was not in the mood to debate politics with Mike. He then turned on the television to stop Mike from talking.

“I mean, how can you not watch the TV when the whole world is going nuts,” Ryan said as another breaking news alert popped up.

“It’s almost like they’re deliberately forcing us to stay glued to our TVs,” Mike joked.

“I mean, how is it that one person could create such a mess?” Ryan asked, clearly referring to Trump.

“Well, a lot of people didn’t like the last eight years!” Mike noted.

“OK, but at least your bad guy was a good guy,” Ryan replied.

“And more importantly, he was attractive!” Mike pointed out, referring to President Barack Obama. “It’s always the pretty people that cause the trouble.”

“Are you enjoying making fun of he?”

“Yes I am, as a matter of fact,” Mike said.

All joking aside, Mike tried his best to get Ryan away from the television and to loosen up.

Later on, Ryan went to Mike’s house, where he broke the news: he plans to move to Canada with Kristin (Amanda Fuller) and their son Boyd (Jet Juergensmeyer). Then Mike reminded Ryan that no one was happy with the idea, including Kristin. Ryan said he was not asking for anyone’s permission.

“A lot of people say they’re moving to Canada, but they never move,” Mike said.

“He’s Canadian!” Vanessa (Nancy Travis) reminded him.

With politics breaking up the Baxter household, the only thing that brought them back together was Boyd suddenly going missing for a moment. Mike later found Boyd messing around at the Outdoor Man store.

In the end, the incident reminded Ryan and everyone else that family is what is most important. When Kristin presented him with the forms he needs to fill out to apply for U.S. citizenship, he reluctantly agreed to think about it, setting up the story for future episodes.

Last Man Standing airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

Photo credit: Fox