If there’s anything we’ve learned over the years about now-former President Donald Trump, it’s the fact that absolutely no one can criticize him in any conceivable way without him going off the deep end before it’s all said and done. And the situation mounting with former House Speaker Paul Ryan is certainly no exception.
Recently, Ryan gave a speech in which he criticized Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican party, though he never actually mentioned the ex-president by name. But it seems as though the shoe fit for Donnie either way, as it was only a matter of time before he blew up on the former GOP Speaker of the House.
Trump issued his statement through his leadership political action committee Save America and attacked Ryan as a “RINO” — Republican in name only, a dig Trump regularly uses for any Republican who dares not support him — and went on to blame Ryan and Utah GOP Senator Mitt Romney for costing Republicans the White House almost a decade ago.
Romney, of course, ran for president on the Republican ticket back in 2021, and Ryan served as his running mate.
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“Paul Ryan has been a curse to the Republican Party,” Trump fumed in his statement. “He has no clue as to what needs to be done for our Country, was a weak and ineffective leader, and spends all of his time fighting Republicans as opposed to Democrats who are destroying our Country.”
Trump’s angry response comes on the heels of Ryan’s speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, where he warned the GOP of the political perils they were setting themselves up for if they continued down the path they’re currently on.
“If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or on second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere,” Ryan stated in a very thinly-veiled reference to former President Trump.
Ryan never actually mentioned the ex-president by name in his speech, but make no mistake, the former House Speaker made it very clear who he was talking about, at one point even saying that Republican voters would “not be impressed by the sight of yes-men and flatterers flocking to Mar-a-Lago,” the luxury Florida golf resort owned by Trump, where he and his family have spent a significant amount of time since his shameful departure from the White House.
This is, of course, far from the first time that Paul Ryan and Donald Trump have butted heads, with Ryan challenging Trump just earlier this year over his attempts to sway the results of the election, calling Trump’s efforts “anti-democratic and anti-conservative.”
However, this time, Ryan’s criticism comes in the midst of the great debate within the Republican party on the trajectory of their future, and just how prominently Donald Trump will fit into that. While most GOPers have very publicly maintained their alliance with the ex-Republican president, a significant sector has been trying to warn their party of the consequences of such — Liz Cheney being a prime example here, who was ousted from a leadership position within the GOP for daring to challenge the ex-president.
Trump, in his statement, has pretty much warned his fellow Republicans that anyone who dares to follow the same anti-Trump path will ultimately suffer the same sort of fate.
“As a Republican, having Paul Ryan on your side almost guarantees a loss, for both you, the Party, and America itself,” he said.
You can read the full report on Trump’s statement here.
Featured image via screen capture/Flickr – Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
