President Donald Trump blasted former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Thursday evening in a series of tweets, following Ryan’s reported criticism of the president in quotes provided for a new book.
As Breitbart News noted Wednesday (original link):
Politico Magazine’s Tim Alberta writes in American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump that Ryan “Now out of office and trading in his power suits for a blue vest” is once again criticizing the president and “saw retirement as the ‘escape hatch,’” according to an excerpt obtained by the Washington Post.
“We’ve gotten so numbed by it all,” Ryan said. “Not in government, but where we live our lives, we have a responsibility to try and rebuild. Don’t call a woman a ‘horse face.’ Don’t cheat on your wife. Don’t cheat on anything. Be a good person. Set a good example.”
Apparently in response, Trump tweeted:
Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate & former Speaker of the House, whose record of achievement was atrocious (except during my first two years as President), ultimately became a long running lame duck failure, leaving his Party in the lurch both as a fundraiser & leader……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
….When Mitt chose Paul I told people that’s the end of that Presidential run. He quit Congress because he didn’t know how to Win. They gave me standing O’s in the Great State of Wisconsin, & booed him off the stage. He promised me the Wall, & failed (happening anyway!)……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
….He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
Ryan was always uneasy with Trump. In the spring of 2016, he hesitated before accepting Trump as the party’s candidate, even though he was to chair the Republican National Convention at which Trump would be nominated. In the fall of 2016, Ryan infamously told members of the Republican caucus in the House that they did not have to defend the president when he was accused of using offensive language toward women in a leaked Access Hollywood video.
Once Trump was in office, the two forged a working relationship, albeit sometimes a rocky one. They worked together on passing tax reform. But Ryan and Senate Republicans failed to deliver on Republican promises to repeal and replace Obamacare. Ryan announced his retirement from Congress, several months before the 2018 midterm elections, leaving his party to fight the surging Democratic opposition without the benefit of a strong Republican leader in the House.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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