From left: Donald Trump and Paul Ryan.Photo: Alex Wong/Getty
Former House SpeakerPaul Ryansays he’ll support whoever is on the Republican ticket in the2024 presidential race— so long as it isn’tDonald Trump.
Ryan added he “would rather [support] an ideas-based campaign” in 2024 than “a mud-slinging contest between personalities.”
“I don’t pledge fealty to a person, I pledge fealty to principles,” he said.
Ryan doesn’t believe, however, that Trump will even be the party’s nominee.
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“I don’t think he’ll be our nominee… because we know we’re going to lose with him,” Ryan said. “He cost us the House in ‘18, lost the White House in 2020, he cost us the Senate in ‘20, he cost us the Senate again in ‘22, and he cost us probably a good dozen House seats in 2022.”
If Trump is the nominee, however, Ryan said he won’t be attending the Republican National Convention to support him.
Ryan served as a Republican congressman from Wisconsin for two decades, was the vice presidential nominee on theMitt Romneyticket in 2012, and later became the speaker of the House.
He retired in 2019 after four years as House speaker, publiclysayingat the time that he wanted to spend more time with his three teenage children.
But journalist Tim Alberta claimed in his2019 bookAmerican Carnagethat Ryan saw his exit as an “escape hatch” from a Republican electorate rapidly shifting toward Trump’s view of the world.
Since leaving politics, Ryan has occasionally taken aim at Trump, such as in a 2021 speech, when he said the Republican Party was at a “crossroads.”
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Trump has already announced his 2024 bid for the presidency, which comes amidinvestigations into his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021— when a mob of riotersstormed the U.S. Capitolon his behalf in an attempt to stopJoe Biden’s election victory from being certified — and hishandling of classified documentsafter leaving office.
source: people.com
