Paul Ryan, former House speaker and vice presidential nominee, has long championed a brand of conservatism that is at odds with today’s Republican Party. Ryan joins The Post’s Paul Kane to discuss how he sees 2024 Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s hold on the Republican Party, the future of the GOP and the issues at stake this election cycle.
Paul Ryan joins Washington Post Live on Wednesday, Feb. 21. (Video: The Washington Post)
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“I’m in the minority of my party right now, I’m not in the establishment; I’m, frankly, an anti-establishment Republican. And I think you can safely argue that Trump is the establishment and Trump populism is the establishment. And that Trump populism is this more isolationist train that I think is wrong and dangerous and I don’t support. But that does represent a large swath of Republican voters. And so, you will see opinions representing that majority, that current present-day establishment.” Paul Ryan (Video: Washington Post Live)
“I think it’s a bunch of things. They want a fighter, they want a scrapper, they want a culture warrior. I also think these indictments, particularly the New York ones, made him a victim. And that grafted MAGA into him that much more. I think these federal indictments are far more serious, I think these New York ones are far more political in nature …. He can dominate news cycles and that made it really hard for a lot of these primary opponents to really catch fire … At the end of the day, I think Democrats come home; not because they’re motivated by Biden, but because they’re motivated by Trump.” - Paul Ryan (Video: Washington Post Live)
“I think it’s a bunch of things. They want a fighter, they want a scrapper, they want a culture warrior. I also think these indictments, particularly the New York ones, made him a victim. And that grafted MAGA into him that much more. I think these federal indictments are far more serious, I think these New York ones are far more political in nature …. He can dominate news cycles and that made it really hard for a lot of these primary opponents to really catch fire … At the end of the day, I think Democrats come home; not because they’re motivated by Biden, but because they’re motivated by Trump.” - Paul Ryan (Video: Washington Post Live)
“I don’t think you can be good at these jobs unless you’re willing to lose them. You have to get your mind at a stage in your life and career when the best to make could put yourself in jeopardy to losing your job, but it’s the best move to make. That’s where you’re really truly good at these things. Mike’s a fairly new guy in Congress. I like Mike a lot, I think he’s a principled, good, smart guy but he’s got a lot of lessons he’s going to end up learning and he’s got a razor thin majority that basically makes the place work like a parliamentary system. I think they’ll come a time, a moment where he’ll be faced with a decision to make and that decision will be better made if he’s just not thinking about his own personal fate.” - Paul Ryan (Video: Washington Post Live)
Paul Ryan
Former House Speaker
