President Trump took former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to the woodshed on late Thursday night criticizing his “atrocious” record and turning out to be “a long-running lame-duck failure” who left his party “in the lurch.”
The president seemed to be beating out at Ryan in reply to a Washington Post report, which recorded the excerpts from a new book by Politico’s Tim Alberta, where the ex-speaker claimed to have grown “numb” to Trump’s “bad” policymaking.
Ryan allegedly told Alberta that he couldn’t stand an additional two years with Trump and called the retirement as an “escape hatch,” as per to the excerpts acquired by The Washington Post.
“Those of us around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions. All the time,” Ryan told Alberta. “We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to the kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he’s making some of these knee-jerk reactions.”
Ryan went on to tell his retirement as an “escape hatch.” He said, “We’ve gotten so numbed by it all. 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.”
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
In three of his tweets, Trump criticized Ryan over his unsuccessful 2012 vice presidential bid on a ticket with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), turn him over his incapability to protect the funding for a border wall as well as also blamed the former Speaker for losing the Republican majority in the House previous year.
….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
Trump also said Mitt Romney’s bid for president in the year 2012 was condemned after he picked Ryan as his running companion. Trump further condemned Ryan for failing to secure the funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
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,”
“He quit Congress because he didn’t know how to Win,” Trump continued by further tweeting. “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!)
The president finished his criticism of Ryan by saying he was a weak representative of the Republican Party.
He tweeted, “He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems as they go after us. Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough! ”
The assessment is a far call from what Trump said about Ryan last April in 2018 when the former speaker decided to step down.
“Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question,” Trump tweeted in April 2018. “We are with you, Paul!”
