Paul Ryan Sums Up Trump With 3 Blunt Words, And Conservative Isn’t One Of Them

Paul Ryan, the Republican former House speaker-turned-Fox Corp. board member, has summed up Donald Trump as a “populist, authoritarian narcissist.”

The former president is “not a conservative,” Ryan declared throughout a current digital interview hosted by CEO advisory agency Teneo that the Republican Accountability group unearthed and shared on X (née Twitter) on Wednesday.

Trump’s tendencies “are basically where narcissism takes him, which is whatever makes him popular, makes him feel good at any given moment,” Ryan mentioned. “He doesn’t think in classical liberal-conservative terms. He thinks in an authoritarian way. And he’s been able to get a big chunk of the Republican base to follow him because he’s the culture warrior.”

Ryan talked about how former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) had “paid for” their criticism of Trump with their congressional careers.

And he claimed extra Republicans in Congress now wished they’d taken a stand towards Trump when he was impeached for a second time for inciting the lethal U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The House voted 232-197 in favor of impeaching Trump. The Senate voted 57 to 43 to convict Trump, 10 in need of the 67 votes required for it to occur.

They thought “Trump was dead,” mentioned Ryan. “They thought after Jan. 6, he wasn’t going to have a comeback, he was dead, so they figured, ‘I’m not going to take this heat, I’m not going to vote against this impeachment, because he’s gone anyway.’ But what’s happened is he’s been resurrected.”

There are “a lot of people who already regret not getting him out of the way when they could have,” he added. “So I think history will be kind to those people who saw what was happening and called it out, even though it was at the expense of their personal well-being.”

Ryan condemned Trump earlier than the 2016 election earlier than working alongside him as House speaker to cross main tax cuts. He left Congress in 2019 to turn out to be a director of Fox Corp., a place that has drawn him criticism for his obvious reluctance to name out the divisive rhetoric peddled on Fox News.

Last yr, Ryan mentioned “anybody not named Trump” can be a greater possibility for the Republican Party in subsequent yr’s presidential election.

“We know we’re so much more likely to lose with Trump because of the fact that he is not popular with suburban voters that we’re gonna want to win,” Ryan informed Fox Business’ Stuart Varney. “We lost the House, the Senate, the White House in the space of two years. I don’t want to repeat that. I want to win.”

“The only reason he stays where he is is because everybody’s afraid of him,” Ryan added in one other interview. “They’re afraid of him going after them, hurting their own ambition. But as soon as you sort of get the herd mentality going, it’s unstoppable.”

In September, Ryan mentioned February 2024 might mark a turning level for the social gathering if Trump’s GOP presidential rivals consolidate to deprive him of the nomination.