Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) is coming under fire from former President Donald Trump.
Following Ryan’s apparent criticism of the former president, Trump responded on Friday morning with a swipe at the former House speaker.
“Paul Ryan has been a curse to the Republican Party,” Trump wrote in a statement. “He has no clue as to what needs to be done for our Country, was a weak and ineffective leader, and spends all of his time fighting Republicans as opposed to Democrats who are destroying our Country.”
The former president added, “As a Republican, having Paul Ryan on your side almost guarantees a loss, for both you, the Party, and America itself!”
Ryan’s speech sought to “obliquely [criticize] Donald J. Trump and [warn] Republicans that the only viable future for the fractured party was one unattached to the former president,” as The New York Times reports.
See Trump’s full statement below:
NEW Trump statement on Paul Ryan and more: pic.twitter.com/wj6hi9ONsb
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) May 28, 2021
Though he did not mention Trump’s name in his criticism, Ryan took a swipe at Trump during a speech on Thursday evening, according to The Washington Post.
“Once again, we conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads,” Ryan said, per his prepared remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. “And here’s one reality we have to face: If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality, or on second-rate imitations, then we’re not going anywhere.”
Touching on the 2020 presidential election, Ryan also said, “Even worse, it was horrifying to see a presidency come to such a dishonorable and disgraceful end.”
Additionally, the former House speaker said Republican voters would “not be impressed by the sight of yes-men and flatterers flocking to Mar-a-Lago.”
He only mentioned Trump by name when saying “the populism of President Trump in action, tethered to conservative principles” led to “powerful and inclusive economic growth in 2020.”
Ryan — who is on the board of Fox Corp. — previously spoke out against Republican lawmakers’ efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election. He said in early January, “Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic. It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of the state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans.”
“The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy,” he continued.