Former House Speaker Paul Ryan criticized former President Trump and Tucker Carlson in a Washington Post interview.
The former Speaker said, “I am in the minority my party right now. I’m not in the establishment. I’m frankly an anti-establishment Republican. And you, I think you can safely argue — I don’t enjoy acknowledging this — that Trump is the establishment and Trump populism is the establishment and that Trump populism is this more isolationist strain that I think is wrong and dangerous and I don’t support, but that does represent a large swath of Republican voters.”
He said Trump populism is now the Republican establishment, which he opposes as too isolationist.
Ryan slammed Carlson for praising Moscow cleanliness during a Putin interview, saying it nurtures isolationism and sympathy for authoritarianism.
Ryan said, “That was astounding to me. You know, that one takes the cake, frankly.”
“What worries me more, not just Tucker, that’s a symptom of all this, is that they’re curating sympathy in America. And they’re, they’re helping nurture and develop an isolationist wing, in my party and in our country, which I think is very, very dangerous,” he continued.
He explained, “They’re developing, you know, people who want to see NATO reduced or NATO not adhered to, obviously, former President Trump is pushing this line as well. So what I very much worry about is they’re helping curate a line of thought — a school of thought that is isolationist, that is pro-Putin, pro-Russia, pro-tyranny at the end of the day, and that is extremely dangerous for all democracy, but for us as ourselves democracy.”
Ryan added, “I didn’t watch that whole interview. I watched a little bit of it, but it just looked like a kind of an infomercial for Putin to be able to push his propaganda.”
While acknowledging Trump’s primary wins, Ryan argued Trump only beats Biden in polls because Biden is weak, not because Trump is strong.
Ryan said, “These indictments made him a victim. It gave him a very credible victim narrative [and] grafted MAGA onto him. People want to see a fighter.”
He praised Nikki Haley for running against Trump and said indictments have given Trump a victim narrative that boosts his popularity.
“I do think she’s bringing up a healthy dialogue, raising the important questions. So I think it’s healthy for our party that she stays in the race,” said Ryan about Haley.
Ryan left open a possible return to politics, expressing concern for the country, but said it’s not a current focus.
Ryan said, “I’m young enough to have a third career. I’m in my second career right now. Who knows? I don’t know. But it’s not really top of mind right now, frankly.”
