Trump unloads on Paul Ryan over new book
WASHINGTON — President Trump laid into former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan as a “baby” and a “terrible speaker” on Friday after the former congressman was quoted in a new book as saying the president didn’t know anything about governing and that he retired to get away from him.
Trump unleashed his criticism on one of Wisconsin’s favorite sons just before leaving to go to the state he wants to win in 2020 . He called the retired congressman’s record “atrocious” in the wake of unflattering comments Ryan made about Trump in a new book.
“Paul Ryan let us down. Paul Ryan was a terrible speaker,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “Frankly, he was a baby. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing.”
Ryan condemns Trump in “American Carnage,” by Tim Alberta of Politico. Alberta wrote that the former speaker, who retired from Congress in 2018, could not stand the idea of another two years with the Republican president and saw retirement as the “escape hatch.” Ryan is quoted saying: “I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government. I wanted to scold him all the time.”
Pushing back, Trump told reporters that one day when he was making a speech in Wisconsin, he invited Ryan, who was booed.
“So for him to be going out and opening his mouth is pretty incredible,” Trump said. “Maybe he gets paid for that. Who knows?”
On Thursday evening, Trump unleashed tweets labeling Ryan as a “lame duck failure.”
The book recounted Ryan, who served in Congress for 20 years, saying Trump’s presidency was slipping as he was less willing to accept advice from Republicans to moderate his approach.
“Those of us around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions. All the time,” Ryan said. “We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his kneejerk reaction was.”