The America First movement “despises” former House Speaker Paul Ryan, and “no one gives a damn” if he skips the Republican National Committee (RNC) convention — as he has threatened to do if former President Donald Trump is the nominee — Donald Trump Jr. said Friday in Iowa.
Paul Ryan, an anti-Trump member of the Fox Corporation Board of Directors, has made it abundantly clear that he does not plan to attend the RNC Convention in Milwaukee this year if Trump is the nominee, first making that proclamation in February 2023.
“It depends on who the nominee is,” Ryan said at the time when asked if he would be at the convention. “I’ll be here if it’s somebody not named Trump.”
Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan from Wisconsin says he won't show up at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee if former President Donald Trump is the nominee
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) February 24, 2023
Much more of our conversation Sunday on UPFRONT..@WISN12News@wispolitics pic.twitter.com/wp9ysKkwsC
Ryan recently reiterated that point, and Donald Trump Jr. responded by pointing to the sheer irrelevancy of Ryan.
“No one in the Republican Party could care less. Like Paul Ryan’s a nonentity,” he said, explaining that Ryan is a 2008 entity.
“The Republican Party, conservatives, the America First movement, they look at Paul Ryan as a pariah, not a benefit, not a plus,” he continued.
“He’s the person that didn’t deliver the wall. When we actually had the House and the Senate, he’s the person that prevented that. He sits on the board of Fox News. I mean, he’s the RINO that the America First movement despises,” Trump Jr. said.
“So if he doesn’t show up to the convention in Milwaukee … no one gives a damn. I think he’d be booed if he went. I’d actually bet a lot of money that he’d be booed if he went,” he added.
WATCH:
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan has told me he won't attend the GOP convention in Milwaukee if Trump is the nominee
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) January 12, 2024
Trump Jr. today in Iowa: "He's the RINO that the America first movement despises, so if he doesn't show up to the convention in Milwaukee, no one gives a damn." pic.twitter.com/9I9maXRGOM
In December, Ryan was caught attempting to steer presidential endorsements to Trump’s rival Nikki Haley, whom Trump has deemed a globalist.
At the time, Politico Playbook noted that Ryan made a pitch for Haley to Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), chairman of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
“I think now is the time for a guy like you to endorse,” Ryan reportedly texted him.
“Plus, Her foreign policy/world views track closest to yours. She brings the most excitement. I like Ron, but don’t think he is the growth stock Niki [sic] is. Just following up per our talk [in] September. Go Packers!” he added.
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Gallagher did not make an endorsement.
Trump is most assuredly on his way to the GOP nomination, as he leads in poll after poll both nationally and in individual states. In Iowa, which is holding its caucus January 15, Trump leads by an average of 36.4 points. A win of that magnitude would be historic, as no Republican has ever won the Iowa caucus by more than 12 points. And it seems if trends continue this way, Ryan, who remains defiant against the former president, will be absent from the convention.
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