Despite being in his home state of Wisconsin, former GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he would be a no-show to the 2024 Republican National Convention if former President Trump is the Republican nominee.
Ryan, who made the comments during an interview with Milwaukee’s WISN-TV, said he’d only attend if someone else were the GOP nominee.
“Come 2024, the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where will you be?” the journalist asked.
“It depends on who the nominee is,” Ryan responded. “I’ll be here if it’s somebody not named Trump.”
“Even in Wisconsin?” the reporter followed up.
“Even in Wisconsin,” Ryan said.
Critics of the former House Speaker said this was the best endorsement of the 45th president Ryan could have given.
Paul Ryan says he won’t attend the 2024 RNC if Trump is the Nominee…
— Jason Robertson (@JRobFromMN) February 25, 2023
That is the best endorsement Paul Ryan could give President Trump!
pic.twitter.com/bzFHzpZXpN
Ryan also said he did not believe Trump would be the GOP nominee.
“The reason I don’t think he’ll be our nominee is because we know we’re going to lose with him,” he said. “He cost us the House in ’18, he lost the White House in ’20, he cost us the Senate in ’20, he cost us the Senate again in 2022, and he cost us probably a good dozen House seats in 2022. This is a lesson we don’t need to repeat again.”
Trump fired back on Sunday, writing on Truth Social that the former vice presidential candidate "is a loser."
“Mitt Romney could have won without him," Trump said. "I won twice, did much better the second time, and was 233 Wins out of 253 Races in the Midterms. Paul Ryan is destroying Fox, and couldn’t get elected dogcatcher in the Republican Party!”
The RNC is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee from July 15-18, 2024.