Presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took aim Wednesday at Fox News board member and former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan on social media.
Trump tore into “a very disloyal” Ryan on Truth Social, citing the infamous former House Speaker as the reason why “nobody can ever trust Fox News.”
“Nobody can ever trust Fox News, and I am one of them, with the weak and ineffective RINO, Paul Ryan, on its Board of Directors,” Trump wrote. “He’s a total lightweight, a failed and pathetic Speaker of the House, and a very disloyal person. Romney was bad, but Paul Ryan made him look worse. As a team, they never had a chance. Rupert and Lachlan, get that dog off your Board – You don’t need him. ALL YOU NEED IS TRUMP. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Ryan called Trump “unfit for office” during a June 11 interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto. When Cavuto asked Ryan about viewers who disliked him and believed he was “pulling the strings” at Fox, Ryan responded he had “been in politics a long time” and had “really thick skin.”
Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Donald Trump:
“I do think character is a really important issue. If you put yourself above the Constitution, as he has done, I think that makes you unfit for office.” pic.twitter.com/w5FZLTOJKT
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) June 11, 2024
Ryan, who was 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate, said in the same interview with Cavuto that President Joe Biden was a “different guy” when they debated during the 2012 election. (‘That’s Remarkable!’: CNN Panelists Stunned As Trump’s Immigration Policy Enters ‘The Mainstream’)
Ryan endorsed Trump during his first presidential bid in 2016. Despite this, Ryan made clear in early May that he would write in a different candidate’s name because “character is too important.” The anti-Trump Republican also said, “Everyone knows we will well lose the election if we nominate this guy again.”
US President Donald Trump, accompanied by House Speaker Paul Ryan (L), arrives for a meeting with Republican members of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on June 19, 2018. (ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump lashed out at Ryan on social media soon after his remarks, calling for the Fox News board member’s firing.
“Rupert Murdoch should fire pathetic RINO Paul Ryan from the Board of Fox. Ryan is a loser, always has been, and always will be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He was the WEAKEST & MOST INCOMPETENT Speaker of the House in its History. Fox will sink to the absolute bottom of the pack if Paul Ryan has anything to do with it!”
