CNN –
You know all about the “Never Trumpers,” that group of Republicans who have been vocal against former President Donald Trump and what he’s done to the GOP.
Now you know the “Trumpers of Nevermore”.
That’s how former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan described himself in an interview with ABC News that aired over the weekend. Here’s what he said:
“I am proud of the achievements [during the Trump administration] – on tax reform, deregulation and criminal justice reform – I’m very excited about the judges we had on the bench, not just on the Supreme Court, but across the entire judiciary. But I’m more of a Trumper than ever. Because? Because I want to win and we lose with Trump. It was very clear to us on the 18th, the 20th and now 2022.”
Ryan, who left Congress in 2019, has been increasingly open about his feelings about Trump and the future of the Republican Party.
Paul Ryan slams ‘horrible’ end to Trump presidency (May, 2021)
In late October, he told Fox Business Network that “the new swing voter in American politics is the suburban voter, and it’s very clear that the suburban voter doesn’t like Trump, but they like the Republicans.” He added: “So I think anybody who’s not named Trump, I think is much more likely to win the White House for us.”
(Worth noting: Trump won suburban voters over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and narrowly lost them to Joe Biden in 2020, according to national exit polls. In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans won suburban voters between 52% and 46%).
And in June, at an event for South Carolina Republican Rep. Tom Rice, who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, Ryan was deeply critical of those who didn’t vote that way. “There are many people who say they will vote their conscience, they will vote for the Constitution, they will vote for their convictions, but when it is difficult for them to do so, they do not do so. that,” he said at the time. (Rice lost the Republican primary in his district to a Trump-backed challenger.)
Trump, as he does, has also attacked Ryan in the past. “As a Republican, having Paul Ryan on your side almost guarantees a loss, for you, for the Party, and for America,” Trump wrote in a statement last year after Ryan gave a speech in which suggested that the match had to go from the first. president
Attacks aside, Ryan’s stance on Trump is interesting. He gives the former president credit for what he accomplished in office while suggesting he is neither the present nor the future of the GOP.
I think that’s where some of Trump’s most serious challenges will come in 2024. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, would do well to echo Ryan’s point: give Trump credit for what he’s done as president while making it clear that his political appeal has diminished to the point that it would be a mistake for Republicans to nominate him again. .
At the core of Ryan’s position as “Trumpier Than Ever” is something I’ve often wondered doesn’t get more attention: Trump’s win-loss record.
Trump boasted that “we’re starting to win again and we’re going to win big,” but the truth is that since the 2016 election, he’s become much more identified with losing. During Trump’s time in office, Republicans lost control of the House and Senate. Republicans regained the House majority in 2022, but their victory was much narrower than expected. And Democrats managed to hold on to their narrow majority in the Senate, with several Trump-backed candidates coming up short in key races.
This determined lack of winning appears to be a clear weakness for Trump as he seeks to rally support for his third presidential bid. And it looks like DeSantis is already moving to exploit it. After a landslide re-election victory this month, DeSantis said of his critics, “I would just tell people to go watch the score last Tuesday night.”
Maybe DeSantis is also part of the “Never Again Trump” movement?