Former Speaker Paul Ryan calls himself ‘Never Trumper Again’

Just days after Donald Trump announced his third bid for the White House, former House Speaker Paul Ryan has slammed the twice-impeached former president’s political future, calling himself a “Never Trumper Again.”

“I am proud of the achievements [during the Trump administration] — on tax reform, deregulation, and criminal justice reform — I’m really excited about the justices we have on the bench, not just on the Supreme Court, but throughout the entire judicial system,” Ryan told ABC News’ chief correspondent in Washington and Co- “This Week” host Jonathan Carl in an exclusive interview that aired Sunday. “But I’m never a Trumper again. Why? Because I want to win and we’re losing with Trump. It was really clear to us in ’18, in ’20 and now in 2022.

While Republicans secured the House with a razor-thin majority, they failed to flip the Senate. The “red wave” that was widely predicted this offseason did not materialize. Ryan laid the blame squarely on the former president.

“I personally think the evidence is really clear,” Ryan said in his first Sunday show interview since leaving office in 2019. “The biggest factor was the Trump factor … I think we would have won places like Arizona, places like Pennsylvania, N.Y. In Hampshire, we had a typical, traditional conservative Republican, not Republican Trump.”

“With Trump, we lose,” he added.

“We lost the House in ’18,” Ryan continued. “We lost the presidency in 20. We lost the Senate in 20. And now in 2022, we should have and could have won the Senate. We didn’t. And we have a much lower majority in the House because of this Trump factor.”

During the interview, Ryan pointed to the poor performance of Trump-backed candidates during the midterm elections. At least 30 of the former president’s handpicked candidates, including some of the most prominent candidates in various states, lost their general elections after winning the primaries.

“He can get his people through a primary, but they can’t win a general election,” Ryan said. “We’re getting past Trump, we’re starting to win elections.” We stick with Trump, we keep losing elections. That’s just how I see it.”

And if Trump is the GOP presidential nominee again?

“We [will] we’re probably going to probably lose the White House,” Ryan said, adding that he believes suburban voters don’t like Trump or the candidates he supports.

In 2016, Trump managed to hold off a crowded GOP presidential field with only a majority of the vote in early primary states. Despite that dynamic, Ryan said he’s not worried that the same dynamic could play out in 2024 — that a crowded field of Republicans will split the vote and once again clear the way for Trump to win the party’s nomination.

“That’s my hopeful scenario,” Ryan said. “That we’re consolidating around somebody who’s forged from that primary process capable of winning the general election, and I bet we — I bet that’s happening.”

Ryan remains hopeful, he said. As long as the candidate is not named Trump, he believes the Republican candidate will win the White House. He’s looking for “Reagan 2.0.”

“I really believe that Reagan Conservative 2.0 is something that will be … that the country will want, I think our voters will want,” he said. “I think our voters will want someone who is a good, verifiable conservative, problem-solver, but also a unifier and someone who is not so polarizing.”

Ryan supports McCarthy on his way to the presidency

Republicans will have an extremely slim majority in January, meaning every vote in the Republican caucus will matter. Ryan believes current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is the man to lead the House as speaker, saying McCarthy is “the best vote counter” he’s ever worked with.

“There is no one better suited to lead this conference than Kevin McCarthy,” Ryan said, endorsing his former colleague. “He’s been good for the Conservatives, frankly, but he’s also someone who really understands how to run a conference.”

When Ryan was speaker, he had a much larger majority in the House than the GOP will have in 2023.

“No matter what bill you bring to the floor, it’s almost impossible with this tight [of] majority, only your party to pass legislation,” Ryan said.

“That being said, there is nothing more unifying than a truly razor-thin majority,” he continued. “It makes people realize that I can’t get everything I want; I need to be part of a team; I will have to not negotiate and compromise.’

Ryan said McCarthy understands he needs the entire conference to work with him. He said McCarthy would be able to motivate different wings in the Republican Party, from the more moderate districts to the Tuesday Caucus to the Freedom Caucus.

Before the midterms, at least nine impeachment resolutions against President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet were introduced by representatives such as Lauren Bobert, Matt Goetz, Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Green. The basis for the resolutions ranged from the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan to the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

“Would it be a mistake for the Republicans to go into, you know, heavy, heavy investigations instead of getting the ideas that you’re talking about?” Carl asked.

“No, they have to do oversight,” Ryan responded, adding that he thinks there should be some accountability with Hunter Biden and the other investigations.

“I’m a big Article 1 guy,” he continued. “That said, I’m a very strong believer in the legislative branch of government doing thorough oversight of the executive branch to hold them accountable.”

But he still thinks Republicans need to push an agenda to address the problems Americans face every day.

“Can they chew gum and walk at the same time?” Ryan said. “To conduct investigations, hold oversight hearings, hold the executive branch accountable, and offer new ideas and solutions to our problems? Yes. That’s what Congress should be doing.”

“I think there are important issues in our culture that need to be litigated and we need to preserve the principles of our country, but it’s not enough to just be really good on Twitter and survive in the entertainment wing of our party,” Ryan added. “You have to offer solutions to the country.”

Ryan is again charting his path forward for the GOP

Ryan left office in 2019 after spending 20 years in Congress, four of which were Speaker of the House, serving under both Democratic and Republican presidents. But he said he’s not done trying to find solutions to America’s problems. He has a new book out: American Renewal: A Conservative Plan to Strengthen the Social Contract and Save the Country’s Finances.

“In this book, we offer very detailed solutions to the big problems facing America,” Ryan said. One of his main concerns, he said, is what he called the unsustainable debt trajectory America is on. He said his book offered “a conservative plan to help this country overcome its enormous challenges.”

Ryan acknowledged that Americans want health care and retirement security, but he believes the current programs are unsustainable in the 21st century.

“The Medicare trust fund went bankrupt this decade,” Ryan said. “Social Security Trust Fund Fails in 2032.”

But Ryan, a self-proclaimed optimist, believes these problems are solvable.

“There are changes you can make to the Social Security system today [guarantees] the people who rely on this program will always have those benefits,” he said. “We’re going to have to reform these programs so that you and I and the next generation down the line actually have something. I think that’s the kind of conversation that we need to elevate our debate to in our federal, national politics, and I think we can because America has always gotten it right at the end of the process.”

Praise for Pelosi’s legacy

When asked about current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepping down from her leadership role, Ryan complimented her and her legacy.

“Obviously she and I usually don’t agree on things, but the first female speaker — a career to be proud of,” Ryan said. “She broke a glass ceiling and that’s something to be proud of.”

Speaking about the attack on the speaker’s husband, Paul Pelosi, he called it “horrific” and said he had thought about it a lot.

Nancy Pelosi cited one of her reasons for stepping down to spend more time with her family, which Ryan understands. He himself stepped down from political office to spend more time with his family. He now teaches economics at the University of Notre Dame, has an anti-poverty foundation, and works at the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank.

A return to politics?

“You talked about the direction of the party and the direction of the country. Will we ever see you in politics again?” Carl asked.

“I like doing it the way I’m doing it now,” Ryan said.

When asked if he would run for president in 2024, Ryan said, “No, I mean, I’m definitely not going to run in 2024. I don’t think I — I just — have presidential-sized political ambitions, but I really I don’t have a presidential-sized personal ambition, so I just don’t see myself doing that.”

“Okay, so we can take that as a maybe,” Carl joked.

“No,” Ryan said and laughed. – I do not think so.