By The American Tribune | Created at 2025-01-19 11:52:56 | Updated at 2025-01-20 13:57:27
1 day ago
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan was recently called out during a recent appearance on CNBC for his newfound calls for “unity.” The former running mate of Mitt Romney has long maintained a critical stance toward Trump, leading some to claim he does not represent the GOP and is a “Republican in name only” (RINO).
CNBC’s Joe Kernen began, “So now you’re calling for unity?” Ryan responded, “I am calling for unity.” Kernen sarcastically replied, “Well, that’s nice, yeah, would have been nice before the election.” Kernen continued, “The other thing I thought was funny that you said was when you said, ‘Hey, look, I want Trump to succeed.'”
The host explained that such a comment sounded like it would come from an opponent of the president-elect’s. “You know who that sounds like? Sounds like a Democrat.” Ryan hit back, “Well I hope the Democrats sound like that.” Kernen maintained, “Of course, you want Trump to succeed. You are a Republican.”
Explaining his political leanings, Ryan said, “Look, I’m a conservative Republican. I’m a free market limited government, constitutional … But my brand of conservatism doesn’t always overlap Trump populism.” However, Kernen asserted that the election in November was “binary” where either one supported Trump or Harris with no in-between. He said, “I understand, but it was about it was binary. But, you know, we argued about that. I know we are on a binary all along.”
He emphasized, “It was always binary, and a vote not for Trump was a vote for Kamala Harris. Can you imagine?” Ryan continued, “Here’s the point. A lot of this agenda, my kind of conservatism Trump populism, it overlaps.” However, he admitted there are several points of disagreement between he and the president-elect.
“We disagree on trade and things like that. I’m not with trade fights on China, but I’m not big fan of all the tariffs on our allies,” he said. Nonetheless, Ryan pointed out there is a substantial amount of policy he agrees with Trump on. “But the point is all this other stuff, the tax policy, the border policy, the deregulatory policy, very good for America, very good for the economy,” he said.
Kernen interjected, imploring Ryan to not “sacrifice the good for the perfect.” The former House speaker maintained, that “it only gets done, if Republicans stay unified and I think it’s important that Republican stay unified.” The clip circulated throughout social media, garnering varying reactions from conservatives, many of whom claimed that Ryan should be corrected on his anti-Trump views.
Conservative commentator Collin Rugg said, “Paul Ryan gets bodied by CNBC’s Joe Kernen for waiting until after the election to call for unity with Trump. This is how it’s done.” Another person wrote, “During the election, Paul Ryan was ACTIVELY against Trump, even stating he wouldn’t attend the RNC Convention if Trump was the nominee 🤨.” Rugg replied, “He’s all about unity now. Must have had a change of heart!”
Watch Ryan and Kernen below:
NEW: Paul Ryan gets bodied by CNBC’s Joe Kernen for waiting until after the election to call for unity with Trump.
This is how it’s done.
Kernen: Oh so now you’re calling for unity.
Paul: I am calling for unity.
Kernen: Well that’s nice. Would have been nice before the… pic.twitter.com/c2IN0kXGXp
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 16, 2025
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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