Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has warned of the negative effect that presumptive GOP 2024 nominee Donald Trump could have on down-ballot Republican candidates in November.
“I think we’re going to lose more seats than we otherwise would with Trump, because there are just too many suburban swing voters that don’t like him, that therefore vote against Republicans,” Ryan said in an interview with Southern Methodist University’s student-run Daily Campus on Tuesday.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the Republican primary race after Super Tuesday, would have been a more unifying presidential candidate, Ryan suggested.
Ryan said he doesn’t subscribe to the nationalist populism of Trump, but he said that’s “where the bulk of Republicans are right now.” He described the current GOP as a “cult of personality” tied to Trump, rather than a party based on a “core set of principles or policies.”
Ryan was a fierce critic of Trump before his surprise 2016 win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
As speaker, Ryan worked with the then-president and passed major tax cuts before announcing his retirement from Congress in 2018 and joining the board of Fox Corp.
Watch the full interview here: