Former Rep. Paul Ryan reflected on how far he’s drifted from the “establishment” Republican Party while former President Donald Trump has become the model.
Ryan offered his insight during an interview published Wednesday. The former speaker of the house has long been a vocal opponent of Trump, even amid his reelection bid.
“I’m in the minority in my party right now; I’m not in the establishment. I’m frankly an anti-establishment Republican, and I think you can safely argue — I don’t enjoy acknowledging this — that Trump is the establishment, and Trump populism is the establishment,” Ryan said.
“That Trump populism is this more isolationist strain that I think is wrong and dangerous, and I don’t support, but that does represent a large swath of Republican voters,” Ryan said.
Trump’s lone 2024 opponent in the GOP field, Nikki Haley, snagged Ryan’s endorsement for president. Trump has earned the endorsement of most of the former candidates, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
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Ryan served in the House of Representatives from 1998 until he retired in 2018. He served as speaker of the House during almost all of Trump’s term, from 2015 to 2019.
Trump has won each primary race so far, starting with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. Since then, Haley has been defeated by Trump in New Hampshire, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Nevada, where Trump was not on the ballot but the majority vote went to “none of these candidates.”