Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said he wanted to 'scold Trump all the time' because he 'didn't know anything about government'
- Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said he frequently had the urge to "scold" President Donald Trump because "he didn't know anything about government" in interviews for a forthcoming book on the Republican party.
- Ryan, who experienced a meteoric rise through the ranks of the House by forging a reputation as a savvy and knowledgeable policy wonk, was in for a rude awakening when Trump came into office, according to a Washington Post report on the book.
- "I told myself I gotta have a relationship with this guy to help him get his mind right," Ryan told author Tim Alberta, according to the Post. "Because, I'm telling you, he didn't know anything about government... I wanted to scold him all the time."
- According to Alberta, Trump didn't harbor warm feelings towards Ryan either, referring to him as a "f---ing Boy Scout" due to the squeaky-clean image Ryan cultivated.
- Ryan said he and other officials "really helped to stop him from making bad decisions," adding, "we helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was."
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Former House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said that he frequently had the urge to "scold" President Donald Trump because "he didn't know anything about government" in an interview for Politico correspondent Tim Alberta's forthcoming book "American Carnage."
Ryan, who experienced a meteoric rise through the ranks of the House by forging a reputation as a savvy and knowledgeable policy wonk, was in for a rude awakening when Trump came into office, according to a Washington Post report on the book, which prominently features several quotes from Ryan.
"I told myself I gotta have a relationship with this guy to help him get his mind right," Ryan told Alberta, according to the Post. "Because, I'm telling you, he didn't know anything about government... I wanted to scold him all the time."
According to a separate excerpt of Alberta' book previously published in Politico Magazine, Ryan was so horrified by the October 2016 release of a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump joked about sexually assaulting women that he cancelled a planned campaign event with Trump in Wisconsin and begged then-RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to find a way to replace Trump as a the Republican nominee and "excommunicate him" from the party.
Ryan, who retired from the House in 2018 and is now a private citizen, didn't hold back on his opinions on Trump in several on-the-record quotes for the story.
Once Trump was elected, Ryan tried his best to accommodate Trump's bombastic, off-the-cuff style of governing. In one instance reported by Alberta, Trump was displeased that a 2018 spending package didn't include funding for his desired border wall, and only signed it on the condition that Ryan allowed him some time to generate suspense for the bill on Twitter.
Ryan said he and other officials "really helped to stop him from making bad decisions," adding, "we helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he's making some of these knee-jerk reactions."
According to Alberta, Trump didn't harbor warm feelings towards Ryan either, referring to him as a "f---ing Boy Scout" due to the squeaky-clean image Ryan cultivated.
"We've gotten so numbed by it all," Ryan mused about Trump's behavior. "Not in government, but where we live our lives, we have a responsibility to try and rebuild. Don't call a woman a 'horse face.' Don't cheat on your wife. Don't cheat on anything. Be a good person. Set a good example."
"American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump" is set to be released by Harper Collins publishing on July 16.
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