House Speaker Paul Ryan joked Thursday that he wouldn’t run for president because “I like myself too much.”
“You never say never to things like that,” Ryan, R-Wis., said during an event at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. “But I’ve had plenty of opportunities to think about it, to look at it, and I’ve always chosen not to do it.”
Ryan, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, announced in April he would not run for re-election, choosing instead to retire at the end of the 115th Congress.
He reiterated at the Economic Club that his three children have known him only as a “weekend dad,” which he is eager to change before they head off to college.
“I do not want to squander those moments, and I’ve got such a short window of time,” Ryan said.
The speaker said he hasn’t yet decided what he will do after leaving Congress but ruled out taking a position in President Trump’s Cabinet if offered one.
Ryan also addressed how his daily life will change once he is no longer House speaker, telling the audience at the Economic Club he hasn’t driven a car in three years.
“It’s a little strange,” he said.
But Ryan shared that he will have to buy a new vehicle, as he discovered his Chevy Suburban was “eaten by animals” — a family of woodchucks, specifically, that were found to have eaten the vehicle’s wiring.
