2012 failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney defended his former running mate Paul Ryan after President Trump attacked him multiple times over the last couple of days.
Romney, now a senator for Utah, tweeted Friday: “The fault for our 2012 loss is mine alone; @SpeakerRyan was a tireless campaigner, fundraiser, and conservative champion. As the sole person who could unite the House, he acquiesced to be Speaker as a service to the country.”
The fault for our 2012 loss is mine alone; @SpeakerRyan was a tireless campaigner, fundraiser, and conservative champion. As the sole person who could unite the House, he acquiesced to be Speaker as a service to the country.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 12, 2019
“His selfless leadership and lifelong policy work were critical to the tax and regulatory reform that have helped propel the economy,” a follow-up tweet reads. “A man like Paul Ryan does not often come along.”
Romney’s defense of Ryan came only hours after the president ridiculed the former speaker of the House on Twitter.
“Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate & former Speaker of the House, whose record of achievement was atrocious (except during my first two years as President), ultimately became a long-running lame-duck failure, leaving his Party in the lurch both as a fundraiser & leader,” Trump said in the first of three tweets late Thursday night.
“When Mitt chose Paul I told people that’s the end of that Presidential run. He quit Congress because he didn’t know how to Win. They gave me standing O’s in the Great State of Wisconsin, & booed him off the stage. He promised me the Wall, & failed (happening anyway!),” Trump continued. “He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us. Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!”
The president also attacked Ryan while speaking to reporters Friday morning.
“So, Paul Ryan was not a talent. He wasn’t a leader. When the people in Freedom and great congressmen wanted to go after the Dems for things that they did very badly, he wouldn’t give subpoenas, whereas Nancy Pelosi hands them out like they’re cookies. Paul Ryan was a lame duck for a long time as speaker. He was unable to raise money. He lost control of the House,” Trump stated. “The only success Paul Ryan had was the time that he was with me because we had taxes cut.”
Trump’s insults of Ryan come as excerpts from the upcoming book, American Carnage by Tim Alberta have been released.
“I told myself I gotta have a relationship with this guy to help him get his mind right,” Ryan says in the book. “Because, I’m telling you, he didn’t know anything about government. … I wanted to scold him all the time.”
