Ryan: George Bush can speak at GOP convention this year

“Sure,” Ryan said when asked about the possibility on the “Laura Ingraham Show.” “I don’t have a problem with that.” Ryan noted that while he chairs the convention, however, he doesn’t pick the speakers.

That was one issue the two seemed to agree upon in an interview that otherwise included critiques of Ryan’s agenda from Ingraham, even though she allowed that he might be able to unify the conservative movement. Ingraham backed Virginia Republican Dave Brat in a successful primary challenge against then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014, and has been a consistent opponent of Republican leadership on issues like immigration and trade.

She kicked off the interview by asking Ryan to explain Donald Trump’s appeal.

“He is giving voice to the real and sincere anxiety that is out there,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “People are very very panicked that the country that they knew and loved is leaving them, that the opportunity is not in front of them, it’s behind them … and that the political system, the people who have been in charge, have failed them. And so they’re looking for somebody to shake it up, who doesn’t care, who doesn’t yield to political correctness, whose going to call a spade a spade and get on with fixing things.”

When Ingraham raised the issue that could have proved contentious, the economic populism that drives many immigration hawks in her audience and Congress, Ryan extended an olive branch.

“There should be no daylight between us,” he said. “On those workers you’re talking about, let’s deal with welfare. Let’s get the people who are in America who are able-bodied adults who aren’t working or looking for work, let’s get them in the workforce before we talk about other issues. Let’s get poverty reduced by moving people from welfare to work and let’s have tax reform that doesn’t reward companies for moving overseas but that keeps companies here in America.”