Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) will abstain from the 2024 Republican National Convention if former President Donald Trump wins the party nod.
Ryan, a vocal critic of Trump's temperament since his departure from the lower chamber, was asked by a local reporter if he will attend the convention, which is slated to be held in his home state of Wisconsin.
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"It depends on who the nominee is," Ryan replied. "I'll be here if it's somebody not named Trump."
"You won't show up if it's Trump?" the reporter followed up.
"No, I'm not interested in participating in that, no," Ryan said. "Even in Wisconsin."
Paul Ryan says he won’t show up at the RNC in Milwaukee next year if Trump is the GOP nominee
— Ben Siegel (@bensiegel) February 26, 2023
In 2016 in Cleveland, he chaired the convention and officially announced that Trump was the party’s nominee
pic.twitter.com/lkKNRWo5T0
During his tenure in the House, Ryan cooperated with Trump to pass a flurry of legislation, such as tax reforms. However, during that time, he privately vented about Trump's antics and later became more vocal after leaving the House.
Since then, he has publicly prodded the GOP to move on from Trump, driving home a message that Trump has dogged the party and contributed to GOP losses in the past three major election cycles.
"If we nominate Trump again, we're going to lose. It's just that clear," Ryan told Fox 6 recently. "We lost with him in ‘18, ’20, and '22. We know this. He will cost us another election, so I'm just excited about somebody not named Trump."
"There are great people running. I know them all. They're all pretty decent friends of mine, and so I think any one of these candidates that are thinking about getting in the race, if they get in the race, would be a great candidate," he continued. "I think we're going to beat Joe Biden if we don't run Donald Trump."
Ryan was Sen. Mitt Romney's (R-UT) running mate in 2012. Romney has been one of Trump's loudest Republican critics in Congress and has reportedly maintained a friendly rapport with Ryan.
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Thus far, Trump is leading the 2024 GOP pack, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate. His first major Republican challenger, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, launched her campaign earlier this month.
Others, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), are also speculated to be eyeing a run. Republicans will hold their first major primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August.