Infighting within the GOP continues to be a theme, especially as Republicans continue to battle for a nomination that is expected to be an easy victory for former President Donald Trump.
However, not everyone is on board with Trump as the head of the Republican party, including former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who criticized Trump earlier this month.
Ryan was asked about former Republican Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) while speaking with Teneo Political Risk Advisory Co-President Kevin Kajiwara.
“Trump’s not a conservative. He’s an authoritarian narcissist. So I think they basically called him out for that,” Ryan said on the video conference.
The former Wisconsin Rep. added that history will look back fondly on the pair of ousted Republicans, instead of Trump, who he dubbed a “populist authoritarian narcissist.”
“Historically speaking, all of his tendencies are basically where narcissism takes him, which is whatever makes him popular, makes him feel good in any given moment,” Ryan added. “He doesn’t think in classical liberal-conservative terms. He thinks in an authoritarian way, and he’s been able to get a big chunk of the Republican base to follow him because he’s the culture warrior.”
The former Speaker then defended Cheney and Kinzinger, who he thinks “stepped out of the flow” of many other Republicans who fell in with Trump. He says that the decision resulted in them paying for it with [their] careers.”
“There has to be some line, some principle that is so important to you that you’re not going to cross so that when you’re brushing in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror, you like what you see. I think Adam and Liz are brushing their teeth, liking what they see,” he said.
Earlier this month, Cheney called out the threat another Trump term poses on the country, warning we could see a dictator rising.
“I think it’s a very, very real threat and concern,” Cheney said on NBC’s “TODAY.” “And I don’t say any of that lightly, and frankly, it’s painful for me as someone who has spent her whole life in Republican politics, who grew up as a Republican, to watch what’s happening to my party and to watch the extent to which Donald Trump himself has basically determined that the only thing that matters is him, his power and his success.”
When it comes to other Republicans in Congress, Ryan guessed that many are regretting not standing up to Trump when he attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
“I think there are a lot of people in Congress, good friends of mine, who would take [their] vote back if they could because I think a lot of these members of Congress — like on the second impeachment — they thought Trump was dead. They thought after Jan. 6 he wasn’t going to have a comeback, he was dead,” he said. “So they figured, ‘I’m not going to take this heat, I’m going to vote against this impeachment because he’s gone anyway.’ But what’s happened is he’s been resurrected,” Ryan added. “So I think there are a lot of people who already regret not getting him out of the way when they could have.”