Fox News Channel host and author Greg Gutfeld argued that House Speaker Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) was “really brave” by not coming out and endorsing presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and Ryan has to work “to get Trump to understand what it’s like to be a conservative, why principles matter over politics” on Thursday’s broadcast of “The Five.”
Gutfeld said [relevant remarks begin around 3:00] the meeting between Trump and Ryan is “not necessarily the first step towards unity, more like reconciliation. Because I think that — there’s a key distinction here. There is a lot of raw emotion to pretend that you can paper over a rift that has basically been contemptuous of principles and conservatism, and has said that’s not as important, it’s more about inside and outside, and it has insulted so many people that are conservatives, to be told that they really don’t matter, and now suddenly you do matter. … I think what Ryan did was actually really brave. He didn’t come out and endorse him, because he knows there are people like me who still have legitimate concerns and Ryan is there to represent those people.”
He added Ryan has to “play hard to get. He actually has to do the work that I try to do to try to get Trump to understand what it’s like to be a conservative, why principles matter over politics.”
Gutfeld further stated, “You cannot make deals on principles. You can make deals on specific items, but not on principles of self-government. For example, Trump does not believe in small government. He believes in great government. That’s quite a distinction for a conservative. Because we believe great government predicates on the notion that it is smaller, more efficient. That has never come out of Trump’s mouth.”
He later added that increased tariffs would make prices go up, as would taking “all” jobs back from China.
Gutfeld later argued of Trump, “[W]hat we have argued for four years, which is, we don’t like squishies and RINOs, suddenly we’re bending over for one.”
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