Paul Ryan Backtracks: Blames Media, Democrats, Not Trump, for Injecting ‘Personality’ into Elections

Former Speaker Paul Ryan backtracked on his comments on Wednesday and blamed Democrats and the media for injecting “personality” into the elections, not President Donald Trump.

Ryan said Monday that if the 2020 presidential election centers around the president’s personality, he will lose.

“The person who defines that race is going to win the race. If this is about Donald Trump and his personality, he isn’t going to win it,” Ryan said during a lecture in Florida.

On Wednesday, the former speaker appeared to backtrack his comments and instead the media and Democrats into creating “personality contests.”

“To be clear, GOP wins elections when they’re about ideas not when they’re personality contests like Dems & media want. We’re clearly better off because of @RealDonaldTrump,” Ryan tweeted. “His record of accomplishment is why he’ll win re-election especially when compared to Dems’ leftward lurch”:

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, chastised Ryan for both serving as a failed leader of House Republican who failed to deliver wall funding and lost the GOP’s eight-year-long control of the House of Representatives.

“Pretty rich. Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 running mate, the speaker who lied to us and didn’t deliver Wall funding (and then lost the house) gives advice on winning,” Trump Jr. tweeted on Tuesday:

President Trump and Ryan had a turbulent relationship over the last several years. In a recent interview, Trump blamed Ryan for failing to secure funding for his promised border wall.

“Well, I was going to veto the omnibus bill and Paul told me in the strongest of language, ‘Please don’t do that, we’ll get you the wall.’ And I said, ‘I hope you mean that, because I don’t like this bill,’” the president told the outlet.

“Paul told me in the strongest of terms that, ‘Please sign this and if you sign this we will get you that wall.’ Which is desperately needed by our country. Humanitarian crisis, trafficking, drugs, you know, everything — people, criminals, gangs, so, you know, we need the wall,” he added. “And then he went lame duck.”

Outside of securing the border wall, Ryan also failed to repeal Obamacare, which gave Republicans’ control back of the House and Senate. In fact, Ryan nearly tanked Obamacare repeal, and an Obamacare repeal proposal only passed through the House after Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-NC) and then-Tuesday Group co-chairman and former Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) negotiated a revised Obamacare proposal.