Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that Republicans will lose the presidential election if Donald Trump is the nominee and that he expects hard-right followers of Trump to force a government shutdown within days.
Ryan, who left office in 2019 and had a sometimes contentious relationship with Trump, said he hoped that another Republican nominee would gain enough momentum early next year to overtake Trump after the first primaries. Ryan represented southeastern Wisconsin in Congress for 20 years, the last four as speaker.
“The party that puts the first fresh face forward wins this election,” Ryan said at an event on the University of Wisconsin campus organized by the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Republicans’ only semi-popular candidate is Trump. And seeing as he has dozens of indictments and stands a better than average chance of being incarcerated (or at least house arrest) by the time he’d be sworn in is pretty pathetic. I don’t see a way Republicans win in 2026 but I’ve been surprised at the criminality and stupidity of this country too many times before.
Fun fact: nothing prevents Trump from serving as president while being in prison. Absolutely nothing in the Constitution and nothing in federal law.
Imagine with me a sitcom where Trump is about to receive a foreign prime minister but has to cancel last minute because he spit his lemon cookie at a guard and got 5 days in the hole.
Please let this be fiction.