The past 24 hours have brought a lot of attention to the fact that Donald Trump‘s delegate count is increasing dramatically ahead of the Republican Party’s national convention in July. A convention that might be contested, as many party insiders remain dubious about the prospect of giving the New York real estate mogul the nomination. Hence why Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), a former vice presidential candidate in 2012, has entered the ring as a possible post-convention nominee. Or at least that’s according to what former speaker John Boehner said in Florida on Wednesday. Too bad Ryan disagrees.
“If we don’t have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I’m for none of the above,” Boehner told attendees at the Futures Industry Association conference, including journalists with Politico. “They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I’m for none of the above. I’m for Paul Ryan to be our nominee.”
As Politico notes, Boehner has often told friends and confidants of his belief that Ryan should be the nominee — should the GOP convention in Cleveland be unable to choose among the Republican presidential candidates still in the running. However, his comments in Florida were the first time the former speaker had ever publicly announced his opinion on the matter. Perhaps he was bolstered by Ryan’s sit-down interview with CNBC’s John Harwood on Tuesday, during which the representative didn’t outright deny the possibility.
“I actually think you should run for president if you’re going to be president, if you want to be president. I’m not running for president. I made that decision consciously not to,” Ryan told Harwood. “People say, ‘Well what about the contested convention?’ I say, ‘Well there are a lot of people running for president. We’ll see.’ Who knows?”
When news of Boehner’s endorsement broke Wednesday morning, however, Ryan’s office caught wind of it and quickly responded to Politico. Instead of dancing around the topic as he did with Harwood, the speaker gave the news outlet a rather steadfast and negative answer regarding the prospect of his becoming the Republican nominee in Cleveland.
“I’ve been really clear about this,” Ryan told POLITICO Wednesday. “If you want to be president, you should run for president. We should select our nominee from among the people who are running for president. Clear and simple. So no, I am not going to be the president. I am not going to be the nominee.”
Ryan added, “I am not going to become the president through Cleveland.”
Then again, Ryan wasn’t all that thrilled with the prospect of becoming the new Speaker of the House when Boehner stepped down in October. Yet now he’s the speaker, which makes him the highest-level Republican currently occupying an elected position. Isn’t there a chance he could be swayed again to reconsider his position, this time regarding the GOP nomination?
Politico raised this point with Ryan, and the speaker immediately shot them down: “It was a different situation. I’m already in Congress. That’s a totally different situation.”
(Via Politico)