WATCH: "We're different kinds of conservatives," @SpeakerRyan says of Steve Bannon. The interview airs tonight on @PBS pic.twitter.com/OvbmgRA58a
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) February 8, 2017
While many members of Donald Trump‘s team have been met with great concern (including the recently confirmed Attorney General, Jeff Sessions), few have caused as much uproar as Steve Bannon, Trump’s close advisor and member of his National Security Council. Bannon, a white supremacist with close ties to alt-right haven Breitbart and who once likened himself to Satan and Darth Vader, has been a contentious figure in Trump’s campaign for months and is seen as a threat by many. Bannon has also been openly critical of House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying back in October that he wanted to “destroy him.”
Despite this hostility from Bannon, Ryan is determined to prop up a united front for the GOP, saying in an interview on Wednesday with PBS NewsHour that the perceived common goal was worth overcoming differences. Ryan told anchor Judy Woodruff:
“He’s not someone I have a history with, obviously. I didn’t know him when he was opposing me all those times. We’re different kinds of conservatives. That’s something I can safely say, I think. But we’re serving a purpose, which is to get this agenda passed. And on this agenda that we’ve rolled out, that we ran on, on that we agree.I see a person which I have a common cause and purpose with. We’re different kinds of conservatives, we really don’t know each other, but we’re all trying to get this agenda enacted. And that’s why I don’t see a problem here.”
If the worst he can say about a Neo-Nazi is “we’re different kinds of conservatives,” don’t expect Ryan to grow a spine anytime soon.
(Via PBS NewsHour)