Paul Ryan Dismisses Criticism He Isn’t Tough Enough on Trump: I Don’t ‘Wail on Him on TV’ for Ratings

HLN’s S.E. Cupp spoke with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) about the current state of the GOP and the conservative movement in the age of Trump.

Cupp directly asked him whether the nasty language President Trump has used “has muddied the way people view conservative policy.”

Ryan again said “I could do with a lot fewer tweets” and Trump actually knows that, but insisted he’s focused on the results.

And it’s the economic news and job numbers, he argued, that matter more to people than “any sentence or tweet that you can come up with.”

Cupp brought up the criticism of Ryan that he hasn’t been tough enough on Trump. He responded by saying this:

“I find it’s more effective to speak directly to the President about issues and concerns than to go on TV and speak about the President. I can do a better job as Speaker in the House being more effective and getting things done and moving policy in the right direction by having good conversations with the President. I talk to him almost every day. And I think it’s far more effective for me to be talking with him directly on matters of concern than to go out and wail on him on TV and try and get some ratings for the moment. That, to me, is not nearly as effective as actually working with the President to get good things done.”

Watch above, via HLN.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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