Donald Trump Randomly Responds to Rare Paul Ryan Compliment with Dig at Him Being a Fox Board Member

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in a Truth Social message, one made all the more random because Trump was responding to a rare compliment from Ryan.

According to Trump, he taught Ryan “how to win” and he suggested the former congressman had a negative impact on Fox News after joining the company’s board in 2019.

“Paul Ryan’s so lucky he had Donald Trump—I taught him how to win, even though he didn’t do too much of it. His biggest victory was getting on the Fox Board—Fox is down massively this year!” Trump wrote.

It’s unclear what Trump is referring to when he says “massively down” as Fox News has remained at the top of the cable news heap. It was the only cable news network of the big three — CNN, MSNBC, Fox — to grow year over year in total viewers and in the key 25-54 advertising demo in 2022.

Ryan’s comments that seem to have inspired Trump’s outrage actually come from 2016. In the USA Today article linked by Trump, Ryan credits Trump with helping Republicans keep a majority in Congress — in 2016.

Since then, Ryan has become far more negative about the prospect of Trump leading the party, dubbing him a “proven loser” in January.

“He’s fading fast. He is a proven loser. He cost us the House in ’18, he cost us the White House in ’20, he cost us the Senate again and again and I think we all know that. And I think we’re moving past Trump. I really think that’s the case. I can’t imagine getting him the nomination frankly,” Ryan told Jake Tapper at the time.

Only months before that, Ryan declared “anybody not named Trump” is more likely to win the presidency in 2024 than Trump actually is.

“That new swing voter in American politics is the suburban voter, and it’s really clear the suburban voter doesn’t like Trump, but they like Republicans,” he said.