Paul Ryan: Trump would probably lose if he is 2024 GOP nominee

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that former President Trump would probably lose if he is the Republican Party’s nominee in the 2024 election. 

“I think we probably lose the White House with Trump,” Ryan told co-anchor Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week.”

“And if there’s someone not named Trump, my guess is we win the White House,” Ryan, who was Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) running mate in the 2012 presidential election, added.

Ryan, who retired from his position as Speaker in January, 2019, said that Trump is unelectable, citing the recent losses by candidates the former president endorsed during the midterm elections earlier this month.

“I think he’s going to continue to lose altitude because we want to win. And we know with him we lose. We have a string of losses to prove that point,” Ryan added, referring to Trump. “And there are a lot of really good, capable conservatives who people I think like that are more than capable of not only being good conservatives in office but can win elections.”

Ryan also said that the GOP would have had a better outing in the 2022 midterm elections if there were more “traditional Republican” candidates instead of “Trump Republican” options. 

“I think what we now know … with Trump, we lose. I don’t mean this personally — it’s just evidence. We lost the House in ’18. We lost the presidency in ’20. We lost the Senate in ’20,” Ryan added. “And now, in 2022, we should have and could have won the Senate. We didn’t. And we have a much lower majority in the House because of that Trump factor.”

Ryan’s remarks come after the Republican Party last week was projected to gain majority control of the lower chamber for the first time since 2018.

Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election last Tuesday amid a slew of legal investigations from federal and state authorities and ongoing questions about his influence and future in the Republican Party.