Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan during a podcast appearance denounced Donald Trump as an "authoritarian narcissist" while praising former Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., for opposing the former president despite the cost to their congressional careers. The Fox Corp. board member's comments came during a November interview with Kevin Kajiwara, co-president of Teneo Political Risk Advisory, that has gained traction this week, according to The Guardian.
“Look,” Ryan told Kajiwara, “Trump’s not a conservative. He’s an authoritarian narcissist. So I think they basically called him out for that. He’s a populist, authoritarian narcissist." the former speaker continued, saying that Trump's tendencies are guided by narcissism and "whatever makes him popular" or feel good at any given time. "He doesn’t think in classical liberal-conservative terms. He thinks in an authoritarian way. And he’s been able to get a big chunk of the Republican base to follow him because he’s the culture warrior,” said Ryan, who has faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for not strongly opposing Trump in 2016 or through his presidency.
“There has to be some line, some principle that is so important to you that you’re just not going to cross, so that when you’re brushing your teeth in the morning, look yourself in the mirror, you like what you see," the ex-congressman continued, saying he believes Cheney and Kinzinger are "liking what they see." He argued that, though many lawmakers thought Trump's reign would have ended following his second impeachment, the former president has been "resurrected." History, Ryan concluded, "will be kind to those people who saw what was happening and called it out, even though it was at the expense of their wellbeing.”
